It’s no secret that the type of mattress you have has a big impact on spine health and overall quality of sleep. To quote Dr. Dmitriy Dvoskin, a dual board- certified pain management physician based in New York City, the evidence to support this claim is “overwhelming.”
“The type of mattress — soft, medium, medium-firm and firm — augments your body’s contact pressure with the mattress,” Dvoskin told HuffPost.
He explained that something too firm could create more contact pressure between your body and the mattress, leading to discomfort or back pain, while a mattress that’s too soft could also become uncomfortable and exacerbate neck pain. The general solution, according to Dvoskin, is opting for a sleeping surface that’s medium-firm.
Dr. Bill Sullivan, a physical medicine and rehabilitation physician at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and former president of the North American Spine Society, agreed with this medium-firm generalization, but argues that we should be paying more attention to the individualized nature of sleep and comfort needs.
“A lot of the studies... out there that relate mattresses to back pain use this nebulous term of nonspecific back pain. They [tend to] lump together different subsets of sleep quality studies that are subjective. They will look at the physical aspects like pressure points or spinal alignment, rather than things like how you feel after you sleep,” Sullivan said.
If something is uncomfortable to lay on and it’s impacting your ability to get a good night’s sleep, then according to Sullivan that’s enough of a reason to reevaluate your situation and explore new mattresses or mattress modifications, rather than trying to pinpoint that one mattress that claims to “provide lumbar support or align your spine.”
Both Sullivan and Dvoskin acknowledge that buying a whole new mattress is an expensive endeavor and might not be feasible for everyone. This is where a mattress pad or topper can become a great short-to-longterm option, depending on the kind of mattress that you’re starting out with.
“In general, a topper is going to work better when you’re starting out at a really firm level,” Sullivan said, while Dvoskin explained that toppers can be useful for old coil mattresses that no longer offer quality support.
“Another consideration is if you sleep with a partner, you may want to purchase a topper just for your side of the bed. Back, hip and waist comfort differences all influence the amount of support preferred,” Dvoskin said, noting that in general, men tend to prefer softer sleeping setups while women prefer firmer support.
If you’re getting the sense that your mattress is no longer imparting the comfort it once did or is a little too firm for your liking, then check out the below list of mattress pads and toppers (all available in sizes twin through California king). They all come highly rated and follow the suggestions laid out by our experts.
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