Which is worse for your back for long term sleeping - air mattress or couch? I realize people might not have an answer, question is partly medical. I can side sleep on my mattress but not back sleep, thought maybe I could alternate with a couch (the one I have now is too small) for back sleeping maybe several hours per week.
Hey JBR2022,
When it comes to long-term sleeping, neither an air mattress nor a couch is ideal for your back. However, here’s a quick comparison:
Air Mattress
- Pros: Can be adjusted for firmness; more portable.
- Cons: Often lacks support and can sag over time, leading to poor spinal alignment.
Couch
- Pros: Generally more supportive than a deflated air mattress; can offer a firm surface.
- Cons: Often not designed for sleeping, which can lead to awkward positions and discomfort; may not provide adequate support for your back.
As you might acknowledge, both are not ideal for sleeping. Each with their own set of compromises. Couches are often segmented and if someone regularly sits in the “middle” segment it can lead to that portion softening more than the other segments. This will lead to a host of muscle straining issues.
An air mattress, well… at least it has the word “mattress” in the description. There are other mattresses you can buy that, quite frankly are no better than the air mattress. So from that perspective, air mattress, crappy mattress, both can be pretty awful and painful.
Perhaps if the couch cushions are reasonably new, place them on the floor and sleep on the cushions on the floor. The typical couch cushion is 1.5 - 3.0lbs per cubic foot density. Somewhat in line with what we would expect with a polyfoam layer of a mattress. Placing the cushions on the floor can act as your support layer.
What I would recommend if these are your only two choices, is take a flat sheet, tightly wrap it around the couch cushions and sleep on the floor.
From a “medical” perspective, the couch cushions would be a better choice. Couch cushions much more resemble a mattress and are made with materials that are designed to be supportive over a longer period of time.
Air mattresses vary too much, lose firmness, can lead to sagging. One or two nights you may get by, as it is better than sleeping directly on the floor, though.
Hope this helps.
Maverick
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It really comes down to the alignment of the spine. As a Chiropractic doctor and mattress designer, I done extensive testing over the years and it is what lead me to create the Mattress Checker App., which is the first tool for objectively measuring spinal alignment while on a mattress.
The problem I found with most air mattresses is that the air will displace from the heavier mid-section to the lighter upper and lower portions of the chambers, thereby allowing your spine to go into a hammock type of position. To be fair, it isn’t just air mattresses that can create that hammock position for your spine, but without enough support in the mid-section, it is likely your spine is being placed in a poor alignment position throughout the night.
As Maverick noted, at least the foam in the couch has the potential to keep the mid-section from hammocking, though also as mentioned, not a great long-term solution. This is because the couch would not usually use materials that offer the durability and the or consistency, since the cushions are not set to correctly maintain a sleeping posture. If you want to check your alignment, you can download the Mattress Checker App. for free in both Apple and Android devices (Mattress Checker App | Back Science™ Bed - The Bed That Has Your Back™). Feel free to let me know if you have any questions whatsoever or I can be of further assistance.
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Thank you. If I napped on air mattress for about 6 hours each week - not all at once but in 3 or 4 naps - do you think that would do harm to my back?
Probably not if you keep it filled. If your back starts to hammock due to the displacement of air under your mid section, you will know soon enough.
Just keep it full of air.
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