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I received this e-mail the other day from one of my patients and since this is a question that I get asked a lot, I thought I would share my response with everyone.

Hello Dr. Steve

How are you? Well I think our current mattress may be at the end. Can you recommend any brands / types? I saw the following this weekend but I am not sure it would be recommended for my back (body) situation.

It was a Sealy Posturepedic Stelingshire firm (Costco).

Can you provide any advice/direction on this matter?

Thanks in advance. Marcos

Hey Marcos!!

I’ll do my best to advise you and if I can, point you to a couple of websites so you can be armed with more information.

Here’s what you want to look for in a mattress. As most of you guys know, I’m a posture freak. Good posture means being able to look at someone from the side and see that the ear, shoulder, hip and ankle are in a straight line to each other. Good sleeping posture is exactly the same thing. Find a mattress that can put those four points in a straight line when you’re laying on it.

Posturepedic mattresses are usually good, and they’re affordable. They’re one of the more popular ones out there. But I would also advise you to try out the sleep number beds with the air mattresses.

I like the sleep numbers but as one patient recently told me, he can’t find his number. He spends all night letting air out and putting air back in. I also like the idea of side by side support, because chances are, you and your spouse don’t have the exact same spines, and trying to cram both of you onto one mattress will not be beneficial to either one of you. So if you have a bed where she can adjust her side and you can adjust your side to the desired comfort levels, then that’s a great thing. That’s the advantage of the sleep number beds.

I would also advise you to try out the tempurpedic beds as well. I like the tempurpedic beds because rather than be on a boxspring, the mattress is on a firm base, and that memory foam reduces pressure points drastically. I personally don’t believe they live up to the manufacturer’s claim that they last for 20 years. In all honesty, I think the most you’ll get out of any mattress is about 10 years, and quite frankly, if you get that many you’re doing really well.

Now, keep in mind, and this is strictly my opinion, that when it comes to mattresses, there is just no universal gold standard. In other words, what’s good for the goose isn’t always good for the gander. If your neighbor, family member, friend, or co-worker has found a mattress that they like and that gives them a good night’s sleep, that’s great, but that same style mattress might not be as good for you. After all, people come in all shapes, sizes, and builds and therefore have different needs from a mattress. By the way, here’s an excellent article from Consumer Search Reports that describes exactly what I’m talking about:

http://www.consumersearch.com/www/house_and_home/mattress-reviews/review.html

But, if you were to torture me, and believe me, I know a lot of you would like to (payback to Dr. Steve!!), I would tell you the one mattress that I have seen that incorporates the best of the inner coil mattresses, the sleep number beds and the tempurpedic mattresses is the Sleep Adjustment Bed by Isleep. Check it out here:

http://www.isleep.com/showroom/beds.asp

Now this mattress, quite frankly, is expensive. But, keep in mind that our beds are where we spend 1/3 to 1/4 of our entire lives, so don’t get too tight-fisted when you’re buying one. You know the old saying: Pennywise, Poundfoolish. Ask yourself, how much is a good night’s sleep worth? Considering that good sleep can boost immune function, increase overall health and wellness, help burn fat, help boost memory and mental function, help repair worn out tissues and increase your life span, it seems that a good night’s sleep is virtually priceless, so consider this an investment!!! (I’ll also tell you another dirty little secret that most chiropractors don’t want you to know: if most of you were sleeping on good quality mattresses, you would barely need us!!)

And no matter what you do, make sure that if you’re going to make a significant investment of your money, your time, and your spine (hey, you got to sleep on the thing, right?), that you get a 30 or 60 day money back guarantee if you’re not happy with the mattress. You absolutely cannot tell how a mattress is going to do if you sleep on it for just 5 minutes in a store. You have to give it a few nights to a few weeks to really know how it’s going to treat your body.

How can you tell how it’s doing? You’ll know if you:

• toss and turn a whole bunch at night,
• feel extra sleepy or fatigued in the morning,
• wake up extra stiff or sore in the morning, especially in your lower back.

These are all good signs that your mattress just isn’t happening for you. Take it back and try again.

Personally, the best night’s sleep I have ever had in my life was on a limited-motion waterbed that had a heater to make the bed warm when you climbed in at night. Years later, I found out from the American Sleep Research Institute (www.ASRI.net ) that one of things that helps put you in a deep sleep and then keep you there is when your extremities have a higher temperature than the core of your body. Then, to stay in a deep sleep, there should not be a lot of temperature changes when you shift in your sleep. Have you ever gotten out of that nice warm spot and been amazed to find out how cold other spots on the mattress are? Just that small temperature change can rouse you from deep sleep even if it doesn’t necessarily wake you up. So I think one thing a mattress should have is a constant surface temperature of around 85 degrees. The Sleep Adjustment bed has this feature.

For those of you not rushing right out to buy a new mattress, keep your hands and feet warm when going to bed to induce a deeper sleep more quickly. Light mittens and socks may help improve the quality of your sleep.

Finally, it’s not just the mattress that will help with the support of your back at night. It’s your pillow, too. You may or may not know that I sell custom fitted pillows. We take four measurements and have you answer a few questions to make a pillow that’s uniquely suited to you and the way you sleep.

But this pillow won’t be as good unless you’re sleeping on the right mattress, and vice versa, sleeping on a good mattress with a bad pillow will make the mattress seem not quite as comfortable. So get the pillow situation right!! To read more about our custom fitted pillows as well as a few other types of orthopedic pillows, check out this link:

http://www.footlevelers.com/products/cervical_support_pillows.php

Here are a few more links to read some articles comparing mattresses:

http://www.myfoammattress.net/compare/mattress.html

http://www.mattresshotline.com/compareindex.cfm

http://www.bettersleep.org/OnBetterSleep/mattress_shopping.asp

Hopefully, you’ll find this helpful. And, if anyone has any other health/wellness related questions, feel free to e-mail me and I’ll answer those too.

Dr. Steve Goninan
Lawrenceville Family Chiropractic
“Live Life Without Limits”

Lawrenceville Family Chiropractic
295 West Pike ST
Lawrenceville, GA 30045 | www.DrSteve.net