Tulsa Spine and Rehab

CHARLIE: A good night’s sleep is important, but what role does your mattress play in it? That’s what we’re going to talk about on this episode of SpineCast with Dr. Sean Riley from Tulsa Spine and Rehab. Welcome aboard, Dr. Riley.

SEAN: Hey Charlie. How are you?

CHARLIE: I’m doing well. I got a good night’s sleep last night because I had the advantage of having your mattress advice upfront. So let me ask you, what role does the mattress play in getting a good night’s sleep?

SEAN: Sure. You know, Charlie, I’ve been in practice 18 years, and I will tell you that that’s probably one of the most common questions that I get. “What type of mattress should I be using?” It’s tough because mattresses can be very expensive, everyone’s resources may vary, and so forth. Throughout the years I’ve tried to … I’m very mindful and careful of the recommendations that I make. I try to dumb this down as much as I can with my patients and explain that the mattress should be comfortable. Okay? Obviously, we’re very tired when we get in bed at night. We want to go to sleep. We want to get some rest. It needs to be firm, and obviously secondary to comfort, I talk to patients about having a firm mattress because what we want the firm mattress to do is to provide a fair amount of support for us, our neck, and our backs, and so forth. So what happens a lot of times as a bed breaks down and you start to develop those cratering type of situations, excessive stress and strain can be put on the joints of your neck and low back. For instance, a lot of my patients ask me, “Well what are your thoughts on pillow tops?” I just want to quickly move on because I cannot stand pillow top mattresses. The issue that we have with pillow top mattresses is that in the showroom, man these things feel really good. They’re very comfortable. Your spouse jumps on it and you know like, “We could do this.” The problem is, months into having that pillow top, like I had mentioned, it starts to break down and crater. So once again, you lose support, you lose that bracing, and so you develop increased pain and pressure or irritation on joints. Related to a specific brand, Charlie, I’m very careful. I from personal experience, I have a Tempur-Pedic mattress. Those mattresses can be a little expensive. However, as technology’s been around for a while, it’s much more palatable. I mean these mattresses are coming down in price significantly. What I like about the Tempur-Pedic is that first off, from a longevity standpoint, I think we’re seven years into our mattress. Typically, seven years, seven to 10 years is when you need to start looking for … That’s the shelf-life typically of a mattress. Seven years into this, it hasn’t changed in that you take the sheet off and there’s none of that cratering effect. The other thing obviously that I really appreciate about the Tempur-Pedic, it’s very, very firm and it provides a fair amount of support. I think it keeps us relatively neutral when we sleep. I think a great indication of your mattress, if you’re considering making some changes, how do you feel first thing in the morning? A lot of patients will come in complaining of low back pain and with no specific cause, or injury, or onset. I’ll say, “Well have you noticed, is it time specific? Is it worse in the mornings? Does it progressively get worse throughout the day?” Then if a patient tells me, ” You know I feel really bad first thing in the morning.” That in itself is an indication that you might want to look into a new mattress.

CHARLIE: You say this Tempur-Pedic mattress is your favorite, but they also get a reputation for being like a big bag of sand when you’re sleeping on it because they can be kind of warm.

SEAN: Yeah, that’s a great comment. That was one of our biggest concerns is that we did a fair amount of research before we purchased that mattress. What happens is they have technology now where there’s like a … It’s some type of mattress cover that goes over it. I mean it’s relatively inexpensive, but what it does is it actually cools, and I think essentially provides some airflow in there. I’m very mindful of temperature when I’m sleeping, and I have not had any issue with that. The other caveat to that as well on another note, it’s going to take you some time to kind of get used to this just like with most things because I think a lot of us are just wired on the previous beds. They’re too soft. They don’t provide enough support. The Tempur-Pedic I will say probably took me, my wife, I don’t know, two to three good months to kind of get used to it in that it’s a different type of surface. It’s relatively firm. So I would give it some time, if you move that direction,

CHARLIE: It’s like moving to a waterbed. I mean that’s a whole different experience and that. I assume that those are not on your hit list of the right thing to sleep on by the way.

SEAN: 1978, Tulsa, Oklahoma I had one. I had the big wooden headboard, the whole bit. I look back on those days, Charlie, and I for the life of me, I cannot imagine what the genesis of those things of how those things ever came to fruition, but I would definitely stay away from a water bed.

CHARLIE: Here’s a more updated version of it. What about those airbeds that they have where you can dial “firmer” or “softer” on one side or another? Where do you stand on those for a good night’s sleep?

SEAN: You know Sleep Number, and like I said I try to stay away from specific brands, but it’s a good product. Those things can get pretty expensive but yet I’ve had patients that have gone to the Sleep Number and essentially what you can do is … It gives you some flexibility. You can control the firmness obviously, and make it a little bit softer. A lot of my patients, the spouses like those because one likes maybe a setting of eight and the other may like a setting of six. So you’re able to … You have some flexibility in the amount of firmness on either side of the bed.

CHARLIE: So there is a certain amount of personal preference that comes into this because you said a firm mattress, and I’ve seen these ads and articles that show like where like your shoulder is stressing against a firmer mattress. They say, “Well, here’s one that has like,” I think it’s called “Purple” that’s out there right now that’s almost like an egg crate kind of construction in it where you sleep on it and it molds itself to you. You’re saying that’s not the way to go.

SEAN: Not a big fan. Once again, like if you feel yourself sink into the bed, ideally … It might initially, it might be a relatively … It might be you feel like it’s a good thing but-

CHARLIE: And it looks good in the movies.

SEAN: Sure. Absolutely. But over time, I think there’s increased irritation and stress put on certain joints.

CHARLIE: Right.