I wanted to give an update of our SleepEZ latex mattress after approx. a month sleeping on it.
Our SleepEZ mattress arrived in less than a week from when we ordered it, was well packaged, and easy to put together (I recommend the Flobeds video on youtube for the same type of mattress, which gives a lot of helpful detail). The stretch mattress cover is very nice- comfortable to the touch, high quality, and easy to get everything zipped into. Since it stretches to fit the mattress, there is no sensation of the mattress rounding down at the edges as some have described with other latex mattress covers, it is perfectly flat and you donāt lose any of the softness of the latex from it.
When we got our mattress put together and set up, we could not believe how perfect it felt. It was soft and cushy but totally supported our backs, keeping the spine aligned. We both said, if weād tested anything like this in a store, weād have bought it right off! Nothing we tried in-store was near this comfortable. We are both approaching 60 and have racked up various injuries over the years, so we are sensitive to spinal alignment, support and comfort.
When I went to bed that night, the mattress felt a little cold to me but I switched on my electric blanket and waited to warm upā¦ and waitedā¦ and waitedā¦ This is good news to those of you who sleep hot but I have a hard time keeping warm. After a few hours I realized I was never going to warm this mattress up! I was absolutely freezing. I had my blanket set on high but underneath me the mattress was staying cold. I did finally get to sleep but woke early with a back spasm. I think being cold for so long had caused the muscles to clench, finally.
The next night, I turned on my electric blanket early to hopefully preheat the mattress. It did not really āheat upā but was warm enough. Climbing into bed, the mattress felt so great to me, so perfect and so relaxing. I thought I would drift right into dreamland but after about an hour I realized something about it was bothering me and my muscles could not relax, I could not go to sleep! Instead of relaxing, my muscles kept getting more and more tense. What was it about this mattress? I realized then, it is the feel of the latex, which has been described as ājello-likeā or ājigglyā: I have compressed nerves from disk damage in my spine and the nerves in these areas send out a sort of buzzing, vibrating sensation and frequently tiny spasms, which are very unpleasant. I have learned to tune these sensations out, for the most part. The latex, however, was acting like a medium that was picking up and amplifying every sensation, bringing them to my attention. Even before I consciously realized it, my body was feeling it and my muscles were tensing up, trying to make it stop. It was an infinite loop, an awful feeling, and after awhile I could not take it anymore, and went to sleep on memory foam on the floor. Immediately I could tell the difference as the sensations died into the dense memory foam and faded away from my consciousness. I am wondering if this may be why a lot of people like the feel of a layer of wool over the latex? Maybe it dampens that jello-like feel somewhat? I wish I was not allergic to wool and could try it. Our bottom 2 layers are Dunlop and the top is Tallalay; I canāt say whether there is a difference in the jello-like feel between them. We tried rearranging the layers to put Dunlop on top but it was too firm to sleep with it that way, so we put it back as it was and I couldnāt get a feel for it.
The next night we put the memory foam topper (3" 4lb) on the bed. I am not a fan of memory foam overall because I donāt like the swamping feeling of sinking into a hammock shape, but it was dense and smothered the sensations coming from my back and also it held some heat so I stayed warmer, so I finally had a good nightās sleep. However, with 3" of memory foam, I lost the wonderful support of the latex underneath and got a sore back from the lack of support.
The next night, I remembered an old twin-size cheap piece of 1" memory foam I had in the closet and I got that out and switched it with the 3" memory foam. It was great! Just enough to dampen the jello-like quality of the latex and keep me warm, but not enough to lose the excellent support and feel of the latex.
Iāve been sleeping with that ever since and I think Iāve found the best of both worlds. My back and neck are feeling good. Iāve never had a bed Iāve liked more than this! I look forward to a good nightās sleep every night and am waking up early feeling rested. My husband has no memory foam on his side and is very happy with the latex. He is sleeping like a baby, no back or hip pain as with our old mattress.
I would like to find a really dense memory foam topper big enough for our whole mattress in a 1" thickness now, but cannot find one anywhere. I have read about one called Venus that used to be available but apparently no longer is? Iām wondering if you have any recommendations of another one to try? I really do not want anything much thicker.
Anyways, there is my experience with the SleepEZ so far! I highly recommend them but for anyone who may have a disc/nerve issue like mine, you may want to put a layer of something on top of latex to dampen those sensations. I am a very sensitive person, though, and chances are there are very few who would have an issue like this.
Oh, it is also different to get used to a thinner mattress, which makes for a lower bed. We are thinking about what to put under the mattress to bring the height up a few inches (weāre on a solid plywood foundation). Any suggestions?
Thanks again for this great site, Phoenix! I hope my review may be of help to someone else. You have the scoop from probably the most sensitive person you will ever meet, I am truly the princess and the pea, lol!
PS ETA I might have to change my user name now 
