Bed firmness? Sleeping on hard surfaces or soft surfaces? Effect on hips, shoulders, and back? 

Told you have FAI? To free yourself from hip pain, check out the FAI Fix at www.thefaifix.com No FAI but still want to make your hips pain-free, strong, and mobile? Check out Healthy Hips! www.uprighthealth.com/healthy-hips

I wake up every morning with back pain every day. I think I'm going to start sleeping standing up.

I'm a 45 year old petite woman very happy, healthy and super strong. A few months ago I got a 6-inch thick foam pad that covered my entire mattress; and it felt so good to be like floating on clouds. A few days later I started to feel and move like I was 85 years old, I had pain on every joint, and my bones cracked all day long. I also had to walk slowly and turn slowly because my leg muscles felt tight but my knee joints were loose. I dreaded getting up in the morning while before I used to spring out of bed as soon as I opened my eyes. I would sit for 2 hours before I could start my day, while before I could drive literally 30 seconds after getting up. It took me months to realize the marshmallow foam pad on my mattress was causing it. I removed the foam from my medium firm mattress and I noticed a major improvement on the very first day. On the second day I was back to my normal self. It feels good to feel good. I hope it helps someone.

I've been sleeping on the floor - literally carpet or hard wood - for four years. It's the single best lifestyle change I made.

Changed from a soft mattress to a hard one, I was getting back pains for the first few weeks. but after that, not a single bit of discomfort. All the previous back discomfort went away.

I bought a firm mattress thinking its better for my back. After 21 days, i was in the worst of pain of my life. Switching to a medium mattress now

My hard bed over 5 years improved my posture, albeit not the most comfortable. Sometimes I notice my posture when standing, walking or running. Upright without effort.

The challenge about beds is, how to you try a bed out? You buy a $900 bed and then you find it wasn't comfortable... then you have to invest another $900 or more in another bed, again you might find it wasn't what you were looking for... Yes, you can lie down for 5 minutes in a bed shop, but that doesn't tell the experience of a whole night or a month... For me, another challenge is when lying on my back, I prefer a softer bed, and when lying on the side, I prefer a harder bed. How to solve that? :)

Recently got a new mattress after mine was incredibly worn out. This one is very hard and doesn’t conform to the body at all. I’m loving it already!

Furniture mover for a living. Ive been on the floor for about 1 year. All the pains in the knees, back, shoulders, collar bone, and neck. Havent felt any of them in quite a long time. Im just stronger than Ive ever been. Its almost like a cat or dog needing a fluffy sack to lay in all the time. Your body absolutely gets used to it!

I’ve had 4 back surgeries and had to force myself to give up my soft marshmallow feeling bed. I bought a Tulo medium firm memory foam bed that felt way to stiff for me....but my back felt better after one night. The memory foam provides just enough to relieve pressure but supports and holds up my hips etc and my spine stays straight. No I’m not as comfortable as my marshmallow bed but I don’t wake up 8 hours later feeling like a truck hit me. It’s a great compromise!! Most think memory foam as being soft but they make very supportive mattresses like Tulo. Relieves pressure points and holds up your posture. I highly recommend people go to mattress firm and try out a Tulo medium mattress. Don’t be afraid to give up the marshmallow bed like i was!!! I should have done this years ago. I paid 750 dollars for a King size Tulo and they threw in a adjustable bed platform for free!!!

When you're sleeping on hard surfaces, pillow height becomes much more important. Fold a towel into 3 layers and use for when you're on your back. For side sleeping fold towels and try out which height you need. Between 10-20cm depending on the person. 90% can get their height to within a towel layer. When you find your height your eyes will close, your mouth will make a smile and you'll never want to get up again, TRY IT!!!

When lying on your side on the floor place top leg, bent, over the lower leg and roll your hips. This removes the pressure from the hips and better aligns your body.

I've slept on the floor for a few years now and what I've discovered is that over time the discomfort goes away. I switch between all positions throughout the night, even on my belly (my favorite).

