From our material you will learn whether it is useful to sleep on a hard mattress, what degrees of hardness of orthopedic mattresses exist and what are their differences.
On the Internet you can often see recommendations to sleep on a hard surface, and the advice given is very different - from hard orthopedic mattresses to bare boards. Of course, bare boards or a floor are already quite harsh, but a hard mattress can be examined in more detail. A hard surface will be beneficial if used for its intended purpose. More precisely, according to the testimony.
The article was prepared by the website Sonoteka.ru - a wide selection of quality mattresses for every taste.
Who benefits from a hard mattress?
First of all, newborns– Pediatricians and orthopedists recommend hard mattresses specifically for infants. It is this surface that provides reliable support to the unformed spine. At the same time, mattresses for children are also elastic, which means that the natural shape of the spine is not straightened. For newborns, the toughest models are recommended. It is also recommended to buy such products for children over one year old and teenagers. The older, the softer the surface can be, but within reasonable limits.
The second category of people who need a hard mattress is suffering overweight . Or simply having a weight of more than 100 kg (for example, bodybuilders). The point is that a softer surface will sag under the weight of the body, forming a “hammock”, and therefore curving the spine.
Can light weight adults sleep on a hard mattress? But this is not recommended, if your body weight is less than 55 kg, you should buy a medium or soft mattress. Otherwise, you will get that same feeling of sleeping on bare boards. Your posture may be good, but your lower back and limbs will not like such a dream.
Another group - people suffering from spinal diseases. Hardness in in this case selected by a doctor based on the person’s health status. An exception to the rule is a herniated spine; for this pathology, soft but orthopedic mattresses are recommended. Although during exacerbations it is better to switch to medium hardness.
Is a hard mattress beneficial? to those who are engaged physical labor ? Yes, especially if it is associated with a monotonous load. The same goes for professional athletes.
Is it possible to sleep on a soft mattress?
Depends on what kind of mattress it is. If we mean a soft feather bed, then no, it’s not allowed, for anyone and under any circumstances. It’s better to choose a hard mattress for the sofa than to sleep on this option. But a soft orthopedic mattress is a completely different matter. It is recommended for spinal hernia, joint diseases, circulatory disorders in the extremities, as well as for people over 50 years of age. The fact is that in such cases, the hard surface impairs blood flow, which means it worsens the already poor nutrition of the tissues.
Why can't children sleep on a soft mattress? Because their spine is not yet formed, and the soft surface will contribute to its deformation. And let’s not forget that scoliosis is a pathology that occurs in almost all schoolchildren. A soft mattress for scoliosis is the worst thing you can think of.
What are hard mattresses made of?
So, it’s already clear who needs to sleep on a hard mattress and who doesn’t. It remains to find out what they are made of.
Orthopedic models can be made on the basis of a spring block or monolithic material. In any case, coconut fiber is used - that which gives the desired degree of rigidity. In mattresses for newborns, only this material is used; for older children, a layer of foam latex or similar material is placed on top of the coir for greater softness.
The same applies to spring models - without coir they will be too soft.
By the way, if you want to make your mattress firmer, just buy a mattress pad made of coir, and it’s not difficult to find.
Advice to leave soft feather beds and lie down on hard mattresses, or even boards or the floor, has been heard more and more often lately. Stories about miraculous healings and the benefits of sleeping on a hard surface sometimes look quite convincing and make you think. However, you should not rush to buy a hard mattress. First, make sure that Spartan sleep is right for you and decide on the appropriate product model.
Hard mattresses can be found in the lines of almost all manufacturers. And this is no coincidence. Such models provide enhanced back support, sag less under body weight, are resistant to increased loads, and therefore invariably find their buyer. But can the listed features always be called advantages? How are they different from each other? different models hard mattresses? Let's figure it out.
Is it good to sleep on hard things?
You have probably heard (or will hear) more than once stories about how a person was uncomfortable on a mattress, he lay down on the boards or the floor and immediately got rid of all his problems. Or about how an orthopedic doctor for a long time advised to sleep on hard ones and scolded soft feather beds. At the same time, there are often cases when, after being forced to sleep on the floor, people woke up with terrible pain in the lower back or numb arms and cursed the rigidity.Who is right here? Is it healthy to sleep on boards? Who should you listen to? All the stories described are true, but you cannot listen to any of them. You need to listen to yourself, choose the level of rigidity in accordance with your age, weight, problems with the spine and health in general, lifestyle, habitual sleeping position, etc. All people are different, hard surfaces are useful for some, harmful for others.
Ideally, during sleep, a person’s spine should take a natural position, receive reliable support and fully relax. This is what is called the orthopedic effect. On a surface that is too hard, the pelvis rises, and the lower back sags, is suspended and tense. There is nothing useful about this.
