I’m a side sleeper with chronic neck pain. My wife is a side sleeper, with intermittent hip pain.
I’m 5’8" 165 lbs. She’s 5’5" 140 lbs.
There’s so much to decide between, I just don’t know what to do. I have a pretty new Nectar that has to go back. My neck pain is awful now, I’m sunk in, and we wake up sweating. Need something cool to help with the neck pain.
Any help would be great!
Hi mark5280.
Sleep EZ faced an error when attempting to publish their reply to you and has asked me to post it on their behalf:
Hello and thank you so much for the inquiry!
Based on the information you’re provided, I would absolutely recommend either our Hybrid mattress or the 10" Select Sleep line (available in natural and organic). The Hybrid should be just fine for you, but of course it’s hard to say at this point. The top 3" of soft latex should ensure you get all the contour and pressure relief needed to avoid any hip pain or shoulder pain. This layer will also provide the secondary support needed to help avoid back pain. Secondary support is needed to fill in the gaps between your body and the mattress – back sleepers normally need secondary support to fill in the gaps between the small of their back and the mattress; side sleepers normally need secondary support to fill in the gaps between their mid-section and the mattress. If these parts of a person’s body aren’t supported by the mattress, their muscles will work throughout the night to hold these parts of the body up, and by the time they wake up they’ve got back pain. So the top 3" of soft latex will provide contour, pressure relief, and secondary support. The core of the mattress (the coils) should provide all the primary support needed to maintain proper spinal alignment and avoid back pain. The Hybrid also has enhanced edge support, in case edge support is a concern of yours.
If you choose the natural or organic line, I would definitely recommend soft Dunlop or Talalay for the top layer, medium Dunlop for the middle layer, and firm Dunlop for the bottom layer, and I would recommend this for both sides of the mattress. Even though both sides would be the same, I would still recommend splitting all of your layers. About 95% of our mattresses go out with all split layers from top to bottom, and we get zero complaints on being able to feel the split and we get zero complaints about the layers shifting or anything like that. If all of your layers are split, you will always be able to adjust your side without affecting your partner’s side and vice versa, and you’ll have that option for the entire 20 year lifespan of the mattress. Additionally, the mattress will be easier to assemble, easier to move if needed, easier to do any layers exchanges if needed, and easier to return if needed. There really are no downsides to having all split layers.
I would say the same thing for the natural or organic lines as I said for the Hybrid: the top soft Dunlop or Talalay layer should provide all the contour and pressure relief needed to avoid any pressure point issues and will add secondary support to the mattress. The bottom two (medium and firm Dunlop) layers should provide all the support needed to maintain proper spinal alignment and avoid back pain.
Regarding the differences between the Hybrid and the Select Sleep line - Our Hybrid is an enclosed mattress that quilted on both sides and is adjusted by flipping it, and the Select Sleep mattress has a zippered cover that is adjusted by unzipping the cover and rearranging the layers. Aside from that, the Select Sleep line is fully customizable and fully adjustable. So you can customize the mattress before purchasing so that it’s as soft as you’d like, as firm as you’d like, has as much contour and pressure relief as you’d like, has as much support for your back as you’d like, etc., whereas the Hybrid has limited options for customizing the mattress. Furthermore, if you start with a certain setup in the Select Sleep line and find that it’s too soft, you can unzip the cover and rearrange the layers to get a firmer feel out of the mattress, or you can exchange a layer to make the mattress softer. Additionally, latex mattresses typically last 20 years. If, in 5 or 10 or 15 years you decide you want a softer or firmer mattress you would only have to buy a new layer instead of an entirely new mattress. Aside from that, the Hybrid has a bouncier and springier feel, and feels more similar to a traditional spring mattress than all-latex mattresses do. The Hybrid is an outstanding value and has an incredibly low return rate (all of our mattresses do, actually), and is ideal for people that already know they prefer the feel of a mattress with springs in it.
Actually, both mattresses are great values and have incredibly low return rates compared to the industry average return rate for mattresses, so it’s hard to imagine you would go wrong with either one. It’s just that they have slightly different feels and different options for adjusting them. If you’d like to order the Hybrid with more options for adjusting the firmness or if you’d like the Hybrid to have a different firmness on each side of the mattress, you can order what we call the 360 hybrid. The 360 hybrid is exactly the same as the regular hybrid except it has a zipper on the side of the mattress (3" down from the top of the mattress) that allows you to customize the top 3" of latex and allows you to exchange the top 3" of latex as well. So if you started with a soft on top and tried it and decided you want a medium on top, you can make that change for just $30 as part of our layer exchange period as long as it’s done within the first 90 days of having the mattress.
The Roma has the lowest return rate of all the mattresses we carry, and it’s made to feel very similar to the organic line in our 2 most popular setups, and it’s an outstanding value, as well. The medium-plush side of the Roma feels very similar to the Select Sleep mattress in soft/medium/firm, and the firm-plush side of the Roma feels very similar to the Select Sleep mattress in medium/medium/firm.
I hope I’ve helped clarify things a bit for you, but if I can be of any additional assistance please just let me know.
Hello and thank you so much for the inquiry!
Based on the information you’re provided, I would absolutely recommend either our Hybrid mattress or the 10" Select Sleep line (available in natural and organic). The Hybrid should be just fine for you, but of course it’s hard to say at this point. The top 3" of soft latex should ensure you get all the contour and pressure relief needed to avoid any hip pain or shoulder pain. This layer will also provide the secondary support needed to help avoid back pain. Secondary support is needed to fill in the gaps between your body and the mattress – back sleepers normally need secondary support to fill in the gaps between the small of their back and the mattress; side sleepers normally need secondary support to fill in the gaps between their mid-section and the mattress. If these parts of a person’s body aren’t supported by the mattress, their muscles will work throughout the night to hold these parts of the body up, and by the time they wake up they’ve got back pain. So the top 3" of soft latex will provide contour, pressure relief, and secondary support. The core of the mattress (the coils) should provide all the primary support needed to maintain proper spinal alignment and avoid back pain. The Hybrid also has enhanced edge support, in case edge support is a concern of yours.