I sleep on a mattress topper on the floor. Totally firm with just enough padding to be comfortable. I sleep on my side/stomach. Someday I'll sleep on my back without a pillow. We evolved to sleep on harder rather than softer surfaces, so it makes sense. Hard wood or concrete would also be unnatural and obviously painful.

you forgot to mention sleeping on the front or slightly rolled to the side (but not completly on the side) when sleeping on hard surfaces. I threw out my mattress one year ago and now sleeping on a 0.5 cm thick foam camping matress (just because it is cold from the downside). after one ore two month I felt completly comfortable with it. and I am relaxing better on it e. g. after a hard day of training than on the mattress the years before.I think it is more natural because for millions of years humankind had no soft mattresses and the body is made to sleep on harder (not stone hard) surfaces. the downside, I found out, is that you need some improved flexibility. the first few weeks my arms has been numb from time to time because my shoulder was not flexible enough. but after one year i can say that sleeping on pretty hard surfaces is much better for me

Don't know how you came to such a conclusion regarding sleeping on surfaces as an "expert"!! I've had back problems most of my life, and in recent years recurring sciatica and sacroiliac pain, bit since I started sleeping in the floor (3 months ago) I feel ten times better! All it takes is a few pillows in the right spots, when sleeping on my back, I put it under my knees and when on my side, I put over leg on it (the way pregnant women use pillows). It's a completely different and infinitely better format for sleeping. Odd that your expertise would exclude any positive benefits! In the end, people should try it for themselves and STOP taking the words of "experts" as gospel!

I've been sleeping on a really hard bed for two years (it's like the floor). I have pain in my body everyday and one of my shoulders got lower than the other because my posture got worse. So, I'd recommend underweight people to sleep on softer beds

I just switched to a firm bed from my soft, comfy, spongy marshmallow bed 😆 bad nights sleep but my morning sore back significantly better. Crossing fingers after a month I will be adjusted.

i bought a massage table. best bed i've ever had. love sleeping on it.

Hello! Thank you for this! Regarding hard surface sleeping- I feel everything you are saying as I have been sleeping on tatami for about a year and it is sometimes hard to figure out a comfortable position- yet it is less painful than the wild positions I find myself waking up in on a mattress. However I am wondering , how do you account for the large amounts of people in several countries who have slept on tatami or other floor sleeping arrangements ? Would you say they all have tailbone/ hip/ shoulder issues , or do you believe there is a true possibility of adjusting the body to it healthfully ?

Thanks bro. I've always wondered about this but have never looked into it.

Wouldn't it be ideal if they made compound beds---a bed that is firm on the upper body, but has a slightly elevated plush surface below the sacrum that compresses just enough to keep the hips in proper alignment

I'm lying on hard mattress right now, at 3 am. I tried to fall asleep from 1 am but my mind can't relax and I'm experiencing stress from it. What do I do? Struggle to sleep till 5 am or go sleep on soft mattress?

Hi Matt great video. Just wondering if you've done a video on pros and cons on different sleeping positions?

I’ve had to ditch my bed and start sleeping in a hammock in the garden, back pain went…couldn’t believe it

My firm tempurpedic bed got soft. I can't sleep now. My mom had these new tall air beds from Costco, and it feels firm, but it doesn't hurt me. Im thinking about buying one to see how feels to sleep on daily.

I tried sleeping on the floor over winter and it completely screwed up my body over just a couple of weeks. Had pain everywhere- definitely won't try it again. How do poorer people in certain countries do it though? Some actually seem to prefer it to sleeping on a bed? 😕

I'm sleeping on the hard surface, on the floor. It's pain I'd say the least. It's been 3 month or so. I wake up like I was beat up all night. It's so uncomfortable. Only benefit is, you wake up easily in the morning. You don't wanna sleep longer coz it's uncomfortable. I wake up 2 times at night to say the least.

Thank you for the information Doctor. I have been trying to sleep on the floor and I had exact issue you described when sleeping on my back.

I sleep on a 3/4" thermarest under two sheepskins on the floor. best thing I ever did. more energy took a week to get used to but ill never go back

Great Video 🥰

That explains the problems. But the solution of getting a mattress not too hard or too soft is like saying the winner of the race will be fastest horse on the day. Fact 1: Mattress manufacturers are in business to make money, year on year. They have more to gain from people in discomfort - and getting a new mass-produced mattress - than from customising springs for everyone's mattress. Fact 2: Modern mattresses have foam layers above and below the springs with stiff matt in between. This foam gives the impression of softness when you lie on it in the store. But lie on it for 20 minutes and you find you've sort of sunk into the foam and can't make the small autonomous movements during sleep to aid circulation. So you have to roll out of the sunken foam channel onto a firm part of the mattress - until that too starts to sink under your weight. Foam is no solution to overly firm springs. Fact 3: Today, many coil spring mattresses are made from a continuous coil of steel wire. Few today are made from separate springs fitted into a preformed steel lattice. This reduces the number of spring stiffnesses as manufacturers will generally make up mattresses that are either soft or hard since each resetting of the coiler is downtime for the factory.

