Topper or full mattress?

Hi Janax,

How effective a topper may be will depend on the underlying cause of your symptoms and on the layering of the mattress it is being added to. Typically, pressure issues lead to tingly feelings or discomfort in the areas of contact (such as hips or shoulders) or limbs falling asleep. Alignment issues typically lead to joint or back issues because the joints or spine are out of their “range” of neutral alignment (for you).

There are two types of “support” that can lead to alignment issues.

One of these is deeper support that “stops” the heavier parts from sinking in too deeply. If the deep support is too soft or the comfort layers are fairly thick and soft and have softened to the point where they have little firmness left … this is very difficult to “fix”. Some suggestions that may have limited or temporary effectiveness for this are in post #2 here along with post #4 here.

The second of these is the secondary support of a mattress that “fills” in the gaps in a sleeping profile and is more connected to the thickness and softness of the comfort layers. If the comfort layers (in combination with the upper part of the layers below them) are not thick and soft enough to “allow” enough sinking in so that the 'gaps" in your sleeping profile are not supported (there is only “air” or very light support under them) … then a topper can work well.

Both types of support issues can lead to back problems as the spine is out of it’s neutral alignment. This could be why both the old mattress (too firm and comfort layers that are too thin and/or firm) and your newer mattress (developing dips and too soft in the comfort layers apparently) are producing similar symptoms.

Finally if the problem is pressure relief … again because the mattress doesn’t have a thick and soft enough comfrt layer to re-distribute the pressure of your pressure points … then a topper can also work well.

In both cases where the topper is a good idea … the trick is to use the minimum thickness ppossible because a topper that is too soft and/or thick can compromise support because pressure relief and supuport are opposites. Sometimes a topper that provides more localized pressure relief (such as shredded latex or memory foam or wool) can provide more specific pressure relief to pressure points and compromise alignment less.

If a mattress has dips or areas where it is too soft (even if the dips aren’t apparent when you are off the mattress) … then a topper will just follow these. On the other hand … if a mattress is too firm … then a topper can work well.

All the layers of a mattress interact together and while a topper would bottom out if it was used alone on the floor or say a wood base … on a mattress (even a very firm one) … there is already some softness there and you “want” a topper that would bottom out by itself. If it was so firm and thick that it wouldn’t bottom out … then it wouldn’t be suitable as a topper. A topper in other words is meant to add to existing softness rather than be enough by itself. In almost all cases … 2-3" would be fine and there are some cases (depending on the layering of the mattress that it is being added to and the type of topper) that even an inch can make a significant difference even though everyone would “bottom out” on a 1" topper by itself.

Yes. Heavier weights are one of the factors that will lower the lifespan of any material in a topper or in a mattress. This would be a good reason to use a topper with a more durable material so that it will last as long as a less durable material would for someone else. this can be somewhat offset and evened out though by flipping and rotating the topper so that you are using both sides (side to side and top to bottom).

There are too many variables in the longevity of various materials to give any type of specific answer to this (you can see post #2 here for a discussion about the many factors involved in longevity) but it will be less than a similar material that is used inside the mattress. Perhaps about 1/2 to 2/3 as long. The advantage though is that if the topper wears out sooner than the comfort layers of the mattress (and they usually will) … then you only have to change the topper and not the whole mattress.

This would depend on the condition and layering of the mattress it was going on. If it was a “fixable” condition and there wasn’t so much soft foam in the upper layers of the mattress that adding a topper would turn the soft mattress layers into part of your support system (and some firm mattresses have a surprising amount of soft layers in the upper part of the mattress) … then a topper can work well. If it is a condition that a topper would only provide a temporary or less than ideal solution and some of the other less expensive suggestions haven’t worked well … then I would consider looking for a new mattress

Hope this helps.

Phoenix