Do Doctors Recommend Firm or Soft Mattresses and Which is Better?
Fortunately for us times have changed, doctors are well read and trained and have become educated in the ways of modern mattresses. As a result of this “extensive training” many more people are sleeping better and receiving the healthy benefits of a properly diagnosed mattress, or are they? Back in the day doctors used to tell you the firmer a mattress was the better mattress was for you. Most physicians would go so far as to suggest putting a piece of plywood between your mattress and the supporting boxspring for extra firm support. So lets learn about the mattresses first, and then we will address the doctors’ recommendations.
- Hard mattresses often share the same internal components as their softer counterparts the plush topped and pillow top mattress. Firm mattresses are just what they say they are stiff and firm and usually have very little to no give what so ever. In the mattress industry the term support means to hold up, mold, take shape of the body by its very definition. Firm, hard, and nongiving does not lend itself to contouring, much less properly supporting the body.
- Soft mattresses often offer the choice of comfy-cozy plush mattress tops or the popular pillow-topped surfaces. Their names are self-defining and without a doubt precisely describe their distinctive feel. Softer types of mattresses have plenty of give in order to support and contour to your body’s natural shapes and curves. The problem with these types of beds can actually be under buying. This can either be don by the persons who don’t know any better or salespeople who are inexperienced or don’t care. Neither seems to have a clue that sometimes individuals can be too heavy for a beds design. This allows anticipated support to slip into unbeneficial sagging. This by itself can create a whole bunch of other sleeping issues.
Now that we know the difference between hard and soft which mattresses are recommended and prescribed by doctors?
I feel the majority of us know our limitations when it comes to diagnosing sick people suffering minor to serious health issues. So why would we take it upon ourselves to dispense prescription medications to them. The fact is that nearly all physicians know little to nothing about mattresses, mattress design, and just as important how one works to support your back. So why do doctors continue to suggest, prescribe, and recommend mattresses they know nothing about? Could some of them actually be getting paid for their endorsements?
With the invention of the waterbed, which is quite soft, the entire mattress industry was turned upside down. Whether you like them or hate them, the way you sleep today has been affected by the now 40-year old hippie fad. Yes, waterbeds were hard to move, get in and out of and make, but people seemed to sleep well on these squishy soft mattresses.
Throughout this same time period the mattress and boxspring industry was ramming hard, firm, inflexible mattresses down our throats. Many of the admittedly untrained sleep specialist (doctors) followed suit by suggesting the addition of plywood between the mattress and boxspring for even more firmness. Shockingly many still recommend this today.
I am sure there are people that will disagree with this blog, but I will point out one clear fact. When you or I attend a ball game and sit on the bleachers, our butt falls asleep. Very quickly, and the area can become numb and even painful from the restricted blood circulation. I am curious why people can’t understand that the same thing happens in a hard firm mattress? Do they not understand that poor circulation through out the body is the primary cause of restlessness and constant repositioning throughout the night? Take that away and we are on our way at the very least to an improved night of sleep. The problem will exist as long as humans continue to be creatures of habit. We fear change and unorthodox lines of thought such as mine.
Medicinenet.com reported Kim Bergholdt, DC, of Denmark’s Funen Back Center attempted to find the answer. Her groups’ study had varied results, but the study concluded that more people find a soft bed slightly better for back pain.
After reading the April 21, 2008 article:
“Do Doctors Recommend Firm or Soft Mattresses and Which is Better?”, I am lead to conclude that the writer of that article knows little about mattress design or mattress comfort. I am not arguing the writer’s observation that doctors who prescribe mattress type are ignorant about mattress design and comfort. That may or may not be the case. Surely the writer of that article needs to learn about what makes a healthy mattress.
After some 45 years of trying various mattresses and designs, I have come to the following conclusion. IN GENERAL, the most comfortable and healthy bed must be designed as follows:
1. The bed must be a platform bed. A hardwoood platform with multiple supports so that the plank does not bend over time is important.
2. The base of the bed must be of cery firm mattress of polyurethane material with high ULD. This base MUST NOT be thicker than 4 inches.
3. The top layer must be of thickness 1 inch or less of heavy duty memory foam.
4. The two layers MUST be glued.
5. The entire mattress of thickness 5 inches max must be wrapped in a soft cover.
This will be the best sleeping platform for most everyone.
BYE BYE BACK PAIN.
Annaswamy Natarajan
Disclaimer:
If the person has serious health issues, that person may need a different design.
Comment by Annaswamy Natarajan — July 20, 2008 @ 6:59 pm
Unfortunately Annaswamy your commentary shrugs off the important fundamental question I asked during a time when more and more doctors are over prescribing or incorrectly prescribing, a time in which it is becoming more common for doctors to spend less time getting to know their patients not to mention their needs. I’ll add it seems that more and more doctors are being persuaded into opinions however right or wrong those opinions may be through paid endorsements. All things I lacked to note in the blog.
It makes me sick the number of doctors / chiropractors that make bold or even ridiculous mattress diagnoses to their patients with no understanding of mattresses what so ever. One day they tell you sleeping on a waterbed is good, the next its bad, hard mattresses are the best; the next day soft mattresses are the best. Annaswamy the one thing we could probably agree on is that the doctors do not agree with one another on the subject of which mattresses are best. I would like to see some cold hard evidence of which mattress is better? I am not sure such evidence exists at this time.
Come on doctors and Chiropractors step up and speak you piece!
Annaswamy I mean absolutely no disrespect, however I would like to make a simple point by thanking you for allowing us all to say the words BYE BYE BACK PAIN. With that 45 years of trying various mattresses and designs, it seems you have single handedly solved the world’s mattress dilemma with one mattress, that so far Sealy, Serta, Simmons and Spring Air could not do with thousands. I hope you own a mattress retail store because you will make millions of dollars based on your GENERAL 5 Step mattress design you have so generously shared with us.
Annaswamy I am always willing to learn from people who will teach me what they know and I continue to read extensively on the topic of mattresses so I can help people sleep better and get better support every night. I don’t claim to know everything about mattresses and never will but throughout my mattress-selling career I have been honest and helpful. I will add that I have not once prescribed or recommend such things as hard, medium, or soft pillow tops or non-pillow tops, waterbeds, memory foam, latex, airbeds, or even hybrids something many physicians can’t say. Ok, I will admit I have my personal favorites and have made suggestions to customers, but I never told anyone that is what they have to have or forced my opinions or biases on a single Water Works Sleep Center or Sleep Station customer in my 22+ years of selling mattresses.
Annaswamy it is unfortunate your comment still leaves my readers looking for the answer to my initial question…
Do Doctors Recommend hard or Soft Mattresses and which is better which my readers still seeking the answer too. I did not ask the questions which mattress is better to sleep on a hard mattress or soft mattress, nor was the blog about mattress design or mattress comfort or even what makes a healthy mattress all thinks you criticized me on and challenged my lack of knowledge. However these would all be great blog ideas that I appreciate them and may very well write about such topics in future blogs, I hope you will come back and read them. In all my blogs my goal is to stay on topic. My principal goal is to assist people in mattress related Internet searches who seek out the answers to their mattress related questions.
Annaswamy, thank you, for your comment you are always welcome here and welcome to comment, even though we seem to disagree.
Doug
Comment by Doug — July 23, 2008 @ 11:29 pm