How to Choose the Best Mattress for Your Sleep Position
A good night’s sleep is essential for your physical and mental health, productivity, athletic performance, and so much more. Choosing the best mattress for your needs is important to help you get the quality sleep you deserve and require.
Before you dive in, there are many factors that impact which mattress is the best choice for you. They include:
- Sleep position
- Body weight
- Age
- Height
- Mattress materials
- Personal firmness preferences
If you have a partner, you need to explore those factors for each of you as well. It can make the process quite challenging for many people. While all these factors affect the type of mattress that works best for you, our goal is to zero in on how your sleep position affects your search for the perfect mattress, and which mattress is a great choice for your preferred sleep position.
What are Common Sleep Positions?
There are three primary sleep positions favored by large segments of the population.
- Back sleeping, preferred by nearly 10 percent of the population.
- Side sleeping, preferred by a whopping 74 percent of the population.
- Stomach sleeping, preferred by 16 percent of the population.
Each position offers specific pros and cons to keep in mind, and may affect your mattress-buying decisions. This is especially important for couples where one person prefers one sleeping position while the other is more comfortable in a different position.
Sleeping on Your Back
While the least commonly preferred sleep position by the average person, the National Sleep Foundation recommends sleeping on your back as the healthiest sleep position for the average adult. Doing so allows your head, neck, and spine to remain in neutral positions while resting, removing unnecessary pressure, and causing less pain (and fewer sleep disruptions in the process).
As a word of caution, however, those living with sleep apnea may experience worsening symptoms when sleeping on their backs, and may need to adjust their current treatment plan accordingly. For those who snore, snoring problems may become more severe when sleeping on the back.
Women who sleep on their backs enjoy an added benefit in that it places no additional pressure on the breasts that may lead to sagging, as is common among women who sleep on their stomachs or sides.
Which mattress is the ideal choice for people who sleep on their backs?
One of the most important things to consider when choosing a mattress for back sleepers is support. You need a highly supportive medium-firm or firm mattress to provide substantial lumbar support, and to help you maintain proper spinal alignment while you sleep. One of the best choices for your needs is a natural latex mattress.
Why natural latex mattresses for back sleeping?
Natural latex mattresses are made from foam created from the sap of rubber trees. While the mattresses aren’t rubber themselves, they maintain the resiliency and buoyancy commonly associated with rubber. When it comes to offering exceptional support, latex mattresses are virtually unsurpassed in the modern marketplace.
While latex offers the firm support you need to promote better spinal health and alignment, it also features abundant cushioning comfort to accommodate the natural curves of your body. This means if you share your bed with a stomach or side sleeper, you can both be comfortable, and experience a good night’s rest with a natural latex mattress.
Sleeping on Your Side
Sleeping on your side has its own share of benefits to consider. One of the most important ones for people who have digestive issues is that it helps to provide relief. This is especially the case if you sleep on your left side, which also promotes greater circulation throughout your body.
Snorers can appreciate side sleeping as well as it helps to minimize snoring. Pregnant women are also encouraged to sleep on their sides as it promotes better blood flow to the fetus (thanks to the improved overall circulation).
While the vast majority of the population claims side sleeping to be their preferred sleep position, there are some drawbacks to consider. Sleeping on your side can increase your risks of developing facial acne and wrinkles. It also contributes to sagging breasts among women.
One of the most common complaints or challenges side sleepers face, however, is pressure point pain from where their hips, shoulders, and other pressure points come into contact with the mattress.
Which mattress is the ideal choice for side sleepers?
There are two types of mattresses commonly considered for side sleepers. Because pressure point pain is such a common problem among side sleepers, and spinal alignment remains important for all sleepers, it is important to choose a mattress that offers adequate pressure point relief and spinal support.
Many people believe memory foam mattresses are the perfect choices for side sleepers. While these mattresses do provide exemplary pressure point relief, they are not widely known to provide adequate support for proper spinal alignment. That is why natural latex is a better choice for most people who are side sleepers.
Why natural latex for side sleeping?
Natural latex offers the perfect balance of support and comfort to cradle the curves of side sleepers, while pushing back in the proper locations to protect spinal alignment while you sleep. This is possible, once again, due to the latex foam that is both buoyant and resilient. In addition to providing a powerful combination of comfort and support. It also helps the mattresses made with natural latex last considerably longer than those made with other types of materials. Lasting up to 25 years in many cases.
Sleeping on Your Stomach
Considered by many to be the worst possible sleeping position for spinal health and other potential issues, stomach sleeping is the second most preferred sleeping position among people today. While this position is one of the best to help manage snoring and sleep apnea side effects, it is the worst when it comes to maintaining proper spinal alignment, and often causes pain in the neck, back, head, face, and breasts.
Additionally, it is widely believed to contribute to early wrinkling of the face, and sagging of the breasts in women. People who sleep on their stomachs may experience persistent tingling and numbness in extremities due to the pressure and irritation it causes to the nerves in your back.
The bottom line is that sleeping on your stomach is the least healthy way to sleep, and can cause more harm than it does good. However, some dedicated stomach sleepers have tried countless times to change their ways, only to find they roll over in the middle of the night.
What is the best mattress for stomach sleepers?
Ideally, stomach sleepers will adopt a new preferred sleep position, and train their bodies to prefer that position. If that isn’t possible, or isn’t working the way you’d like, consider trying a mattress that offers a combination of pressure reduction and support, like a natural latex mattress.
Why natural latex for stomach sleepers?
Latex mattresses provide the buoyancy stomach sleepers need to feel that their curves are being adequately cradled and comforted, while offering the necessary support they need to promote better spinal alignment. The overall goal is to find a mattress that allows you to experience fewer sleep-related aches and pains when you wake in the morning. Natural latex offers the “just right” Goldilocks effect of comfort and support to minimize the damage caused by sleeping on your stomach.
Investing in a Natural Latex Mattress from PlushBeds
The great thing about choosing a natural latex mattress for your sleep needs, regardless of your preferred sleeping position, is that it works wonders for people who sleep in all positions, making it a partner-friendly mattress buying option to consider.
Regardless of how you sleep, an investment in a natural latex mattress is an investment in healthful, restful sleep for many years to come. PlushBeds mattresses come with a 100-night guarantee, which is an excellent benefit if you’re new to latex mattresses.
Link to Us!
If you found this article useful and shareable, please copy and paste the following into the html code of your website or blog:
Learn More About Going Green at the <a href="https://www.plushbeds.com/blogs/green-sleep/how-to-choose-the-best-mattress-for-your-sleep-position">PlushBeds Green Sleep Blog</a>.
*Please note that we DO NOT accept guest blog posts. Any inquiries into this will be respectfully left unanswered.
The post How to Choose the Best Mattress for Your Sleep Position appeared first on PlushBeds Green Sleep Blog.