Many fans of sleeping on boards praise it for the fact that the spine is stretched and straightened. Meanwhile, by nature the human spine is not straight, but S-shaped, it has a bend in the lumbar region, which also needs support. But the shoulders on a hard surface really relax and lower, straighten (in the supine position). Therefore, it is more correct to talk about the benefits of sleeping on a hard surface for posture, and not for the spine as a whole. But is your posture worth the back pain if you sleep on the floor? How will this turn out if you already have problems in the lumbar region or with blood circulation? Nothing good. It is better not to go to extremes, not to sleep on the floor or boards, but to buy a high-quality hard or medium-hard mattress.
So, sleeping on a hard surface is good for certain conditions and a certain group of people, but not everyone. And it is important that the surface is not extremely hard, but only provides enhanced support, as hard orthopedic mattresses do.
Who needs hard mattresses?
As we already said, important difference hard mattresses - increased resistance to heavy loads. Therefore, it is not surprising that people weighing more than 90-100 kilograms are advised to buy hard mattresses first. Only such models will provide comfortable back support. full man, will not sag and will help avoid the “hammock effect”.Children, teenagers and young people under 25 need hard mattresses no less. For correct formation spinal column and posture, sleeping on a flat, hard surface is essential to avoid deformities and problems in the future. At the same time, very hard mattresses are recommended for newborns, and simply hard ones for children and teenagers.
We have already mentioned that when you sleep on a hard surface, your shoulders straighten and relax. Therefore, hard mattresses are highly recommended for people with problems in the upper spine, poor posture, intervertebral hernias, pain in the neck.
Due to the fact that hard mattresses sag less under the influence of weight, they are strongly recommended for fans of sleeping on their stomach (even with lower back problems). On a hard surface, the stomach does not sink too deeply into the sleeping area, which prevents the lower back from bending excessively backwards.
Well, the final criterion for choosing rigidity is lifestyle. Professional athletes and people leading an active lifestyle and doing physical labor are offered to sleep on a hard surface.
Who should not sleep on hard mattresses?
People over 50-55 years old should first avoid sleeping on hard surfaces. At this age, the spine already needs special comfortable conditions for rest, the bed should be soft so that the mattress gently envelops your back.It is also harmful for people suffering from problems with joints and blood circulation, arthritis and arthrosis to sleep on hard surfaces. The hard surface puts additional pressure on soft fabrics, blocks blood flow, provokes numbness, numbness of the limbs, complications and exacerbations of chronic diseases.
In addition, we have already explained why hard mattresses are contraindicated for problems in the lumbar region. They are also not recommended for pregnant women to avoid unnecessary pressure on the fetus.
Other large group those who need to forget about hard mattresses are adults weighing less than 55 kilograms. Rigid models simply will not fit sufficiently press under the body thin man, will not be able to provide the right support backs.
What types of hard mattresses are there?
First of all, the hardness of the mattress depends on the filler material. The toughest is coconut coir. This is a natural, environmentally friendly, hypoallergenic filler that perfectly allows air to pass through and removes moisture, does not absorb odors and does not rot. It is obtained from solid fibers coconut, are hand-soaked, combed and dried, and then impregnated with latex (latexed coir) to form a monolithic block. Coconut coir is resistant to heavy loads and has increased rigidity. Accordingly, the thicker its layer, the harder the mattress.
The hardest mattresses are springless ones made from coconut coir. A little softer model, consisting of alternating layers of coconut and latex. A replacement for coir in economy class models is struttofiber. This is a non-woven material, the fibers of which are arranged vertically, and have a rigidity similar to a canvas made of two layers of coconut.
Some types of polyurethane foam can also act as rigid layers, i.e. artificial latex. This material boasts most of the benefits of natural latex (except perhaps durability), but with greater hardness. Polyurethane foam copes well with high loads (sometimes up to 140 kg per bed), suitable for those who cannot get used to the extreme rigidity of coconut.
Hard mattresses can also be springless or spring. The first ones belong to the category of very hard, if it is coconut coir, or hard, if it is polyurethane foam. Spring models are not extremely rigid due to the springing effect. The hardness in them can be provided by layers of coconut coir or struttofiber or by strengthening the springs or bases of the mattress. The most comfortable, high-quality and optimal in terms of orthopedic properties are models based on blocks of independent springs. They bend under body weight independently of each other, eliminating the hammock effect and providing improved support. different areas bodies.
3 signs your mattress is too hard
When choosing a hard mattress, the main thing is not to overdo it with this very rigidity. A mistake here can result in problems with the spine and a lot of unpleasant sensations.Your mattress is too hard if:
- in the morning you feel pain in the lumbar region;
- when you lie flat on the mattress on your back, your hand can freely pass under the lumbar area, moreover, there is even additional space left;
- you toss and turn for a long time and cannot sleep, you wake up in the middle of the night because your arm or leg is numb, you feel numbness or tingling in your limbs.
