Medical professionals and other experts emphasize that sleep is a substantial pillar of human health and wellness, including managing chronic pain. According to medical experts like Matthew Walker, a professor, sleep scientist, and public sleep advocate, the most important element of health is sleep.

“I was once fond of saying, sleep is the third pillar of good health, alongside diet and exercise. I have changed my tune. Sleep is more than a pillar; it is the foundation on which the other two health bastions sit. Take away the bedrock of sleep, or weaken it just a little, and careful eating or physical exercise become less than effective, as we shall see.”

-Matthew Walker, UC Berkeley

Common Mattress Misconception: Firmer is Better

Many who struggle with pain have difficulty sleeping, struggling through restless nights of frustrating discomfort while trying to get a good night's rest. Many people with back pain are encouraged to consider sleeping on a new mattress that provides better spinal alignment and support, which is certainly a smart idea. The bad news: many people end up with a firm mattress, hoping to gain better support, improving sleep. Today, mattress and sleep experts agree that a firm mattress isn't always the best choice for everyone.

Can't Stand Anymore Aches and Pains? Opt for High-Quality Mattress Materials and Advanced Technology

If you tend to experience back pain or arthritis pain regularly, trying to fix your ability to sleep well should be a top priority. Next, as you browse mattresses and try them, consider your sleep position and sore areas to pinpoint how much cushioning feels good on those sore spots. How much cushioning is the right amount for you?

The Tempurpedic LuxeBreeze Medium Hybrid and Aireloom Luxetop M2+ mattresses have excellent feedback for improved comfort and back pain relief. Still, without acknowledging and attempting to manage your pain, one way—with a strategically selected mattress— these conditions often lead to frustrating and disrupted sleep cycles and potentially long-term health issues.

Sleep and pain are interconnected, and they constantly influence each other. By improving your sleep quality with an adequately supportive and comforting mattress, you can likely decrease the severity of your pain, too.

The Need for Firm Support Often Depends on Body Type and Personal Preference

A firm or extra firm mattress— meaning it has firm support and a firm surface— is often only necessary for muscular or heavier-bodied individuals. Firm mattresses, like the Purple Rejuvenate™, have less cushion, catering to individuals with mobility problems. Firm mattress styles are often beneficial for people who find changing positions or getting in or out of bed more difficult on softer mattresses.

Firm mattresses, like the Stearns & Foster Estate, may also satisfy diverse comfort preferences for those who only want to lie on surfaces or sleep on a mattress if they don't "sink in" too much. If you consider yourself someone who doesn't like "sinking in" very far into their mattress, or prefer a firmer feel to change positions easily, be sure to browse and try the RestorePremier™ Hybrids. Purple Hybrid mattresses deliver just the right amount of pressure relief, with a buoyant sensation, even on their firmer mattress styles.

Balanced Support and Pressure Relief: Gifting a Good Night's Sleep

Hate to break the news, but a firm mattress is typically unnecessary unless you really have a strong preference for it. However, it may be necessary for heavier-bodied individuals to receive proper support. Still, petite people sometimes sleep well on a very firm mattress; this is a comfort preference. But, without comparing it to other mattress options, like the Aireloom Plush StreamLine™, many people may not realize that their sleep quality could be better on a softer mattress— one with a little “plush” cushion.

In all actuality, many people with back or hip pain, especially those with arthritis or fibromyalgia, prefer the feeling of a premium mattress, medium or soft, with at least a few "comfort layers" like latex rubber or memory foam. People with back pain should strongly consider the Posh+Lavish Reveal, a natural latex mattress with generous support without coils.

Additional cushiony layers allow for good circulation and decrease of pressure points in places like the hips, shoulders, and lower back. Most people will certainly sleep better on medium and soft mattresses, too. With balanced support and pressure point relief, your mattress can give you one of the greatest gifts: a good night's sleep.

Optimal Spinal Alignment and Sleep Posture

Overall, sleeping on a slightly softer mattress is more comfortable for most people as long as there is sufficient support for the spine and the sleepers body weight. This is true, given it's a good quality mattress that supports the curves of your body. The support system must provide enough resistance, whether independent coils or high-density (HD) foam, to align the hips and back with the neck and shoulders. A mattress should consistently provide your body type with good sleep posture and as close to a neutral spine as possible. Balancing the spine can help improve back pain from the healing process as you sleep.

Similarly, many experts recommend sleeping on your back with a pillow beneath your knees, especially if you experience back pain at night or have a pronounced lower back (lumbar) curve. But remember, pillows can sometimes fall out of place or off the bed, leaving you to refigure them, disrupting your sleep sometime around midnight. Instead, opt for an adjustable bed to raise your feet and reduce lower back strain. An adjustable bed, like the Bed Tech 6500, will effortlessly and conveniently lift your feet with just about any new, comfortable mattress without the need to get resituated halfway through the night.

The Best Mattress Combination for Back Pain: Cushion on Top with Firm Support Underneath

There are a couple of important things to keep in mind if you have back pain and are shopping for a new mattress to improve your sleep. As you consider your potential mattress possibilities, consider that firm mattresses exist, even if they may feel squishy or soft on top. Ultimately, you want your mattress to conform to your shape, not vice versa. You can only get pressure relief through cushion layers.

