Best Mattress for Low Back Pain

While many doctors, chiropractors, and yes even salespeople believe they know the answer to this question, the truth is there is no one brand, kind, or firmness that works for low back pain. Mattresses do not fix lower back pain so whichever mattress minimizes, reduces, relieves and allows a good night of sleep is the answer. The fact is no one mattress can do that nor do they guarantee it on any warranty card for that very reason, so it is important to select the bed that gives, relieves, and supports you while still meeting your needs for comfort.

Help Finding The Best Mattress for Low Back Pain

1. Educate and ask about the physical mattress components to determine which one might best fit your needs. There are many types of coils used to make mattresses. Each has a unique height, coil count, design, and steel gauge thickness all of which affects mattress feel and support. Mattress thickness ranges from 7-18 inches thick and can also affect feel and support while additionally affecting look and the fit of bedding. Mattress thickness really should also be determined by personal preferences.
2. Take your time and test rest mattresses for the best fit. Look for one that fills the natural curves of your body but still properly offers good spinal alignment. Good mattress support for the back can help doctor and chiropractic patients find some level of back pain relief. Many  even wake in the morning claiming reduced or total void of muscle soreness associated with a bad or worn mattress.
3. Find that optimal balance involving comfort and back support. While many claim it is all about the firmest support others swear by the cushiest comfort. We think you need to test for the balance because they are equally important.  For some sleeping on a too firm  mattress can be as bad  or maybe even worse in some cases causing painful pressure points that lead to aches and pains. A medium-firm mattress with a little bit of cushiness may be a better choice often giving more comfort because it allows the hips and shoulders to go down into the mattress just slightly. Lower back pain patients who still want a firmer mattress for back support can do so but may opt to purchase one that is thicker with additional padding for greater comfort and more pressure relief overall.
4. Lastly and most importantly use common sense when it comes to your  old mattress set. While some mattresses show obvious visible signs of wear like sagging, stains, or tears know that additions like plywood boards and mattress toppers are nothing more than quick fixes at best for mattresses with little to no support left in them. If your mattress is the standard conventional mattress with coil springs and padding, most are no longer properly doing their job. A person with lower back pain should consider investing in correct and proper support with the acceptable comfort that one can only get in a new mattress.

• The best mattress is the one that feels the best to “you”.
• The best mattress is the one that supports “you” the best.
• The best mattress brand is the one that has the bells, whistles, and features that meet “your” budget.

The Best Mattress For Lower Back Pain Is The One That Works For “You”!

Are you considering an Environmentally Safe Mattress? What does it really mean if we say environmentally friendly mattress?

These terms can mean many different things and quite frankly they all seem to get lumped together under one big umbrella term which is referred to as green mattresses.

Mattresses are but one part of the home furnishings industry and they have been making great strides to offer the consumer a product that is easier on the environment both outside and inside the home.

Define an Environmentally Safe Mattress?

The mattress market encompasses many different kinds of mattresses that range in selection that includes a coil spring mattress and box spring, memory foam, or natural latex mattress. It can be defined as a bed that requires less energy to build and is easy on the environment both inside and outside your home. Such mattresses may use all or some of the following:

• Organic textiles: These are fabrics and goods that are made from organically grown plants such as cotton or organically raised sheep for their wool.
• Bio-hybrid cushioning: Foams that are constructed with plant base substitutes. They make up a percentage of the oils that are obtained from the plant making at least of portion of the petroleum needed sustainable and eco-friendly.
• Made from rapid renewals: Plants or trees that can grow to maturity and can be harvested for their wood, sap, or anything else very quickly.
• Certified wood: Wood that has been certified or independently verified by a third party as being responsibly harvested in order to maximize industry, wildlife, and nature in a sustainable manner.
• Plantation grown: Artificially established forest, farm where various types of trees or crops are grown for sale. It is rare to see local on-site consumption most of the raw goods are sent to distant markets. Some plantations are certified as organic.
• Contain recycled content: A product that contains materials that have been used before and now given new life within a new product. This often reduces energy cost and the need for more raw materials.
• Consider the transportation and shipping: Look for companies that reduce waste of fuel by figuring out better more efficient shipping methods like sourcing from local suppliers instead of suppliers located thousands of miles away.
• Reduced or Zero Off gassing from potentially toxic or harmful chemicals: Various chemicals that exist in the form of synthetic foams, flame retardants, and bleaches and dyes used in fabrics give off potentially harmful gasses called Volatile Organic Compounds or VOC’s. The list is numerous of harmful effects that VOC’s are attributed too.

