Sleep Your Way

There are three positions that people sleep in.  Sometimes we all wonder which position is best.  Let's just put the statistic on the table:  around 70% of people in the US sleep on their side, 10% sleep on their stomach, and 20% sleep on their backs.  That is interesting to me as a mattress sales professional in that most people coming in to our store test beds on their backs.  Our preferred position seems to be ingrained in to our minds, it is very hard to change.  This blog entry wants to not promote one position or another, we feel that instead we need to talk about what we can do to make each position better by using body mechanics to lessen the stress on our skeletal system.

Side sleepers have the least amount of surface area on the sleep surface.  And the most amount of profile, that is the curves of the human body.  Our hips and shoulders are more pronounced on our side than on our back or stomach.  The surface you sleep on should accommodate those curves to effectively enhance your sleep posture.  This will be a bit counter general thought, but side sleepers should look for a some what softer sleep surface than back or stomach sleepers.  The softer surface will allow your hips and shoulders to indent the surface more, encouraging better posture.  Side sleepers are the ones who appreciate pillow tops, as pillow tops help deflect more pressure from our bodies, and soften the surface.

Back sleepers, roughly 20% of the population, have the most surface sleep area on our mattresses.  Because of this, the amount of pressure per square inch of sleep area is less.  But back sleepers still need to consider how they sleep on their backs.  Our bodies are not intended to be a straight line, there are normal curves which need to be taken in to account.  Back sleepers should shop for their mattresses by paying attention to their lower back.  If you feel a push in the lower back, the mattress you are laying on is too hard.  Our muscles work to keep our spine in the proper alignment.  If the bed is too hard, it will push the hips up relying on the muscles, particularly in our lower back, to compensate and align our spines.  Over use of muscles will cause pain.  Back sleepers need to also look to their knees, again the knees will be stressed if they are too straight, consider a small pillow under them to give them a slight bend.  Like with the side sleepers, too hard of a bed will cause it to not conform properly to your body, and that too will cause pain.  Too soft or too much pillow top will cause your back to sag, and that will cause lost sleep and pain.

And the stomach sleepers... Most doctors, osteopaths, and chiropractors recommend against sleeping on your stomach.  However in otherwise healthy people, it is not as bad as you might think.  Stomach sleepers do need a firm surface with no pillow top, or very slight.  And, this is important, the legs should never be straight.  A slight bend in one leg will help encourage your body to be in a good posture.  Stomach sleepers also do not need nor often times desire a pillow.  Pillows will throw the neck out of position, it is not comfortable and can cause neck pain.

Minor tweeks to the way you sleep is often easier than to try a complete new position.  And can eliminate some early morning neck and back pain.  We do not normally sleep in the same position all night.  This has to do with the pressure of the sleep surface against the body.  In most cases our bodies will sense the build up of pressure, when it reaches a certain point, we will roll over.  When we ask the question:  Which sleep position do you prefer?  Often we are met with quizzical looks, some people do not know what their sleep position is, because they toss and turn all night.  Your preferred sleep position is that position, which when you go to it, you fall asleep fastest.  If you plan for and shop for that preferred position, you will get a better bed.

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you will know there are 4 major types of sleep systems in the US these days:  Coil springs, Memory Foam, Water, and Air Technology beds.  To be fair, our store concentrates on the last one, Air Technology, we feel it is the most responsive to our bodies and, it allows two different people to adjust the sides individually keeping both in the same bed, and that is a good thing. 

Our store is a Comfortaire dealer, and we believe they are the highest quality out there today.  There are others like Innomax, and Sleep Number, but Comfortaire is the oldest of the air bed companies, their design is the first mass market design, and was copied by others, with minor changes to avoid patent infringement.  As prices of materials have gone up, Comfortaire has managed to maintain quality with slight price increases, rather than holding the price static and cheapening the inside of the mattress. 

And of the two major players in the air technology business, Comfortaire generally has lower prices on similar beds.  Which means they are a better value.  If you are inclined to look at Air Based sleep products, ask to see the inside of the bed.  Comfortaire trains their representatives to offer a look inside, the others generally discourage it, but will show the customer, if asked.

Quality is a base pad, it keeps the Air Technology from moving too much and stretching the cover, making the bed last longer.  You will not feel anything different, at least for a number of years.  Quality is good controls.  Good controls are those that work when you need them too.  Wireless controls require a battery, wired do not; wired seem to get better quality ratings, and they are real hard to lose.  Quality is good fabrics.  The fabric on top will help determine how well you acclimate to the bed.  Fabrics can cause you to sleep hot.  Lower quality fabrics can stretch.  Quality is good foams.  How long your bed lasts depends on how good the foam is as well.  Lower quality foams will indent sooner and performance will sag. 

Sleep Well!