What bed should I buy?

I quite often ask people about their sleeping posture, pillow and bed during a consultation, especially when other aspects of lifestyle don’t seem to adequately explain their pain or dysfunction or when they wake up feeling worse than when they went to bed. This inevitably throws the question back to me on what pillow or bed people should buy. The answer… well, there is no one answer.

Just as there are many different shapes and sizes of people, there are many beds – and that’s the way it should be. The first thing to get right is the sleeping posture. Never sleep on your belly – this leads to strained and shortened muscles in the neck and shoulders. You should sleep on back or side with the arms down – arms above the head (either under the pillow or starfish-style) lead to neck and shoulder tension.  From here, you need to get a partner, friend or relative to observe you in your preferred posture.

For back-sleepers, the mattress should be firm enough so that you don’t sag in the middle, but soft enough that it fills out the small of your back and supports the full length of your legs. Pillow-tops are ideal. The pillow should support the head and neck without pushing your head forward or letting it drop back. Ideally, the forehead and chin should make a roughly horizontal line – those who hold their head forward naturally will need a thicker pillow than those with an upright posture.

For side-sleepers, the mattress again should be firm enough so that you don’t sag but also not be so firm that it’s like lying on a board. Again pillow tops are great as you can have firm springs and still be supported. When your friend observes you, they should check that your spine is roughly in a straight line. The pillow should also keep the spine in a roughly straight line without pushing the head up or letting it drop.

Things do get interesting for couples. If you have a 100kg 6’2″ man and a 50kg 5’5″ woman, then they basically need two separate beds. This will call for some compromise, but again, a pillow-top can make the difference with firm springs and a squishy layer on top to allow for difference.

If you’re in a tight space financially, you can always buy a mattress topper from Ikea or a foam overlay from Clark Rubber or even use a blanket or two to add a softer layer. A trick from hotels to firm-up a mattress is to put a piece of MDF between the mattress and base.

For the perfect pillow (or as close as you can get) you can get Sleep Made to Measure. This Sydney-based company builds latex pillows to the measurement of your head, shoulder width, sleeping posture and bed-type to give you the best possible fit for you. You can check them out at sleepmadetomeasure.com .