There’s a perennial myth that firm mattresses are actually good for your back, and as we learn how to treat insomnia, it’s worth noting that this myth also prevents millions of us from getting what we desperately need… sleep. deep repairer.

The firmer the mattress, the greater the pressure on your body against what is essentially a non-giving surface, and it will wake you up! Most of us sleep on our sides, and in a vain attempt to relieve pressure from our shoulders, whether we are aware of it or not, on a firm mattress we roll from one shoulder to the other throughout the night. This constant movement radically disrupts our natural sleep cycle and we rarely wake up refreshed and ready for the new day. Does that ring a bell?

Traditionally, and dating back to the last hundred years or so, what was considered a high quality mattress was constructed using heavy gauge springs covered with layers of felt and horse hair, and eventually the entire bed was covered in sumptuous fabrics. some padded, some not. The best varieties were made so rigid that they did not sag in the middle. Sagging mattresses, then as now, contributed to recurring back pain. Hence the idea that a firm mattress was better for you. The cheaper these mattresses were, the more likely they were to deteriorate rapidly. They were the worst, hard and down, all at the same time. Mattress manufacturers addressed these issues with the advent of deeply padded pillow tops. Designed to ‘soften the blow’, Pillow Tops got the job done, but eventually the loose padding would create a deep-bodied impression of its own and we were back to square one.

So, mattress hard (lots of pressure but hard) or soft (great at first but breaks down over time)?

It doesn’t have to be that way anymore!

We are in the 21st century and things have changed radically in the bedding business. So maybe it’s time to think about switching to a modern foam mattress. With this in mind, the next time you shop for a bed, you may find that a great deal of sleep science has gone into the development of contemporary springless mattresses. The best examples contain highly engineered modern foams that will temporarily precisely conform to the exact shape of your body while you sleep, yet retain their original flat rectangular shape when you’re not. No permanent body impressions will remain.

Today, you have a wide variety of foam beds with price points ranging from fairly inexpensive to somewhat extravagant. How do you choose? As a rule of thumb, ask a lot of questions, one of which is “Where is the foam material in this bed made?” If the bed contains imported foams, it is likely that they were made in China. they use formaldehyde as a means of curing the finished product.Sometimes you just don’t know it, so I’d avoid cheap “too good to be true” memory foam products and instead choose a bed with their main materials produced in the USA .comfort, and will also have been rigorously tested for toxicity and fire suppression.

In our eternal search for quality sleep, a good foam mattress will definitely help!