Let Us Review Various Side Sleeping Beds Available in the Market
As per the latest statistics available, more than 70 per cent of the world population prefer to be side sleepers rather than sleeping on their back. Now the position of their leg and hand during their sleeping position has many different variations. Whatever be the variations, side sleepers will either sleep on their left or in their right position. As per the specialist, however sleeping on the left side is much more beneficial.
There are few negative things when it comes to sleeping on the sides. It can strain your shoulder and also your hips, as quite often you may tend to sleep with an unnatural curve. Depending upon your sleeping habits, you also need necessary support from your mattress which is specially designed keeping in view of your sleeping behavior. Therefore, in this article we shall talk about a few of the best side sleeping beds and help you to choose right mattresses.
What are the benefits of sleeping on sides?
As we have already mentioned above that sleeping on your left side offers few benefits. As we lie on our left, our organs also get necessary support and it offers following benefits:
- Better blood circulation
- Better food digestion
- Drainage of toxins and lymph
- Acid reflux alleviation
- Reduced snoring
However, if you sleep on your right side then you do not get these benefits as most of the organs are weirdly positioned. People with the following problems can benefit from side sleeping:
- Obstructive sleep apnea
Throughout the night if your breath stops for sometime, then sufficient oxygen may not go to your brain and as a result when you wake up after sleeping, you may feel exhausted.
- Neck and back problem
When your spine gets good support from any side, then the disc will be relaxed and your tension will reduce which will help you to relax. It will help in providing relief from pain.
- Pregnant women
During the final months of pregnancy, sleeping is considered to be the best option.
Various mattresses for side sleepers
- Memory foam
Memory foam offers the best sleeping surface to side sleepers. Since these foams are quite soft and respond to your weight and create contours as per your body shape, your body will get necessary comfort and proper relaxation during sleep.
When you sleep on your side, there is lots of pressure on your shoulder and hip area as your entire body is putting pressure on them. As a result of that, there are few pressure points developed between your body and the mattress and therefore if your bed happens to be firm then it may create stiffness and pain.
Since memory foams are quite soft and hence it is perfect for your sleeping position. NASA engineers had created this viscoelastic material in order to provide comfort to pilots who have to make long flight journeys while sitting on their chairs. Nowadays it has become a popular material for mattresses.
Memory foam can no doubt get adjusted to your body shapes and provide your body necessary support however the body heat gets trapped on the foam. This heat cannot escape fast enough and often you may feel that your bed is getting hot.
- Innerspring
In the market you will find following two types of innerspring mattresses:
- A single big coil is used for the mattress
This type of mattress is generally firm and may not serve very well for many side sleepers. Since a single coil is used, the weight distribution is not balanced. Any movement that you make while sleeping will affect the whole of the bed.
- Number of coils used which reacts as per the pressure of the body
This type of mattress is more common in today’s market and here only those springs will react to your body weight where your body pressure is available. Therefore, only those areas will be affected while the rest of the area of the bed remains unaffected. Here temperature regulation of the bed is also much better.
Though both the types of beds are comfortable for sleeping however they are not too much side sleeper friendly. That is because it does not react with the pressure of your body weight like memory foams and the level of contour that it can form will depend upon the type of material used for the mattress.
However, there are few modern designed innerspring beds in the market where springs of different varieties are located in different positions of the bed so that it can simulate the effect of memory foam. With innerspring beds, you can also get more bounce as compared to memory foam beds.
- Hybrid
In this kind of beds, both coils and foams are used and this combination can offer you much better results. In this type of bed, there is one layer of coils and on top of that there are a number of layers of foams with varied densities. Thus, you can get the softness of the foam and at the same time the bounciness of the spring too. Also, due to the presence of coils, there is enough ventilation and therefore with proper airflow the bed can remain cold.
Usually this kind of bed uses a combination of coils with either memory foam or latex. Nowadays some of the suppliers have also started introducing cooling gels or any natural fiber like wool. They provide better temperature regulation and keep the bed cozy and dry throughout the night.
As a whole for side sleepers, hybrid designed beds can be a good choice however few users who are usually too sensitive find little uneasy.
Different types of materials for memory foam
- Traditional
This material is called viscoelastic and was first invented during 1960 by NASA engineers for the astronauts for their comfort during their long journey. The purpose of the material was to react as per the body weight and temperature so that it can take the shape of the body where the person sits. This was a petroleum-based product and used to have a smell which takes little time to dissipate.
Nowadays memory foams are made out of non-toxic chemicals, however smell is still found. Therefore, many mothers do not prefer their baby to sleep on memory foam.
Following are few benefits of viscoelastic foam:
- Provides resistance to formation of any bacteria, mildew or mold
- Dust mites or bed bugs cannot settle due to its dense structure
- Motion transfer is minimum
- Provides better pressure relief
- More durable
- It reacts well with your movement
- Gel foam
The biggest defect of heat trapping observed in memory foams has been improved by using cooling gel which has been infused in the foam. This will allow free flow of air and help in removing the heat that is created by body temperature.
Besides that, gel is found to be less contouring as compared to any viscoelastic foam. Also, it responds much faster and its firmness can also be varied by the amount of gel introduced to them.
- Air cool foam
This type of foam is also viscoelastic foam with gel infusion however here the globules of gel are suspended well inside the open-cell foam. Here the surface absorbs the heat that gets released when the sleeper turns to the other side during the sleep. Since the structure of the foam is porous, there is constant airflow and thus the heat generated will dissipate much faster. For side sleepers this type of foam can be a good choice.
- Open cell technology
This another better design of memory foam with an open cell technology in order to prevent any kind of heat trapping on the bed. Here each cell will get released when you put pressure on them. As you move or take sides, new air will enter in the cell and keep the surface well ventilated. This is also quite durable foam and will react to your movement on the bed much faster as compared to any standard viscoelastic materials.
- Organic materials
There are few organic materials also used which is much different from viscoelastic material. They can be latex foam that is obtained from natural rubber tree. These rubbers are further processed so that it gets lots of characteristics of any memory foam. However, such a type of foam is far bouncier and more responsive too.
These foams are free from any type of harmful chemicals however you must understand there is no organic memory foam available in the market which is 100 percent organic.
Now after going through this write-up you can choose the right kind of mattress for your own use.
