A few months ago, I read an article or a blog post (I can’t remember which) that explained that if you are a side sleeper (like me), you should absolutely avoid sleeping on a spring mattress as it puts pressure on the hips and shoulders.
Guess what I have been sleeping on for most of my life?
Granted, I have only become a side sleepers in my later years. I don’t really remember when I switch from sleeping on my back or front (I used to flip around like a crepe) to my side. Probably around the time that I started to snore a little too manly when on my back. Yet, I never changed my mattress type.
I always thought that foam mattresses would be too soft and would hurt my back more (I have slight curvature of the spine) and always chose to sleep on rather firm (limit hard) mats.
A bulb went on in my head when I read that article as I had been experiencing some discomfort on my hips at night but put it to the decline of my skeleton strength thanks to the cancer medication, which is one of the biggest side effect you can find when dealing with something like that…a side effect no one tells you about: the inability to decide if something is related to the disease and/or medication; or something unrelated.
So, as once an idea is in my head and I had already decided I needed to upgrade my mattress as I had mine for over 8 years, I started looking into getting a memory foam one.
When you search memory foam mattresses, the first thing that comes to mind and Google is Tempur. Being January sales, I thought, what the heck, let’s check them out. I nearly spat my coffee out. £1500 for the bottom of the range, on sale?!! No way I could afford or justify spending this much on a mattress. Surely, there had to be a more affordable alternative.
This is when the internet is your friend. I remembered an ad that kept popping up on my Facebook page for a memory foam mattress brand called Eve. At a third of the price, I was intrigued. I read their blurb and checked the reviews and came across a website/blog called Sleepolis. The man seems obsessed with reviewing mattresses but it served my purpose as he had a post where he compared the Eve mattress to another brand called Leesa.
I hadn’t come across Leesa brand so I checked them out and ended up buying my new mattress from them.
It took a few days before I got notification it was shipped as ordered in New Years Day and we had some little shipping issues thanks to UPS being a little bit difficult but it was quite exciting when my neighbour texted me to tell me it had arrived!
It came neatly vacuum sealed and boxed up but it was still 26 kg so J had to help me carry it up the steps. I had to leave it boxed up for the week as I had read that there was a smell to it when you first unpacked it and it was better to leave to fluff up for about 6 hours before using it and we were Monday.
I wrestled with my old mattress to the great panic of Basil the cat and managed to get it out of the house and ready for collection by the Council all by myself. Setting the Leesa was a lot easier and to my great joy, it didn’t smell bad at all. I still left it to breathe and expand the whole of Saturday and was a little excited to go to bed that night – I know, I am sad.
I am glad I also read that it can take a few nights to get used to a memory foam mattress, especially when you have been using a spring one because although my hips enjoyed it, my back didn’t as much when I lay flat. It’s an odd sensation as well as it’s not as bouncy and you can slip off it if you sit on the edge but overall, now that I have been using it for a few days, I rather like how it seems to envelope me and moulds to my body. My back is getting used to it. Now I just have to change my bed frame or at least get a proper slat support as I have metal bars instead and that might not be ideal.
Overall, I am quite happy with my purchase. Leesa were really responsive when I was worrying about the shipment and they gave me a £30 Amazon voucher too…!
