Goldilocks Was Right II: The Medium Firm Mattress Study

Is a hard bed really best for back pain? In 2003, a study in The Lancet put that question to the test. Its answer: a medium firm mattress did better than a firm one. The Associated Press covered the findings, and we shared them here because they echo what Newsweek told readers the year before.

What the Study Found

Researchers in Spain followed more than 300 adults with chronic low back pain for 90 days. Neither the patients nor the researchers knew who got which bed. Half slept on a firm mattress, and half slept on a medium firm mattress.

By the end of the study, the medium firm group had done better. They reported less pain while lying in bed and less pain when getting up. In addition, they had less back-related disability during the day. The old advice to sleep on the firmest bed you can find simply didn’t hold up.

What Medium Firm Means for You

Of course, “medium” isn’t the same for everyone. A lighter side sleeper and a heavier back sleeper will feel the same layer very differently. So the real lesson is that support and comfort have to match your body. That’s hard to get from a one-size-fits-all bed.

Finding Your Medium Firm Mattress Setup

That’s why we build every FloBed from separate layers of natural Talalay latex. You choose the firmness of each layer, and each side of the bed can be different. Our Firmness Advisor on the natural latex mattress page suggests a starting setup based on your weight and sleep position.

And if it isn’t quite right, our Goldilocks Guarantee lets you swap a layer for a firmer or softer one. That way, you can get your bed “just right,” just like Goldilocks.

Source: Kovacs FM et al., “Effect of firmness of mattress on chronic non-specific low-back pain,” The Lancet, 2003. Originally reported by the Associated Press.