The most difficult task when choosing a mattress is determining the required level of firmness. This is one of those parameters that cannot be assessed using standard measuring instruments.
Misconceptions about mattress firmness
Many buyers are mistaken in believing that the firmer the mattress, the more beneficial it is for the spine and back in general. This is one of the myths that formed in our country back in Soviet years. At that time, a very hard mattress was actively opposed to a soft sleeping place with pressed springs, creating the so-called hammock effect. In fact, both the first and second options are harmful to the health and condition of the spine in particular, since they exclude the possibility of resting in a natural position for the body.
Let's turn to physiology. The spine is not a straight line like a string; in its shape it is more like a wave. Accordingly, sleeping on a very hard surface will result in the shoulders and hips receiving the maximum load - they simply will not be able to sink into the soft layers of the mattress. At the same time, the space around lumbar region will remain unfilled, it will not receive the necessary support, which will lead to overstrain of muscle tissue. A surface that is too hard can cause problems circulatory system due to excessive compression of individual vessels, which provokes problems with blood circulation. This can cause numbness in the limbs, stiff muscles, and a general feeling of fatigue after sleep.
A mattress that is too soft is no less harmful to health, but for different reasons. On such a surface, the spine bends too much and takes the shape of a crescent. And again the muscles become overstrained, the lungs are compressed, and the breathing process becomes difficult.
When choosing the firmness of a mattress, you should take into account the weight and age of the person, the anatomical features of his body, medical indications, based on diseases of the musculoskeletal system and internal organs.
How to determine the optimal firmness of a mattress
Today you will learn how orthopedic mattresses differ in degree of hardness, whether everyone benefits from sleeping on a hard mattress, and which one you need.
Not everyone is comfortable sleeping on a hard surface. In youth, the degree of mattress hardness may not be of fundamental importance, but feelings of weakness, lethargy, pain in the lower back or neck appear with age. And the first thing doctors pay attention to is the increase physical activity and choosing the right mattress to sleep on. At the same time, you can often hear advice that it should be as tough as possible. But not everything is so simple!
How do mattresses differ in terms of firmness?
Today, purchasing a high-quality orthopedic mattress will not be difficult. a lot of work. the main problem- correctly select the required level of rigidity. This parameter is very individual and depends not only on personal preferences, but also on the presence or absence of spinal problems, your lifestyle, age and overall health.
All types of modern mattresses can be divided into several large categories by degree of hardness:
- soft with the highest anatomical properties. They absolutely correctly follow all the curves of the body and exert the least pressure on the spine. It is recommended for people over 50 years old to sleep on such mattresses, because... Increased comfort during sleep is important to them. Such models easily bend under the weight of the body, gently enveloping them and giving softness and comfort, but they cannot be used by children under 3 years old, teenagers, or people weighing over 120 kg. Good example such a mattress Ormatek Dream Memo 4d Matrix.
- medium-hard mattresses have the highest orthopedic properties, they tightly and reliably fix the spine. Suitable for a wide range of users and have no special contraindications, for example Ormatek Optima Max EVS, Ormatek Optima Strong EVS620.
- hard mattress will provide the strongest support; it does not bend at all under the weight of the sleeper. Withstanding even the most heavy loads, ideal for people with heavy weight. And if you are faced with the task of choosing a hard mattress, consider the Ormatek Optima Hard EVS and Ormatek Orma Flex models.
The hardest mattresses are a kind of extreme, which is resorted to in fairly difficult cases back diseases.
Fillers for hard mattresses
In the production of modern mattresses it is used a large number of various materials, from the familiar, such as felt or latex, to innovative options, such as coconut or memory foam. Designed to achieve maximum rigidity special technologies, thanks to which the materials complement each other, enhancing their properties.
To create hard mattresses, as a rule, the following are used:
- coconut coir- These are product fibers coated with a layer of latex. With its help, mattresses can be given elasticity and excellent rigidity. The advantage is environmental friendliness and durability;
- derived from the first option is bicoconut is a combination of coir and holofiber. Its differences are high density and wear resistance;
- sisal, produced from agave, also natural material. It is much stiffer than coir and can take on the heaviest loads. At the same time, both the form and quality indicators will be preserved;
- linen, who passed a special heat treatment also has high levels of rigidity and strength. It does not form odors, it is resistant to rotting;
- felt- another environmentally friendly component obtained from sheep wool. In hard mattresses it can play the role of a layer material;
- latex, natural or artificially produced- an excellent option for a firm mattress. It perfectly restores shape, copes with high loads and has a good orthopedic effect. It is considered one of the most expensive fillers.