One mattress company refers to their mattress selection in shades of green. Depending on your budget, your concern for the environment both inside and outside your home, the extreme you choose to go to is your own. Air quality, sustaining our precious natural resources like wood, and safe drinking water can be affected by the choices we make when we purchase a new bed. The shade of green you choose to buy is up to you. Environmentally Safe and Friendly Mattresses can be found to fit most any budget.

Will buying an Environmentally Safe Mattress make me healthier, wealthier, and wiser? Yes.

1. Investing in naturally built mattresses is an investment in your health that could save you money in medical expenses including respiratory issues.
2. You’ll be rich in spirit and mind knowing that your mattress is chemical free, and reduces the burden on the environment through sustainability.
3. It’s smart to think about the future of friends, family, and the planet.

What are the crumbs in your bed that keep you awake at night?

Was it mom or was it grandma that said, “There will be absolutely, positively no eating in bed”? Who ever said it was definitely on to something. There are few things that are more annoying than those tiny little morsels and crumbs from our favorite late night eats in bed? While many people believe that the  crumbs left over in the butter bowl are the worst those annoying mattress crumbs that both literally and figuratively may actually top it.

7 Mattress Crumbs that Act as Sleep Thieves

1. Keep your bed and bedroom clean Simple things include keeping the mattress  spotless and free of dirt from the pets’ paws, the crumbs of our late night snacks, or any other foreign objects that may make their way between the sheets.  Additionally a messy bedroom can result in a  cluttered mind and can lead to unrest. Pick  things up, gather, and remove them making the room in ship-shape. It’s believed that an untidy bedroom can be associated to sleeplessness due to disorganization or  even unfinished work related projects, where as the room should actually be linked with sleep and intimacy.
2. Glow in the dark bedrooms! This one always makes me think of the Seinfeld episode where the big neon sign from the Kenny Rogers’ Fried Chicken Restaurant opens and as a result illuminates Kramers’ apartment which keeps him awake. Lesson here is to block out light by turning off computer monitors, TV sets, and block outside brightness. Another helpful tip; purchase an alarm clock that isn’t too bright or that has a dimming feature.
3. Obsessing over life One of my personal crumbs is the stress of running the family business and not allowing my mind to relax. A person needs special time to problem solve. For example jot down your urgent concerns along with possible solution ideas to solve the problem several hours before bedtime. Controlled stimulus also steers you clear from associating your bed with concerns and anxiety.
4. Your bed buddy snores Ask your snoring partner to sleep on his or her side instead of their back. Also a person who snores can seek medical attention so both sleepers to get proper and rejuvenating sleep.
5. You Sleep Tight With Dust Mites Mild to very severe allergies can be triggered from the residue they leave behind. Use bed linens that block dust mites and clean your bedding frequently. Also be sure to clean your mattress often, and if needed even consider replacing the old nest. Increase the rooms’ airflow by cracking windows or the bedroom door.
6. The pet problem Truth is more than half the cat and dog owners including myself have admitted that their “kids” disrupted their sleep. Consider a crate next to your bed. Dogs like to sleep in a protected safe space. Cat owners don’t forget unlike us these little cuties are nocturnal. Lock them out of the bedroom and purchase special nighttime-only toys that can be hidden during the daytime. Consider double-sided tape on the bottom edge of doors to deter scratching; cats dislike the stickiness.
7. You over doze on Weekends As tempting as it might be a late night followed by extra snooze time the following morning throws off our internal clock. Even if you’ve been up late, don’t sleep in more than an hour longer than usual, Epstein says. To make up for lost slumber, take an afternoon catnap (no more than 30 minutes, though, because an extended daytime snooze can keep you awake at night).

Tell us about the trail of bed crumbs that rob you of sleep and keep you awake at night?

If you could do 1 thing to change your health for the better, that would not cost you a dime, and didn’t require an expensive diet or exercise regiment would you consider it?

As you get ready for summer we must wade through the springtime both literally and figuratively, and along with spring comes great fluctuations in temperature that make everyday dressing tough. Cool temperatures in the morning compel us to leave home wearing a jacket to return home in warmer temps only to forget it.

We can barely prepare for what to wear each morning for drastic changes in weather on a spring day so is there anything we can do to prepare for the springtime cold and flu season?  Springtime is a prime time of year to come down with the common cold and your sleep could be the key to cold prevention and better health for you and your family. According to a recent WebMD article and leading physicians William Ellert, M.D and Diwakar Balachandran, MD getting a good night of sleep or the lack of it affects your immune system in significant ways.

Sleep loss not only plays a role in whether we come down with a cold or the flu but

it also influences how we fight illnesses by means of fevers when we do ultimately come down with such ill health.

Sleep and Immunity: Understanding the Link

Not getting an adequate amount of sleep has been associated to a whole host of mental & physical health problems, as well as those that initiate from an impaired immune system. Our body has a natural weapon called the immune system which is quite complex it is intended to protect us from ailments, colds, and even the flu, but when it is not performing up to snuff, it fails to do its job correctly.

