Be very careful. An expensive mattress, if you care for it, can last a long time and will definitely help with your pains. But just because it is expensive does not mean it is actually good, let alone good for you specifically. There are many types of different mattresses and you should take some time to find one for you.

TLDR: lie down on it before buying.

Check out Sleep like the dead

It helped me get the most value for my money and I solved my back pain issues. Also, I simply couldn't be happier with my sleep these days.

As a fellow side sleeper who just bought a Purple mattress, just remember to buy a plush/soft mattress. The reason you are hurting is because you are sleeping on your side on a, probably, cheap and firm mattress.

Firm mattresses are for back sleepers. Soft mattresses are for side gang, like us.

I will say Purple is just incredible if you can afford it but try it at a store first before committing. The important thing, though, is to get a soft, well-made mattress.

There is an old proverb I heard once. "Don't cheap out on things that separate you from the ground"

When it comes to things like mattresses, shoes, and chairs do your research and buy the best option you can. It will save you a lot of pain later in life

Never skimp on anything between you and the ground

https://www.bett1.de/anti-kartell

https://youtu.be/OUjFoFGjQyI

There is a cartell in the matress market. Dont buy pricy ones. Watch the documentation on the youtube link. Its made by public tv from germany.

The link is the store of the dude that stood up and fought against the cartell. And he survived. The united-cartell-angency (bundeskartellamt) found out about the cartell throught this dude and fined the cartels pretty hard. It is still not destroyed sadly and the prices of over 500 bucks for a fucking mattress are everywhere even though it might be a absolute dogshit mattress.

over the last 15 years or so I would have spent $10k on mattresses of all types.. inner spring, micro spring, full latex, a mix of above.. all end up with body indentations that cause back pain. In the end I bought a cheap mattress in a box (Koala Brand) that is hard as a brick and a latex topper, it has been wonderful

Maybe. I just bought a shikibuton that was $500. It's a Japanese floor mattress. It solved almost all of my pain problems. I've been sleeping on it for about 3 weeks now, and honestly it's amazing. The floor doesn't sag so everything stays aligned.

I also bought a $5000 mattress that I've yet to receive. Only reason I bought it was because my wife was mad I bought something for me only (she thinks it's stupid that I'm willing to sleep on the floor at all...anyway...). It felt nice at the store...but we'll see when it gets here. It was an Aireloom Luxury Firm.

A good mattress is definitely worth the money. They aren't cheap, I would expect to pay $1,000 for a queen size. Ten years ago we bought one from a department store during a sale, saved $ by buying a display model and saved another 10% by signing up for the store's credit card. It came to $1,000 delivered. How well you sleep affects your quality of life. Ideally you'll spend a third of your life on it.

Before commiting to buying a $1000+ mattress, try getting yourself a foam mattress topper. A good one is only like $100. My wife and I sleep on a old generic mattress with one of these and literally sleep like angels. Every time I come home from a vacation it feels like sleeping on a cloud, compared to a hotel mattress.

I know other people will die on a hill trying to convince themselves that their $5k mattress was worth it. But in my opinion, a $100-200 memory foam topper can make a world of difference.

I recommend checking out https://www.sleeplikethedead.com/ to help choose a mattress. It's independent and free of advertisements.

Mattress: something firm like a tatami mat with a thin futon on top. Your lower back and hips will be happy.

Pillow: buckwheat husk filled with a dust cover. Your neck, shoulders, and sinuses will be happy.

I bought a $600 foam one at Costco, and it's the best mattress I've ever slept on. Unfortunately, this makes every other bed extremely uncomfortable, so YMMV.

I went to a mattress boutique and ordered my mattress there. I would never do it differently again, I love it every night. The saleswoman took great care of trying the different mattresses to see which one had the backs of my girlfriend and I in the best positions and whenever I'm back from a trip I feel again the greatness of my mattress

Definitely. Although some are expensive for no reason so it’s important that you do your research and buy a mattress that is of high quality.

I don't know your age, health, etc, but there are lots of reasons we hurt other than age. Ergonomics, repetitive stress injuries, regular old injuries. It doesn't take much to compound these issues into something that interferes with your life.

I spent the last twenty years sleeping on a mattress that wasn't right for my sleep style. It didn't feel great sleeping on my side and it has a slight divot. I didn't wake up in pain, but it definitely impacted the quality of my sleep.

I recently moved and bought a new tempurpedic. I went in, went through a calibration test of sorts and tried the top recommended matches. Ended up buying the top match, which was way expensive, but I now consistently get the quality of sleep I used to get at best once a week.

Two things: the mattress was $3k, and I still have chronic shoulder pain I manage with home physical therapy.

I guess my point is, the best mattress won't fix a problem not caused by a bad mattress. You might need PT, stretching, or some other physical routine to help manage your particular pain, just like I have special exercises for my shoulder that if I stop, it will start hurting again and prevent me from sleeping on my side, no matter the mattress.

So before you throw down money on a mattress, make sure you rule other reasonable things out, and make sure you understand the return policy. E.g., of you remove the tags you can't return, of there is any discoloration, no return, etc. Just make sure you have the details down pat.

