Vi-spring Elite mattress tension too firm for bodyweight

Paul asked

27th October 2015

Dear Mike,

My wife and spent a lot of time (and money!) a year ago choosing a new bed. We eventually opted for a Visprung Elite & Divan set in super-king size and Medium firm. We made this choice because, in the showroom, the Elite felt cool and reassuringly solid (though slightly on the firm side) compared with other beds we tested. We tried the mattress out out on 2 occasions for 30 minutes in total.

My weight is 14 stone; I am 5 ft 10 inches and very muscular but with ‘tight’ shoulders: I was advised that my spine was correctly aligned lying on this mattress. I had no historic back problems. My wife is 8 stone and quite slight. She suffers from occasional back problems. She was told that her spine alignment on the mattress was OK too).

My wife’s sleep has deteriorated slightly in the year since we bought the bed: she now gets pains across the upper part of her back in addition to her other longer term back pains.

My sleep on the other hand has nose-dived from good before the new bed arrived to poor after. I tend to go out like a light and then wake-up in the early hours with aching across my upper back. It then takes me an hour or two to get back to sleep and then I wake early again and can’t lie in because my back is so uncomfortable. (This discomfort lasts for an hour or so after I get up).

I have tried using a narrower pillow. This helps a bit when I lie on my back but makes things worse when I lie on my side because the shoulder I am lying on feels as if it is digging into a rock hard bed. I end up swopping my pillows around almost every time I turn over.

I am left very confused: accepted wisdom says at 14 stone I am verging on the need for a Firm mattress yet the Medium I have feels as comfortable as lying on a plank after a few hours.
I am getting desperate.

Can you help me, please.
Thanks in advance
Paul

1 Answer

JohnRyanLtd

answered 8 years ago

Hi Paul,

Thank you for your question.

It seems from your description that you are completely mismatched to your current mattress.

With any pocket sprung mattress there are always 2 elements to it; You have the spring tension that is determined solely by body weight and then the top layers, also referred to as the comfort layers, providing the comfort atop the springs.

It’s worth pointing out here that spring tension guidelines will differ between retailers. Whilst we compare with Vi-Spring it’s only logical that there will be differences between our products.

Our closest comparison: Artisan Naturals

Experience pure comfort from £1095

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With ourselves we would advise that you need a dual tension mattress; This means one half of the mattress would be Soft for your wife and the other half would be Medium for yourself. The spring tension is the only thing that can be altered in our mattresses; The comfort layers remain exactly the same.

Bodyweight	Spring tension
Upto 16 Stone / 50-101kg	Medium (1.4mm)
16 Stone / 101kg Upwards	Firm (1.6mm)
Available in Bespoke Products (Please Call)	Soft (1.2mm)

It sounds to me from your statements above that there is a bit of confusion between the spring tension and the comfort layers. As we know that the spring tension is determined by your body weights we can effectively ignore that for the time being to concentrate on the comfort layers.

Your sleeping patterns and habits do have some input into the top layers; Front sleepers need to avoid anything too soft as this can cause an unnatural arch in your spine leading inevitably to pains. Side sleepers need to avoid anything too firm as this can lead to pressure point pains in places such as shoulders, hips and knees.

As there’s no real reference to your sleeping patterns it’s difficult to recommend particular products but it sounds like you need something more medium in the top layers. As such I’d be inclined to recommend looking at the Artisan Naturals. This is a traditional pocket sprung mattress constructed with 85% natural fillings with those fillings providing a cool sleep surface. The Naturals is very much a true medium in the top layers being neither too soft nor too firm.

I would like to point out though that comfort is very subjective as everyone sleeps differently. As such there may be a need to add a mattress topper at a later date. We advise that you need to try any new mattress for 4-6 weeks to get a true feel for it. If at this stage you’ref finding the mattress still too firm then this is where you’d look at adding a topper to introduce an extra comfort layer. Our toppers are only suitable for foam or latex mattresses so you would be better checking a company online called Soak and Sleep. They have a much wider range than we do allow for different depths and densities and hopefully, they have something suitable for your needs.