A high level of rigidity, on the one hand, creates the most even surface. If it bends under the weight of the body, then only slightly. However, it is worth understanding that the spine and the entire human skeleton are not a stretched bowstring. We have natural curves and protruding parts.
It turns out that when resting on a mattress with a flat and hard surface, the body will still have to bend, trying to maximally adjust all parts to the surrounding conditions. Accordingly, a free and relaxed posture will not work - muscle tension will cause compression blood vessels and, as a result, the free flow of blood will be impaired. This will lead to headaches, numbness in body parts and general condition discomfort.
It’s not for nothing that they say that choosing a mattress is a strictly individual procedure. After all, on an overly soft mattress, again, a “hammock” effect will occur, when the body simply “sags” and in the same way cannot completely relax.
Thus, when choosing the firmness of a mattress, you should be guided by general recommendations:
- recommended for children under three years of age high degree rigidity. They just need the surface to be perfectly flat. The baby's skeleton is very soft and is being formed. And only on a hard mattress can the main condition be ensured - the absence of deflections;
- The more a person weighs, the harder the mattress should be. This rule applies for relatively healthy people over 25 years of age;
- for patients with diagnoses such as osteochondrosis, scoliosis and other similar disorders, mattresses are selected strictly based on the doctor’s recommendations;
- If your usual sleeping position is on your stomach, then you will be much more comfortable on a hard mattress.
At home, you can increase or decrease the hardness of mattresses using special toppers or mattress covers. Both options are removable, so if you wish, you can remove them at any time and return to the usual firmness of your mattress.
Thus, sleeping on a hard mattress is not beneficial for everyone. However, now you can make the right choice!
Source Sonoteka.ru.
Follow us
When choosing orthopedic mattress It is important not to forget about such a criterion as rigidity. What should the product be - hard, soft or medium hard?
Of course, first of all, each person must individually select this parameter, taking into account their taste preferences, as well as their own weight. But in addition, there are a number of factors that influence the choice.
Many people have back problems. Properly selected mattress firmness promotes proper rest, relieves tension and fatigue, eliminates back pain and helps to “unload” the spine.
Too hard products cause discomfort during sleep and negatively affect its quality. They do not promote even weight distribution in the shoulders and hips. These are the areas in which the main loads are concentrated.
Too soft - do not provide the necessary support and allow the spine to bend. This leads to overstrain of the ligaments and muscles of the body.
There are several factors to consider when choosing stiffness:
- person's age;
- weight of the sleeper;
- health;
- lifestyle (active or passive);
- habits (what position he likes to sleep in);
- the number of people on the mattress and their weight.
According to the age
For those whose spine has not yet formed, doctors recommend the hardest possible mattress made of coconut fiber.
Over 2-3 years old, it is better to choose a softer mattress, since constantly sleeping on a hard one is harmful. For this age, springless ones with medium hardness are most suitable.
People under 25 years old should buy orthopedic ones with medium and increased rigidity, because it is up to this age that the spine is formed.
For a person from 25 to 50 years old, models of any degree of rigidity are suitable, it all depends on personal preferences, health status, as well as financial capabilities.
People over 45 years of age are not recommended to sleep on a hard mattress due to the risk associated with intervertebral disc problems. It is better to opt for medium-hard or soft models.
By weight
Thin people (up to 55 kg) are best suited soft mattresses. These can be spring models without coir or springless ones, which consist of natural latex.
People of average build (from 55 to 90 kg) are better off choosing products of medium hardness. Most models with independent spring blocks are suitable for them, for example, mattresses that use a coir-latex combination.
Overweight people (over 90 kg) should pay attention to mattresses with increased rigidity. For them excellent option There will be spring products with reinforced springs made of thick wire or springless ones made of dense durable materials.
For health
People who have problems in the upper spine are better off purchasing a hard mattress.
By lifestyle and sleeping position
For those whose activities involve large physical activity For those who lead an active lifestyle, rigid models are more suitable. For people with a passive lifestyle, they are correspondingly softer.
The position in which a person likes to sleep is usually also taken into account. For those who sleep on their stomach, a firm mattress is suitable. The soft one will appeal to those who like to sleep on their side.
And those who sleep on their back will appreciate models with a medium degree of firmness.
By the number of people who sleep on it
Very often a mattress is purchased for two people, whose weight may differ. For example, “he” weighs 85 kg, “she” weighs 50 kg. What to give preference in this case?
If it is medium hard, then “he” will be comfortable, but “she” not so much. When choosing a soft one, everything will be the other way around.
A compromise in such a situation would be to choose a mattress with different sides of different hardness. One side is medium, the other is soft.
Having chosen such a model, the two of you can sleep first on one side, then on the other, and come to a mutual decision which side is more comfortable for both.
I hope this article will help you make your choice.