Yes, but with caveats. If you go to a big mattress store and buy from the big brands (Sealy, Simmons, Serta, etc.) you are getting a mattress that is cheaply built at a high price due to shitty private equity firms buying up the brands and squeezing every bit of value from them.

I ended up spending a fair bit ($2600 but the "equivalent" at the major chain store was $3400) on a locally manufactured mattress with more expensive materials like latex foam and wool but only after I tried a bunch and found one that kept me nice and aligned. Immediately I stopped waking up with the type of pain that would stay with me all day (I would be slightly stiff for 15 minutes instead), and now that my body is used to it I only very rarely wake up in pain.

The big thing is to find somewhere without shitty sales tactics, and to try a bunch of mattresses out and find out what works for you. I didn't like the memory foam mattresses, but some people love them. There is a reason why they make firm, medium, and soft mattresses. There are mattresses where the springs are the same all over, or vary based on where people keep their body weight.

I don't know of anyone that has a foam mattress that has liked it long term. We have mattress factory here in town, and there you can buy mattresses that are better than the stuff you buy in furniture stores for twice the price. Best bed I have owned. My king size was cheaper than the queen I bought at Macy's furniture previously, which was a top of the line there.

It's not so much being expensive, just not a cheap one and one that has the firmness you need. I've had good results with $200-400 mattresses from Amazon .

I went from a cheap Amazon mattress to a fancy temperpedic mattress and it was absolutely worth every penny

What I did was I went to a mattress store to try out mattresses to see what I was looking to buy

The mattress I ended up buying was one that I laid down on and fell asleep almost instantly

Just find a local mattress store with a lot of options and start testing them out for yourself

Is sleeping on the floor with a pillow wrong?

Sleep number 100 here. Belly sleeper I prefer “very firm”. Husband is sleep number 32 , back & side sleeper and wants all the fluff, this is why we have sleep number that was purchased 10 years ago and still works.

Edit: the sleep number mattress we bought was third cheapest. Just enough to get the app access to the firmness adjuster.

Yes, yes and yes. Please take care of yourself by buying a high-quality mattress and office chair (gaming chairs are a scam). Your health shouldn't have a price tag.

I recently spent £400 on a super firm mattress from IKEA that has a 10 year guarantee and a 10cm memory foam topper for £90. I thought my back pain was due to posture but it literally disappeared overnight after sleeping on this.

In my mid twenties, I started having problems with my back, hands, elbows, etc. I stopped doing a lot of things (e.g. playing musical instruments), which helped, but the back pain persisted until I started sleeping on the floor. I was desperate, and I had heard about this solution from old anecdotes.

Since then, I've noticed that firm mattresses and very slim pillows (or soft enough pillows) are okay. Soft mattresses and big pillows bring back all the discomfort and pain in a matter of hours. I still sleep on the floor, but a mattress for me might be waiting somewhere.

Is it worth the money? You're going to spend something like 1/3 of your time on it. Make it a good one.

A good mattress is worth it, but don't just go into a store like Mattress Firm (despite how good the company name is) and buy whatever they've got on display. Do some research first. Costco have some good mattresses but you can't really try them out first.

Don't get one that's extremely soft because you'll probably like firmer mattresses as you get older. You can add a topper to make it softer if needed.

Price aside, just don't do what I did: use an old mattress way past its usable life (e.g. like 10 years... it was creaking).

I started having back pain. And once I got a new one, I immediately felt better.

I'm very happy with my purchase and it wasn't even that expensive. It's one of those internet "mattress in a box" ones. I paid ~$300 back in 2019, though it looks like it goes for $420 now. Brand is Lucid on Amazon. It's a hybrid style: it has both pocketed / encased coils like a traditional mattress, and layers of memory foam and latex on top.

A good mattress is absolutely worth it but it may not necessarily be good just because it's expensive. I know someone that bought an expensive mattress with lots of memory foam and one year later it went from soft to very uncomfortable after the top layer got squished a lot.

Anything between you and the ground is always worth buying quality. Shoes, tires, mattresses, etc.

I would say yes. For a good 30 years i slept on the cheapest matresses possible, because i didn't mind, always slept like a rock and never had any problems. Then for the forst time i bought a really "good" matress and it was a bit meh at first, because it was pretty hard. Then i bought a topper and that was the game changer for me. I don't even know how important the matress is anymore, but a good memory foam topper is a godsend.

I don't know if it was expensive or not but I would pay a lot of money for whatever mattress my ex had. That bed was the best sleep I ever got. Unfortunately that relationship ended really bad so I can't contact her to ask about it.

It depends. The most important aspect for a mattress is having the right stiffness, you could get the most expensive mattress in the world and it might suck for you, or it might be great. You gotta try them. If you're a side sleeper, getting a soft memory foam or hybrid mattress is probably ideal. If you overheat a lot when sleeping and can afford it, a latex mattress really helps, and is typically stiffer. If you can't afford an expensive mattress, you might want to try sleeping on a futon, which is pretty comfortable for plenty of reasons and more affordable (though not for everyone).

Also, if the sides of your neck are hurting, maybe a new pillow might help. It will certainly be cheaper to get a nice pillow than a premium mattress.

I don't mean to be condescending but try a new pillow first!

Cooling memory foam + an adjustable base is totally worth the money, but it’s also going to set you back a lot out of pocket.