By investing in a moderate to high-quality mattress from a reliable brand, like Aireloom, Avocado, Stearns & Foster, or Beautyrest, you're certainly prioritizing the potential to experience a great night's sleep in your future.

With a firmly supporting mattress from a well-recognized, long-standing brand, like Sealy Posturepedic®, you can rest assured that your mattress will sufficiently support your spine. For instance, the Beautyrest Black Firm Pillowtop offers individualized support from Triple-Stranded Pocketed Coil,® one of the most durable coil systems on the market. A firm or medium pillowtop mattress is perfect for heavier-bodied individuals who need extra support but want to sense a cozy, comfy surface while lying down or sleeping.

Long-standing mattress manufacturers, like Sealy, Serta, Aireloom, and Beautyrest, are often backed by mattress research, development, and sleep science which boosts their potential to perform well for you.

Is Your Mattress Still New But Uncomfortable? Opt for a Medium Comfort Level or Zoned Support Instead

Is your mattress new, but you still find yourself uncomfortable, tossing and turning at night? The truth is— many people err on the firm side as they seek improved support while picking out a new mattress.

However, more and more people are discovering how to attain good sleep posture through a firmly supporting yet cushioned mattress. Are you curious about trying a softer style? You might still be skeptical of a mattress that lacks good support, but have no fear, zoned mattress support technology is here!

Zoned mattress support systems, like inside the iComfortPro Level 1 Medium mattress, are designed to cradle and adapt to each curve of your body with five zones of customized support. This advanced coil system delivers just the right amount of positive resistance to neutralize and support the spine, decreasing pressure points along the hips and shoulders that can cause discomfort.

Mattresses with zoned support, like the Perfect Sleeper X Hybrid Medium, will help promote proper posture, encouraging optimal blood flow and organ function while you sleep. So, if you're intrigued by advanced innerspring systems— like zoned support— and how you can sleep better and decrease back pain on a cushioned mattress with ample support, consider Mattress World Northwest's assortment of Serta mattresses.

After all, Serta happens to be America's No.1 mattress brand! So, quit counting sheep to fall asleep! Try the Serta Perfect Sleeper or iComfortPro and see which model is most comfortable for you. Each Serta mattress design certainly offers an upgraded, beneficial support system to align your spine, helping soothe back aches, pain, and tension.

Mattress Reality: An Ideal Mattress for Back Pain is Soft Where you Want It and Firm Where you Need It

To remedy back pain, look no further than the RestorePlus™, utilizing Purple's advanced mattress material— the GelFlex Grid. This hyper-elastic polymer material provides a comfortably buoyant sensation that gives you a sense of weightlessness to ease pain. As you lie on this mattress material, you can easily move, change positions, or get in or out of bed more easily than other comparable comfort materials like memory foam.

The Purple RestorePremier™ Hybrid mattress supplies excellent core body support for the hips and lumbar spine, while remaining ultra-responsive to motion and pressure. The GelFlex Grid, combined with a lumbar-supporting independent coil system, creates the ultimate recipe for comfort—one you'll actually look forward to each night. All Purple mattresses are designed to be firm where you need it and soft where you want it, plus cooling benefits for uninterrupted sleep.

Mattress Reality: Improving Back Pain and Shopping Made Easy at Mattress World Northwest!

For people with chronic aches and pains or stiff and aggravated joints, it can often feel like the "wind-down process" to get relaxed and cozy to doze off and stay asleep can feel difficult, even next to impossible, because of severe back pain or arthritis pain. 

Today, many people blame their nights of tossing and turning on arthritis pain, with as many as 80% of people with this condition having problems falling and staying asleep. However, certain studies uncover that the connection between sleep and pain works both ways — inadequate sleep patterns can contribute to worsening pain and even raise the likelihood of disability or depression.

“Patients often attribute sleep problems to pain. While pain can certainly contribute to sleep problems, the more we learn about sleep, pain, and inflammation, the more we find the relationships are likely to be multidirectional,” says Yvonne Lee, MD, a rheumatologist at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago. "Which problem starts first is different for different people — but once one of these issues occurs, it leads to the others and can come full circle."

If you feel yourself stuck in a cycle of pain, tension, and a lack of sleep, start with the first step of refining the benefits and comfort of your current mattress. Investing in a proper fitting, comfy, and supportive mattress is a great place to start remedying your back pain.

The best part: Mattress World Northwest makes shopping easy with the best selection of mattresses with the utmost potential to help you find relief from back pain. The sleep specialists at Mattress World Northwest encourage you to start with your mattress to sleep better, balance your sleep cycles, heal your body, and reduce pain and tension while you sleep.

Last but not least, one last bit of knowledge to ponder:

Rotating through all sleep stages enough times makes for optimal physical, emotional, and cognitive health, says John Cline, PhD, an assistant professor of clinical psychology at the Yale School of Medicine and associate of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. He also explains:

“Think of sleep in a way as similar to nutrition, where we want to get a balanced set of sleep stages (just like you want to include a balance of different micro- and macronutrients in a healthy diet), as each seems to serve an important function.”