What Are the Consequences Of Less Sleep?

• A weakening of the body’s immune system.
• Sick days
• Less Energy
• Decrease your body’s ability to take action against bacterial infections or colds
• How Sleep helps

Sleep controls the release of a hormone that stimulates cells that boost the immune system and just like a well maintained vehicle which performs better and is less likely to break down a well-tuned immune system is critical in our body’s defense against the cold virus. People often ask how much sleep is needed to help steer clear of the common cold?  A minimum of seven hours of sleep is the easiest way and studies show that people who don’t are three times more likely to catch a cold when they fall short of that minimum. So make your bedtime more healthful and your life more energetic and productive and get some sleep your health may depend on it.

Free Ticket Promotion To Healthy Planet Magazine Green Event

STL Beds is giving away a limited supply of Free Admission Tickets Valued at $8.00 a piece for the Healthy Planet Natural Living Expo 2011. (Limit 5 Tickets Per Family Please!) That saves you up to $40.00. Simply drop by our STL Beds location or send us a self-addressed stamped envelope and mention this blog or print it out too redeem your free money saving tickets. Hurry because when they are gone they are gone!

Information about Green Event:

Healthy Planet Natural Living Expo
When: Sunday, February. 27, 10:00 am to 4:00 pm
Where: Webster Groves Recreation Complex Located at I-44 at Elm Avenue.
33. East. Glendale Road. Zip Code 63119

This is one of the best St Louis green events of the entire year you won’t want to miss it. Healthy Planet Magazine who sponsors and puts on this home show does it right. It is located in Webster Groves, Missouri. This rare STL Green Event is meant to educate the consumers with an wealth of information for living healthier lives and saving the environment through sustainable and green daily living. Whether people choose to do nothing at all, just 1 thing, or completely change the way they buy, use, and dispose of products people will be shocked and surprised how easy, cheap, and healthy green living can be.  Healthy Planet Magazine and their expo always manage to gather a large diversity of green goods and services under one roof and 2011 will be no different. This show will include everything from health screenings to energy saving tips and products for the home but that is not all.

What’s going on at the Expo?

• Healthy eats include Free Organic and Natural food sample.
• Would you like to learn how to make your work or living space more energy efficient?
• Look for chemical free or low or no VOC household goods?
• Every considered environmentally friendly cosmetics as an alternative?
• How start or own your very own “green” business, there will be plenty of businesses there to share ideas.
• Spinal screening
• Free chair massage
• Organic, Natural, and Eco Friendly Mattresses and Bedding
• 1^st 300 guests will receive a free reusable tote bag
• Wine and beer samples
• Live Music
• Free Giveaways
• Someones going to win a weekend vacation to the YMCA Trout Lodge worth $600.00
• Did we mention FOOD?

There will be live music, wine and beer tasting, and tons of give-a-ways. According to Healthy Planet Magazine, “the first 300 guests will receive a free reusable tote bag.” There will be an Amtrak Ticket Giveaway and a weekend vacation at the YMCA Trout Lodge in the Lake of the Ozarks that is worth $600.

Day of the event

Cost: $8.00 for adults

Cost: Kids under 16 FREE!

Who’s going to be exhibiting at the expo?

Wildlife Center of Missouri

Vitality Unlimited Spa

True-Dose Pets

Treats Unleashed

Thomas Construction

The School of Metaphysics

The Healing Center

St. Louis Vegetarian Society

STL Beds

Soul Esteem Center

Sierra Club

Shining Rivers Waldorf School

Schnucks Market

Schalafly Beer

Sappington Farmers Market

Renewal By Anderson

Pure Power

PB Design

New Life Solutions

Neel’s Pharmacy

Missouri Coalition for the Environment / Earth Designs

Midtown Home Improvement

Juice Plus

Inmotion Health Center

Holistic Fitness

Healing Arts Center

Elements of Wellness

Eckankar – Spiritual Literature

Dancing Spirit Healing & Arts Center

Culver Way Ecovillage

Crown Valley Winery

Complete Wellness Center

Community Acupuncture of St. Louis

Committed to Health Chiropractic

Chipolte Mexican Grill

Butterfly Energy Works

Build St. Louis

Body & Mind / Healthy Harvest Gardens

Blueshadow Photography

Berhanu Organic

Bellaspark Productions

Bath Fitter

Bales Junk Removal

Arbonne International

Animal Health & Healing

Amtrak

Alternative Hospice

Alpha-Health Solutions

Advanced Energy Solutions

You can find more information about the Healthy Planet Green Expo by calling 314-962-7748 or go to www.thehealthyplanet.com