I wished I watched this video before I bought a really soft bed :/

Any tips when it comes to sleeping on a soft bed that causes pain in upper/middle back (under the shoulder blades) got a brand new mattress and it’s just much softer than what I’ve been use to but I wanted to know if there’s sleeping tips you could give me. I heard sleeping with a pillow under your legs while lying in your back and help reduce stress off my upper/mid back. Is that true and would you recommend anything els e

So I just recently tried a purple 3 and it’s way to soft, I fall asleep faster on the floor on my back, so naturally I returned the purple and got a firm beauty rest that’s way more supportive. There was an extra firm but I thought that was to extreme, so I’m just going to go with a firm mattress which I assume will break in to feel medium firm. So is back or side sleeping better ?

The best opinion so far

I am 6'5" 355 lbs. , I am a side sleeper and I cant figure out how to get rid of the shoulder / hip pain. I wake up with all kinds off soreness and dead-limbs. I swap from my right side to my left side all night. What kinda bed would be best for me or anything I can do to lessen these issues aside from the obvious of lose weight.

Anyone switch to barefoot shoes after switching to floor sleeping ?

Idk. I was watching this while lying on the floor. I fell asleep.

I have a disk derangement, and when I sleep on my left or right side I get pain on my right low back and glutes and typically have glute inactivation when I wake up on the morning along with alot of pain, any advice would be great, (I actually sleep on a massage table

i always sleep on the floor with a pillow

Matt, what about stomach sleepers? Similar advice?

great insight tysm!, i have a memory foam that is tearing my back and shoulders up!.

Sleeping on the floor, on the side with an adjustable layered pillow at the CORRECT height --> great sleep. Tribal societies sleep on hard surfaces. This video is not scientific. A proper study should be done.

I feel like the use of cushion for everything over the years keeps us dependent on it. Ppl that don’t have as cushioned of a life (some developing countries) don’t seem to have all the physical issues some modern societies have.

Thanks men, it really help

Everyone says you need to sleep on a hard mattress but I’m sorry for me it’s so uncomfortable. I like to sleep on my side so I need some softness.

i sleep on a very firm bed, and I wake up with very inactive glutes that lasts for an hour. I have to very careful walking as I feel I might injure my glutes.

hy for 100kg body what matress do you recomend , i have level 7 firm matress and its a disaster

If you’re here , good luck with surgery guys , blessings

I prefer medium beds.

Front sleeping gets slept on here 😴😂 us prone sleepers are pretty rare though

I have been sleeping on a memory foam placed upon a medium firmness mattress for three months. Sleeping feels quite comfortable, but I awake with more discomfort in my shouders, lower back, SI joints and anterior hips each day. I am a back sleeper due to so many injuries, and I rarely change positions. Do you have any opinions about memory foam? Also, my bed is beneath the circuit box, the power box being just outside. I wonder if there is any relationship to the power box and my ever increasing pain and loss of mobility.

This was informative and hilarious! Definitely a thumbs up. If you sleep like a BRICK. 😆

If i have ppt and uneven hip. What should I get? I try to sleep on my side that isn't in pain but do move

Aw he’s sooooo cute 😭😍❤️

Time to sleep upside down like a bat

Ty ❤️

Nawar ki charpai!!! Where's my Desi squad at?

It is 4:57pm I am in my parents house with a new mattress SUPER FIRM! I need help haven’t slept for days my head hurts my whole body is aching and I have no way of buying another mattress 😞 holy cow any kind of advice as to how to brake this bed so it can be less firm? Without a mattress topper? Please I need help!

Will sleep on the floor with a pillow and two blankets. One on the bottom one on top. Like buddhist I was buddist I will be. Sorry islam, sorry christianity, sorry judaism. Japan and buddah rocks!

The hyperbole you use is just killing me. (Hyperbole intended.) Seems completely inappropriate to the serious subject matter. Nerves and such being "crushed" or "smashed?" It lowers the credibility of all your information.