Overwhelmed Latex shopper

I am a 6’4", 240 lbs and 50 year old side sleeper. I bought a Berkeley Ergonomics talalay mattress 7 years ago. Previous to that I had an Original Mattress Factory mattress that I only kept for a short time because I had developed some back spasm issues, which disappeared almost immediately after using the latex mattress.

The BE mattress developed about a 1"sag over time and today I notice I do not sleep as well as I do when I travel and stay on other mattresses.

I have a fear of going back to anything with coils, but those seem to be the most available latex options in the retail world.

Because I feel like I only got about 4-5 very good years with the BE mattress (the sag started around 4 years), I am wondering how to find something more durable, has the great feeling of latex, and doesn’t cost a ton. I don’t mind paying a good price for something, but if I have to settle for getting a new mattress every 5 years, I might as well spend less.

So I am feeling a bit lost and overwhelmed by all of the marketing messages and expert opinions out there.

Thanks for any comments and recommendations!

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Hey Midniterider,

I am going to let some of our TM experts speak to you about your situation. It appears to me that you may benefit from a mattress that offers interchangeable comfort layer/s. As you have experienced any foam mattress, including latex is subject to sagging. It also depends on how it is built and what type of support layers were used. TM’s such as Custom Sleep Technology which offer all latex mattresses, and @Arizona_Premium, @Latex_Mattress_Fact1 @FLEXUS_COMFORT offer mattress with changeable layers, split comfort and all foam or hybrids.

I see nothing wrong with going back to coils as long as the mattress is constructed thoughtfully and with quality supporting layers of foam surrounding them.

Our trusted members can guide you to a longer lasting more durable situation, so I look forward to their responses. I constantly see folks here referring back to their natural latex mattresses of 10 and 20 years.

Any foam is subject to sagging, but improper or worn foundation, support layers, layers not high enough in density for the weight of the sleeper can make even the highest quality foam sag. Body profiles questionnaire’s such as the one offered by Custom Sleep Technology offer a way to put together a build that will sustain your sleep position, weight and PPP’s with comfort and longevity in mind.

Usually you will find, simple is better and less is more, when it is the right combination. I am confident one of our TM’s will build you a great mattress.

Good luck,

Norm

Thank you very much for the thoughtful and valuable reply!

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Hopefully one of our Trusted Member manufacturers will chime in and guide you on how to look at their products and how they may be a fit for you.

Hi Midniterider and thanks for reaching out on this! My first piece of advice is to inspect the foundation that the mattress is resting on. Most of the time when someone gets a latex mattress and it starts to sag within 10 years or less, it turns out the mattress is fine and it’s the foundation that has started to break down.

If you’d like to get an all-new mattress, though, my advice is to get the 10" organic latex mattress from Sleep EZ https://sleepez.com/product/organic-latex-mattress/ with medium Talalay for the top layer, medium Dunlop for the middle layer, and firm Dunlop for the bottom layer. The top Talalay layer should provide all the contour and pressure relief needed to avoid any pressure point issues and will add secondary support to the mattress. Secondary support is needed to fill in the gaps between your body and the mattress – back sleepers normally need secondary support to fill in the gaps between the small of their back and the mattress; side sleepers normally need secondary support to fill in the gaps between their mid-section and the mattress. If these parts of a person’s body aren’t supported by the mattress, their muscles will work throughout the night to hold these parts of the body up, and by the time they wake up they’ve got back pain. So the top 3” of Talalay latex will provide contour, pressure relief, and secondary support. The remaining Dunlop layers should provide all the support needed to maintain proper spinal alignment and avoid back pain. Please keep in mind that our initial recommendations have a 90% success rate (we only have a 10% layer exchange rate and a 3%-4% return rate) so there’s a 90% chance that the above recommendation works perfectly for you.

Just a general summary of the benefits of this mattress - They’re fully customizable, meaning you can order the mattress to be as soft or as firm as you’d like. They’re also fully adjustable, meaning you can change the softness, firmness, back support, pressure relief, etc. AFTER you get the mattress in your home. To be more specific, the 10” is our most popular, and these mattresses normally go out with three 3" layers of different firmnesses - normally the softest layer (or the cushion & contour layer) is on top and the supportive layers are on the bottom. This helps ensure our customers get the right balance of contour for their hips and shoulders but also support for their lower back. If you start with a certain setup and find that it’s too soft, you can unzip the cover and rearrange the layers to get a firmer feel out of the mattress, or you can exchange a layer to make it softer. Additionally, latex mattresses typically last 20 years. If, in 5 or 10 or 15 years you decide you want a softer or firmer mattress you would only have to buy a new layer instead of an entirely new mattress. Lastly, if the mattress starts to break down in 15 – 20 years, it’s normally the top layer that breaks down first, and at that point you can likely just buy a new top layer of latex instead of a whole new mattress and get an additional 8-10 years out of the mattress.

Furthermore, queen, king, and cal king mattresses are available with what we call “split layers,” which means you can have us cut the layers down the middle (from head to foot) so that you can have a different feel / firmness on your side versus your partner’s side, and you can adjust each side independently over the 20 year lifetime of the mattress. About 95% of our mattresses go out with all split layers from top to bottom, and we get zero complaints on being able to feel the split and we get zero complaints about the layers shifting or anything like that, even if you sleep right on the middle of the mattress.

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Very helpful and informative. Thank you.

The base is a solid adjustable base I purchased at the same store when I bought the mattress. I tested the sag on both the base and the floor. It was 1”. I sent the store photos but they didn’t speak to the manufacturer. They also didn’t say much to me other than a note that 1.5” was the industry standard. So I’ve written that store off and am looking at solutions elsewhere. Because the base doesn’t seem a likely cause of the sag, I’m looking at new.

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