Sleep Foundation
Best Memory Foam Mattress
2020
USA Today
Best Overall Mattress
2020
Tuck Award
Best Value Memory Foam Mattress
2019
Mattress Advisor
Best Value Mattress
2019
Mattress Advisor
Best Mattress Of The Year
How to choose the best mattress for back pain?
Back pain and how you sleep
Do you wake up every day to a sore and aching body? Is chronic back pain disturbing your daily sleep, and your mornings begin with being exhausted, groggy, and distressed? Do you feel your work efficiency and family time suffer from lack of sleep, back pains, and body stiffness? If the answer to even one of the questions for you or your loved ones is yes then.
Hear from Chiropractor Dr. Nick Athens
Chiropractor with over 38 years of experience and over 600,000 patients. Yes, we kid you not!
He is here to advise you on lifestyle tweaks and better habits while sleeping, so you do not wake up stiff and sore and maintain optimal spinal health.
How does stress on your spine cause back pain?
Our spine is going through constant wear and tear every day. You might be a tech guy hunched over your computer slouching for long hours, or swinging in the wrong posture while playing football or golf. You can be a delivery or repair guy constantly lifting with your back and not your knees. This constant and misdirected stress on your spine leads to its compression. While you are asleep, your body finally gets the time to relieve your spine of this compression for recovery, repair and relief. Hence, an undisturbed good night's sleep in the right sleeping position with adequate support to your spine is essential for prolonged spine health and an overall healthier body.
9 out of 10
Nectar customers would recommend to their friends and family*
90% of customers
Said their Nectar mattress helped reduce overall aches, stiffness, soreness, and/or discomfort*
9 out of 10
Back pain sufferers said their Nectar mattress helped some or a lot*
*Based on a randomized survey of Nectar mattress product owners conducted in July 2020.
Mattress for Sleeping Positions
Back Sleep Position
The Back Sleep Position is a sleeping posture where a person sleeps directly on their back with their arms' casual placement. An estimated 14% of people sleep on their backs.
Side Sleep Position
The side sleeping position is the most common of the three. Almost 79% of the general population are side sleepers.
Stomach Sleep Position
Approximately only 7% of people sleep on their stomachs. When you sleep on your belly, the neck and spine are not in their neutral position, and this may lead to neck and back pains.
What can you do to alleviate back pain?
Stretch!
As you age, you age forward, spinally. Due to lousy working posture or slouching habits, the spine's bending forwards with age can accelerate. You need to stretch your body periodically for stress release to help counteract your spine's constant bending forward and maintain spinal equilibrium.
Avoid Excess Weight Gain
Too much weight gain, especially around your waist and abdomen, puts extra forward pressure on your spine to support the body mass. This puts unnecessary strain on your spinal curves, causing back pain and distress and further spinal deterioration.
Exercise to Strengthen Your Muscles
Imagine a suspension bridge. Muscles are like cables of the bridge, and bones are the structure. Our muscles hold our bones upright and in the right posture for optimal functioning. Losing muscle tone can put relentless stress on the spine and the discs causing reduced efficiency, injury, and pain. You need to build up muscle tone and strengthen your core to help your spine get all the support it needs to lift, bend, and keep you upright without additional stress. read
Sleep Right
One of the critical factors is to sleep right. You need to keep the repair and recovery at a high level by sleeping in the optimal position to alleviate spinal stress and relieve back pain.
Nectar Adjustable Mattress
The Nectar Memory Foam mattress is without a doubt, one of the best mattresses to suit your adjustable bed frame. The Nectar mattress is flexible enough to move with your bed frame and it also provides ample support to your body.
Nectar Memory Foam Mattress
Premium memory foam mattress hugs your body and keeps you cool. Free shipping and free returns, and 365-night Home Trial.
- Five Layers of Comfort with a Quilted Cooling Tencel™ Mattress Cover
- A gel memory foam layer to distribute weight
- Good for: Those who want superior support and comfort with a medium firm mattress
- Thickness: 12”
- Compatible with Adjustable Frame: Yes
- Price:
Nectar Lush Mattress
Redefining deep sleep with dual action cooling, superior support and lofty feel, the Nectar Lush is 12” of premium layers engineered for your best rest.
- Cooling cover made with premium fibers
- Premium Memory Foam with AquaCool™ to regulate body temperature
- Good for: Those who love to sleep cool all night without compromising on support
- Thickness: 12”
- Compatible with Adjustable Frame: Yes
- Price:
Award-Winning Layers Of Comfort
Simple tips to keep in mind while you sleep
- The best sleeping position is either on your side with the body elongated or on your back. It maintains the spinal alignment and relieves the stress the spine has faced all day.
- According to Dr. Athens, the worst thing you can do to your spine is sleeping on your belly. Sleeping on your stomach with your hips raised leads to excess pressure on your lower back and subsequently on your cervical area that is your neck. No wonder people who sleep on their stomachs wake up unrested and distressed with back pain. In addition to back and neck pain, people sleeping on their belly also experience jaw pains and headaches on waking up. This pain is due to the stress on the jaw caused by the head resting on it all night. This tension further elevates by bruxism or sleeping on your arm, etc.