If you choose the natural or organic line, I would definitely recommend soft Dunlop or Talalay for the top layer, medium Dunlop for the middle layer, and firm Dunlop for the bottom layer, and I would recommend this for both sides of the mattress. Even though both sides would be the same, I would still recommend splitting all of your layers. About 95% of our mattresses go out with all split layers from top to bottom, and we get zero complaints on being able to feel the split and we get zero complaints about the layers shifting or anything like that. If all of your layers are split, you will always be able to adjust your side without affecting your partner’s side and vice versa, and you’ll have that option for the entire 20 year lifespan of the mattress. Additionally, the mattress will be easier to assemble, easier to move if needed, easier to do any layers exchanges if needed, and easier to return if needed. There really are no downsides to having all split layers.
I would say the same thing for the natural or organic lines as I said for the Hybrid: the top soft Dunlop or Talalay layer should provide all the contour and pressure relief needed to avoid any pressure point issues and will add secondary support to the mattress. The bottom two (medium and firm Dunlop) layers should provide all the support needed to maintain proper spinal alignment and avoid back pain.
Regarding the differences between the Hybrid and the Select Sleep line - Our Hybrid is an enclosed mattress that quilted on both sides and is adjusted by flipping it, and the Select Sleep mattress has a zippered cover that is adjusted by unzipping the cover and rearranging the layers. Aside from that, the Select Sleep line is fully customizable and fully adjustable. So you can customize the mattress before purchasing so that it’s as soft as you’d like, as firm as you’d like, has as much contour and pressure relief as you’d like, has as much support for your back as you’d like, etc., whereas the Hybrid has limited options for customizing the mattress. Furthermore, if you start with a certain setup in the Select Sleep line and find that it’s too soft, you can unzip the cover and rearrange the layers to get a firmer feel out of the mattress, or you can exchange a layer to make the mattress softer. Additionally, latex mattresses typically last 20 years. If, in 5 or 10 or 15 years you decide you want a softer or firmer mattress you would only have to buy a new layer instead of an entirely new mattress. Aside from that, the Hybrid has a bouncier and springier feel, and feels more similar to a traditional spring mattress than all-latex mattresses do. The Hybrid is an outstanding value and has an incredibly low return rate (all of our mattresses do, actually), and is ideal for people that already know they prefer the feel of a mattress with springs in it.
Actually, both mattresses are great values and have incredibly low return rates compared to the industry average return rate for mattresses, so it’s hard to imagine you would go wrong with either one. It’s just that they have slightly different feels and different options for adjusting them. If you’d like to order the Hybrid with more options for adjusting the firmness or if you’d like the Hybrid to have a different firmness on each side of the mattress, you can order what we call the 360 hybrid. The 360 hybrid is exactly the same as the regular hybrid except it has a zipper on the side of the mattress (3" down from the top of the mattress) that allows you to customize the top 3" of latex and allows you to exchange the top 3" of latex as well. So if you started with a soft on top and tried it and decided you want a medium on top, you can make that change for just $30 as part of our layer exchange period as long as it’s done within the first 90 days of having the mattress.
The Roma has the lowest return rate of all the mattresses we carry, and it’s made to feel very similar to the organic line in our 2 most popular setups, and it’s an outstanding value, as well. The medium-plush side of the Roma feels very similar to the Select Sleep mattress in soft/medium/firm, and the firm-plush side of the Roma feels very similar to the Select Sleep mattress in medium/medium/firm.
I hope I’ve helped clarify things a bit for you, but if I can be of any additional assistance please just let me know.
Wow, thank you for the detailed response! That definitely helps a lot.
For now, my wife is really apprehensive about starting over on the mattress hunt so soon after wrapping up the last one. So we compromised. I bought a 3" natural latex topper (soft - ILD 20) from Sleep on Latex, and agreed to try it out for a few weeks before I made a final decision. Truth be told, I am fully expecting to still need to swap the mattress, but I agreed to try. I just don’t see how an extra layer will help since the mattress is already sunk in. But we’ll give it a go!
Your post gives me a lot to consider in the meantime. Another (maybe weird) question in the meantime. Would the topper I bought work as the top 3" layer in one of your mattresses? Or maybe it would just be handy to have as a topper to the Hybrid? Maybe it just gives us some more variety to try?
Thanks again!
OK gotcha. For toppers, normally neither a firm nor extra firm topper will help beyond a negligible degree, even if you purchased a 3" extra firm Dunlop topper. Support has to come from the mattress, not from the topper. Also, latex will conform to whatever surface it is on, so if your mattress is soft or sagging the topper will take on the characteristics of your mattress. Lastly, having a top layer that is not encased with the rest of the mattress will allow that top layer enough spatial freedom to move upwards when you lay on it, making for a very plush and enveloping feel, even if it’s extra firm layer. About 75% of the customers that purchase a firm topper to make the mattress firmer end up returning it, that’s the only reason I mention these things, just FYI.
Aside from that, if you decide to order a 10" all latex mattress after that, just for example, you would just order the 7" mattress but ask that we ship it with a 10" cover to hold your extra 3" latex layer. Or, if you find that you like the really plush and enveloping feel of having a free floating topper on top of your mattress, then you could just order a mattress from us and keep the 3" soft layer on top of the mattress as a topper.
Thanks again.