Choosing the Right Mattress: A Guide to Ideal Sleeping Surfaces
Choosing the Right Mattress: A Guide to Ideal Sleeping Surfaces
It is widely acknowledged that sleep is essential for the recovery and rejuvenation of our body. Poor sleep impacts our mental as well as physical health such as waking up with body stiffness and pain. This can be attributed to several factors, including one sleeping posture as well as sleeping surface.
Sleeping surfaces that include our pillow and mattress are essential yet underrated factors that need to be taken into consideration when experiencing body pain/stiffness. Hence selecting an ideal mattress and pillow becomes essential. When selecting the sleeping surfaces, one should replicate his/her sleeping position to test the comfort and support they provide.
Mattress:
An ideal mattress provides adequate support and comfort while sleeping. No single mattress type has been unanimously accepted as ideal according to research. Factors such as body type, sleeping postures, and preferences are considered when selecting an appropriate mattress.
Mattress type:
Mattresses are categorized based on the material used and well as their firmness. Various types of mattresses are available including innerspring, foam, hybrid, latex, and airbed.
While innerspring is most commonly used owing to its coil-based support system; they may not offer pressure relief.
Memory foam on the other hand provides comfort and pressure relief by accommodating the shape of the body. However, this prevents heat dispersion causing one to feel extremely hot while sleeping.
Hybrid mattresses on the other hand provide a blend of support and comfort with pressure relief owing to it’s coil-system and thick foam covering.
The firmness of the mattress providing comfort is a matter of personal choice. A very soft mattress will sag the spine without providing adequate support to the back and other joints. This also makes transitions difficult for heavy sleepers and geriatrics. On the other hand, a very firm mattress will be unable to accommodate the spinal curves and push on the pressure points while sleeping.
Both these instances may give rise to stiffness and pain in the body on waking up.
(Side sleepers)
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Soft medium v.firm/hard
Although limited, research suggests patients sleeping on medium-firm mattresses have reduced pain in bed, rising, and disability than those sleeping on hard mattresses. In addition, it also improves pain and disability among patients with chronic non-specific low-back pain.
The firmness of a mattress is a personal preference based on ones sleeping position.
- Side sleepers require a mattress accommodating the curves of the body and preventing excessive pressure on points of contact. Hence medium soft- medium firm mattress may be suitable for them.
- Back sleepers may prefer a medium-firm mattress to relieve pressure on the low back.
- Stomach sleepers on the other hand may choose a firmer mattress to maintain the lumbar curve while sleeping.
Considering the body type, people with a light profile may opt for foam or hybrid beds for comfort while those on the heavier side would require the support provided by innerspring mattresses.
Pillows:
Inappropriate pillows not on disrupt sleep but also result in waking up with headaches, neck/shoulder or arm pain, and stiffness. As with mattresses, there is no ideal pillow for all body types. An appropriate pillow should accommodate the cervical spine (neck curvature) maintaining a neutral spine while sleeping. Temperature reduction of the head and core is another important feature of a suitable pillow. Sleeping positions also determine the pillow type. Side sleepers would benefit from a thicker pillow to maintain the alignment of the spine. Supine sleepers on the other hand would prefer a thin pillow. Sleeping in a prone position puts undue strain on the neck and hence is not advisable. However, a very thin pillow or no pillow would be an option here.
There is limited evidence regarding the advantages of different pillows available. While clinically some patients feel better with cervical (contour) pillows, some research suggests decreased disability due to neck pain in those using ergonomic latex pillows. Feather pillows are generally not recommended due to a lack of support.
