Most people shop for a mattress the same way. People love to simply lie down for a few seconds and pick whatever feels the comfiest. That instant “ahh” feeling often wins the sale. What feels comfortable for a moment in a mattress showroom is not always what supports the body best over eight hours of sleep.
A mattress has two jobs: keep the spine in neutral alignment and reduce pressure on joints like the shoulders and hips. When either of those fails, sleep quality suffers. Mattresses that are too soft allow the heavier parts of the body, especially the hips and torso, to sink too deeply. Plenty of people love that, "enveloped in my mattress," sort of feel, but it really is not what is best for the body. Sinking in too deep causes the spine to curve downward and forces muscles work night to stabilize the body. Mattresses that are too firm create a different problem. Instead of allowing the body’s natural curves to settle in, the mattress pushes back, concentrating weight at the shoulders, hips, and ribcage.
The truth is that the ideal sleep surface for the human body is medium firmness. A medium mattress allows the shoulders and hips to settle slightly while still holding up the spine and core. This keeps the body aligned from the neck to the lower back and allows muscles to relax. Sleep research supports this. Multiple clinical studies have found that medium mattresses reduce back pain and improve sleep quality better than very soft or very firm beds. The 1855s are all within the correct medium-firmness range.
Medium firmness also works across sleep positions. Side sleepers get pressure relief, back sleepers get spinal support, and combination sleepers, (or rotisserie sleepers as we like to call them,) can shift positions easily throughout the night. This is why the healthiest mattresses over the long term usually fall somewhere in the middle of the firmness scale, not at the extremes.
It's a difficult pill to swallow, but it's the truth. The mattress that feels the comfiest in the store isn’t always the one your body will feel best on in the morning. We engineered the 1855 mattresses with this in mind. Medium firmness wins.