I switched to a futon-style very firm mattress several years ago. Now any time we go out of town my back feels miserable in the morning. I honestly don't know why people subject themselves to the torture that is the modern box-spring mattress.
I think people would have much less back issues if they spent the two weeks it takes to sleep on a firm surface. Its all about learning to actually distribute your weight across the surface area of your body.
But I guess I am also relatively young and fit (I.e. 30 and not overweight or obese), so maybe I'm just not representative of the average person.
That's great if you sleep on your back but side-sleepers aren't going to be happy on a hard mattress, the shoulder becomes a single point of contact with the bed. I'm not convinced that people accustomed to sleeping in one orientation can easily change to the other. Although I would be curious if anyone has anecdotes about that.
I've always been a side sleeper. (6"2, 175 pound, early 30s male).
Due to a random medical issue (which has since become much more manageable), I got bad chest pain from sleeping on my side.
Despite this, I absolutely couldn't get a good nights sleep on my back, despite months of having to to. I end up being awake until I fall asleep from exhaustion and then waking up again after a few hours. It caused a lot of other problems as I was only getting between 3-6 hours sleep for weeks.
Months later when my condition improved, I went back to side sleeping, and even when it was still causing me pain, I slept much, much better.
Just an anecdote and I'm sure people are unique for things like sleep, but my own personal experience is that it isn't easy to switch.
That said, I actually like a hard mattress despite being a side sleeper.
I'm a side sleeper with an "ultra firm" mattress and soft mattresses mess up my whole alignment. I never get sore shoulders or hips, even if I sleep all day like I recently did. I can also reliably switch to back sleeping, which I usually do when I'm sick because of congestion.
It's all anecdata, but I think people are just different.
Well I’m a near 50 overweight guy (yeah, I know...) and sleeping on the side (if I sleep on my back I snore like hell).
If I sleep on a too firm mattress, I confirm my shoulder starts to hurt during the night.
When I’m sleeping, I can rest for several hours, even the whole night, without moving or changing side.
But on firm mattress I wake up several time during the night to change side.
About the orientation, it’s really strange, and I cannot explain why, but it depends. And I mean the side is VERY important, as I can’t fall asleep if I’m on the « wrong » side.
But it’s not always the same side. And sometimes it lasts for weeks or even month. And one day I switch for no reason I can find, because it’s impossible to fall asleep on the side I’ve spent weeks sleeping on.
Side sleeper here, i have very firm mattress. Shoulder pain is probably not because of the mattress, but because of weak muscles. Training your upper back/shoulder muscles just a bit will help a lot. I had a shoulder injury (bar/pub accident, yup.) which caused me to avoid using certain muscles. Got pain in my shoulder as well. Fysiotherapist recommended some excercises and it disappeared.
I have a firm mattress because i had a sore back, which in turn caused me to wake up tired.
A sitting non physical profession is the cause of all this. Sometimes i do have a sore back, but going to the (climbing) gym fixes it for weeks.
Best bed I ever had was a 10 inch futon mattress placed on top of a decent air mattress, using an old quilt to protect the air mattress from anything poking it.
At 5'11", I fluctuate between 115 and 120 lbs and cannot comfortably sleep or sit on any hard surface. It feels like my bones are touching stone directly, and sometimes causes parts of my body to fall asleep. It also doesn't help that I sleep on my side.
Fairly certain I'm an outlier as well, but a soft mattress seems to give my body the contour and padding I lack naturally.
I think people would have much less back issues if they spent the two weeks it takes to sleep on a firm surface. Its all about learning to actually distribute your weight across the surface area of your body.
But I guess I am also relatively young and fit (I.e. 30 and not overweight or obese), so maybe I'm just not representative of the average person.