What Is the Best Mattress for Your Body Type and Condition?

What is the best mattress... we have already discussed what goes into making the best mattresses, but what happens if you have a health condition that makes choosing a mattress even more complicated? And what if you have one problem and your sleeping partner has something else entirely? What if you are very heavy or very small? Here are some mattress buying tips for people with certain needs.

What is the Best Mattress for Back Pain

You can read more about that here, but essentially, the best mattress for back pain, including disk problems and lower-back muscular pain, is medium firm, using a combination of inner spring support and resilient latex padding. This offers enough support to keep the natural curve of the spine intact. Then, if you are on the slender side, you might experiment with a softer latex topper.

What is the Best Mattress for Fibromyalgia

For fibromyalgia, you need a softer surface with plenty of "give" to avoid painful pressure points. You need good solid cushioning. Many people with fibromyalgia like 100 percent memory foam. Others enjoy 100 percent latex.

Just remember that for both of these types, you need a high quality, firm inner core to offer solid support. The top layers can be as comfortable as you wish. You might try: All natural talalay latex in a medium or plush. Heavier people need medium while thin people will do OK with plush. Then you can add ultra-plush or ultra-soft mattress toppers for extra comfort, if desired.

If you have fibromyalgia, do not buy a cheap memory foam mattress, as it will lack resiliency over time. A truly good-quality bed is priceless for you.

What is the Best Mattress for Arthritis

Osteoarthritis also reacts better to medium-towards-plush. But don't get carried away. An ultra-plush mattress might feel dreamy in the store, but you want to give yourself at least some room for adjustment. That's why it's better to get one step firmer than "dreamy" and then add toppers as desired.

The heavier you are, the more support you will need. If you are tall and heavy, a solid steel core with plenty of latex padding, followed by softer layers or toppers might be best. If you are thin, 100 percent latex would be best unless you prefer memory foam (but stay away from cheap memory foam).

If you have spinal arthritis, or severe pain of any type, you might like an adjustable bed. For this, you need an adjustable steel base with a latex mattress on top.

What About Neck Problems

The best mattress for back pain will work for you too, but the bed is not enough -- you need the best pillow available. That would most likely be 100 percent latex, with medium-to-soft firmness and thickness. Or you could try the special neck-pain or orthopedic pillows. If you sleep on your side, you might need it thicker than if you are a back-sleeper.

What if you're Tall or Short

The only caveat here is to avoid beds that are "zoned." This means that they vary the level of firmness according to where they estimate your centers of gravity lie -- that would be your hips or shoulders for most people. They might add in extra steel coils or use extra firm padding in parts of the bed that might NOT correspond to your own body dimensions.

Disclaimer: As always, the right bed for you should be chosen according to your individual preference and comfort. None of the above might apply to you personally. That's why it's so important to test different types of mattresses to find the one that gives you the most relief of pain and the best sleep possible.