I recently bought an infused gel memory foam mattress (firm xl twin) with pocket coils to replace my 17 year old mattress. However, the new mattress did not work out for me because I was hot. During the first 2-3 hours, I would sleep fine. I am not hot at the beginning. However, during the rest of the night, I am tossing and turning. I am hot! What gives?? Did the infused gel work only at the beginning? Fortunately, the department store will allow me to return the mattress (minus $75 pick-up and stocking fee). Because of this hot mattress experience, I am very reluctant to purchase another foam mattress, even the cooler natural latex. In your wonderful forum (thank you!), you have made the following statement:
Mattresses that don’t use any foam at all and only use an innerspring with natural fiber comfort layers will tend to be cooler and more temperature regulating than any type of foam including latex.
Where can I find such a mattress? Will it be durable? Many stores say you won’t find a mattress that doesn’t use foam because of its durability. Would you be able to point me to stores in my area that sell innerspring or coil with natural fiber comfort layers? I live in zip 34997 (Stuart, FL). I am 130 lbs and 5’6". I need a firm mattress because I was waking up with lower back pain and the new mattress solved that problem, but have the hot issue. What kind of questions should I be asking to find out the quality and density of the materials inside the comfort layer?
Thank you in advance for any input you can provide me. I am anxiously waiting to get my ZZZZs back!
This is typical of gel memory foams which tend to have some effect when you are first going to sleep but once temperatures equalize the insulating properties of the memory foam become dominant again. There is more about this in post #9 here and post #2 here. There is also more in post #2 here that has some suggestions about sleeping temperature that may be helpful as well.
You can see some of the sources for innerspring/natural fiber mattresses I’m aware of in post #4 here. They can certainly be very durable but they may not be as comfortable as you want (in most cases natural fibers tend to feel firmer than softer foam materials … especially as they compress over time) and they also tend to be in much higher budget ranges as well. You can either check any of the retail store finders on any of their sites or call their customer service number to find out if any of them have a retailer that is close to you.
The better options and possibilities I’m aware of in the Stuart / West Palm Beach areas are listed in post #2 here but I don’t know which if any of them would carry innerspring/natural fiber mattresses.
Natural fibers don’t go by density like foam and the only real questions that you can ask are the type of fiber in the mattress, the type of innerspring, and how it is constructed and tufted, but these types of more technical questions about the quantity of wool per sq yd or the species of wool or other more technical aspects of the mattress that would allow you to make more technical comparisons won’t tell you what you really need to know which is how suitable the mattress is for you in terms of PPP which you will be able to feel when you test the mattress. If a mattress only contains an innerspring and natural fibers as the padding material then it would be safe to assume that the materials are good quality and durable and PPP would become the most important part of your choice along with the cost of course. These types of mattresses require more hand building methods and are more costly to manufacture and they also require more specialized knowledge to sell or make more technical comparisons between them but how you feel on the mattress in terms of PPP relative to the cost would be the most important points of comparison and deciding on its value (see post #4 here).
There is some information that may be very interesting reading in the VI Spring brochure I’ve attached as well that will give you some sense of the type of materials and the type of craftmanship that can go into a ultra premium natural fiber innerspring mattress such as a VI Spring although of course there are also many lower budget options that don’t have this type of craftmanship or use more basic materials or construction methods.