Tired Side Sleeper Needs Advice

Hi fire_water,

I don’t make specific suggestions because there is no way for me to know and it would depend on which combination of ILD and thickness works best for you in terms of PPP in a specific mattress design. The specifics of every layer will affect the feel, performance, and choice of every other layer to different degrees and your own testing is the only way to know this (although the topper guidelines have some general suggestions that can help you make a more informed choice that has higher odds of success). Post #2 here also includes some links to some generic information that may be helpful as well.

As a general framework or reference point the most common version of a 3 x 3" layer mattress for a side sleeper would be some general version of F/M/S (with some differences between the FMS ILD’s between different manufacturers or types of latex) and then you could adjust your configuration or the specific ILD’s from there based on your actual sleeping experience.

The choice between Talalay and Dunlop is really a preference choice not a “better worse” choice. I’m tall and slim (6’ 5.5" and 195) and prefer Talalay comfort layers and my daughter is also very tall and slim (6" 2" and also slim) and sleeps on an all Dunlop latex mattress. There is more about the differences in “feel” between them in post #7 here but your own testing is really the only way to know which one you prefer.

The most common “quality/value/durability” choices would probably be either Blended talalay or 100% natural Dunlop but once again this will depend on your budget and preferences (there is more about the different types and blends of latex in post #6 here). Blended Talalay will probably last longer in the lower ILD ranges than 100% natural Talalay although Radium has told me that they use a special curing past in their 100% natural Talalay in lower ILD’s and that they should be very comparable in terms of durability.

Durability wouldn’t be a concern to me with any version of good quality latex (it would be more durable than other foam materials regardless) and if you are using latex I would focus much more on PPP and building the best possible design because any combination of latex would be more durable than if you used other materials.

Phoenix