- He also mentions the term "the tweeners." You are a "tweener" if you sleep between your side and on your stomach; that is resting on your side with hips and shoulders leaning forward and sleeping on your side stomach.
- If you have trouble sleeping on your side, Dr.Athens suggests using a body pillow to help you stay in the side sleeping position. As explained in the video, he demonstrates how you can clinch the pillow between your legs and hug it from your upper body for an optimal position. What the pillow essentially does is it prevents you from rolling over onto your belly while asleep.
Overall, he insists on staying away from compressed sleeping positions. Let your body stretch and spine elongate to relieve the day's stress.
Choose the right mattress for your back
Along with the correct sleeping position, you need to get good support from the surface you choose to sleep. Although it's the simplest, it can be one of the most effective ways to help you sleep better. According to Dr.Athens, there are three critical factors to consider while buying the ideal mattress for your back.
1. The Mattress Firmness
A bad mattress can tend to sag, causing stress to the lumbar area and pain in the neck and shoulders. A medium-firm mattress is ideal for the general population. It provides the right body weight to spine support ratio as most of us fall into the medium body weight category. It is highly recommended for the best spine alignment while sleeping. As pointed out by our chiropractor in the video, harder mattresses tend to push more into your spine, adding stress and compression during your sleep. People who are obese should consider using a hard mattress to support their spine, but as any right mattress lasts anywhere between 15 to 20 years, it's wise to invest in a medium-firm mattress as they work for most body types and weight fluctuations.
2. The Mattress Temperature
Most of us sleep better on cooler surfaces than in hot environments. Hence, while choosing a mattress, look for a material that stays cool against your body to ensure undisturbed and relaxed sleep.A mattress with a soft and airy top layer will help its surface to remain breathable and adjust its temperature according to the fluctuating room and body temperature. This ensures a sound and supported sleep ensuring you do not wake up with back pains or fatigued.
3. The Mattress Allergies
Nectar’s foam is CertiPUR-US® certified which means the foam meets the criteria for content, emissions and durability. The foams are free of ozone depleters, PBDEs, TDCPP or TCEP (”Tris”) flame retardants, mercury, lead, and other heavy metals. It is also made without formaldehyde and phthalates. This means that at Nectar, we care for the foam you choose to trust and we ensure it is made to match the regulations of CertiPUR-US®.
These small adaptations in lifestyle, optimizing sleeping positions, and sensible mattress choices will not only help you reduce years of aggravated and accelerated wear and tear and pain associated with your back and spine but will also help your body age in a healthier, fitter, and highly functional manner. Support your spine now, so you won't need a walking stick to support you later.
How does Nectar feel?
We describe the feel of Nectar as a medium-firm memory foam mattress. That's right in the middle of the firmness scale, where you get the most comfort and support. And the best sleep.
Under pressure?
Not on a Nectar. Our adaptive memory foam mattress layers are designed to relieve common pressure points beneath your shoulders, hips, and legs for better spinal alignment on any body type.
Frequently Asked Questions
A medium-firm mattress is considered the most ideal for the general population. It provides the right body weight to the spine support ratio as most of us fall into the medium body weight category. It is highly recommended for the best spine alignment while sleeping.
Losing muscle tone can put relentless stress on the spine and the discs causing reduced efficiency, injury, and pain. It would help if you exercised to build up muscle tone and strengthen your core to help your spine get all the support it needs to lift, bend, and keep you upright without additional stress.
A bad mattress can tend to sag, causing stress to the lumbar area and pain in the neck, back, and shoulders. The spine alignment in a sagging mattress is not optimal, leading to the development of pressure and stress on your spine, causing chronic backache.
As pointed out by our chiropractor in the video, harder mattresses tend to push more into your spine, adding stress and compression during your sleep. This causes back pain and distressed sleep. Try switching to a medium-firm mattress for ideal spine support and relaxed rest.
You need to stretch and exercise your body periodically for stress release to counteract the constant bending forward due to a sedentary work routine and maintaining spinal equilibrium. A good night’s sleep is the key to alleviate the everyday stress on your spine and facilitate daily repair and relief. In combination with the right mattress, the correct sleeping position is essential for a night of undisturbed ideal sleep.
Too much weight gain, especially around your waist and abdomen, puts excess forward pressure on your spine to support the body mass, putting unnecessary strain on your spinal curves, causing pain and distress and further spinal deterioration.
A medium-firm mattress is considered the most ideal for the general population. It provides the right body weight to the spine support ratio as most of us fall into the medium body weight category. It is highly recommended for the best spine alignment while sleeping. As pointed out by our chiropractor in the video, harder mattresses tend to push more into your spine, adding stress and compression during your sleep.
It’s always recommended to buy a mattress with Certipur-US approved foam that is free from flame retardants and PBDEs, TDCPP or TCEP (”Tris”) flame retardants. It also means these foams have low VOC emissions.
Most of us sleep better on cooler surfaces than in hot environments. Hence, while choosing a mattress, look for a material that would stay cool against your body temperature to ensure undisturbed and relaxed sleep.
As any right mattress lasts anywhere between 15 to 20 years, it’s a wise choice to invest in a medium-firm mattress as it can work for most body types.