How to choose a mattress based on your sleeping habits

If you sleep on your side

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“A side sleeper, as the name suggests, sleeps on either of their sides. When you are sleeping in this position, your shoulder and your hips are the deepest points compressing down on the mattress top.

While your hips naturally ease into the mattress, your head/neck has to be supported by a pillow on the mattress. More often than not, even with the pillow, your shoulder will still be edged out by a few inches (unless you have narrow shoulders). These few inches will need to be ‘eased’ into the mattress so that your shoulder are not bent while you sleep.

So, a side sleeper will need to choose a mattress with ‘a padding’ on top of the mattress— Hennsley® named them as Pillow Top or Euro Top models. This padding provides the cushions necessary to ease off the pressure points on your shoulders and, at the same time, allows your shoulder to ease into the mattress and relax in its natural position.

On the other hand, if you are using a firmer mattress, your shoulder has no way to ease into the mattress and will end up bending forward while you sleep. This is why there are so many people getting sore neck or shoulders when they get up in the morning. Please do not take this too lightly, as in the long term, you are likely to get a sore back, since the nerves on your neck are connected to ones on your back. It is therefore important to know that whilst you are sleeping on your side, your spine needs to be as straight or parallel as possible.”

If you sleep on your back

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“If you are sleeping on your back, you will have to ensure that the mattress you choose must be able to support your back fully.  You must understand that our spines are not straight—it has a certain curvature.  So, if you are sleeping on your back, you will need to get a mattress which can support the contour/curvature of your body so that the spine is at its natural position.  If the mattress is too soft, your back will sink into the mattress, and this will cause backaches.

A mattress that is too firm will not allow your back to rest properly on the mattress.  The pressure points developed on your back will also cause numbness, and this will make you toss and turn more frequently.

In general, for a back sleeper you can choose any types of mattress that can provide you the maximum support on your lower back while you sleep.  We would recommend our Hennsley® Zonal Pocketed Innerspring Sleep System, which comes with thicker innersprings at the middle section of the mattress to support your lower back and hip area.”

If you sleep in a foetal position

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“Foetal Sleepers curl their bodies up on their side with their knees tucked in.  If you are sleeping in this position, you will need to choose a bigger size mattress to accommodate your sleeping style.

If you are sleeping with a partner, you might want to choose a king-sized mattress instead of a queen-sized one. This is because with your knees raise closer to your chest, it will take up a slightly bigger space than a side or back sleeper.

In addition, as the body is curled up, the weight of your body will not be distributed evenly across the mattress. In fact, most of your body weight will be concentrated at a particular section of the mattress.

As such, it is advisable for you to choose a mattress with Zonal Technology, such as our Hennsley® Zonal Pocketed Innerspring Sleep System. Our Zonal Pocketed Innerspring Technology will give you a much better support at the zone which are more critical to your body.”

This article was first published in Cleo.