Oh, hey, it's been a while. I know. My bad.
So, I asked friends on my Instagram account recently about topics they'd be interested in seeing me blog about. Almost everyone wanted to hear about how and why we now sleep on floor beds like wierdos. So let's do this thang.
In high school and early adulthood I slept a variety of terrible mattresses (Red Barn, anyone?) and my back hurt, but I didn't really care, so I just moved on with my life. My health was no great concern to me. I was happily living off of Dr. Pepper, cottage cheese, and avocados- clearly, I didn't know what I was doing.
After Arthur and I got married, we got a mattress that we really loved. Two babies later, though, and not only had the mattress seen better days (there was a permanent valley were my huge pregnant body had been sleeping), so had my body. Pregnancies (with big babies), a rollercoaster and weight gain/loss, nursing, co-sleeping (read: sleeping in crazy positions to keep your babe safe), and baby/toddler wearing had done a number on me.
While pregnant, I had been seeing an amazing and incredibly helpful chiropractor. I continued to see her after Clara was born, but between limited insurance coverage and a very tight budget, I couldn't see her frequently enough to really resolve my back issues.
My back pain, which had never left, was bad enough for me to finally do something about it.
Enter: Floor beds.
I saw someone online mention getting a floor bed for their toddler. I had no idea what that was, so I quit shopping for toddler beds on Craigslist and started Googling "floor beds" instead. Turns out, some adults sleep on the floor, too.
Some people use different sorts of mattresses or bed pads on the floor. Others just throw a rug or two down as padding, and sleep right there. Since I was looking for immediate help for my back, I went for the latter. I lay a few blankets out on the floor, researched the best ways to use pillows for neck and leg support when sleeping on such a hard, flat surface, and went to sleep.
Actually, I lay awake.
Because it was so uncomfortable. Like, it really was NOT awesome.
That first night I was sore, cold, and uncomfortable pretty much the entire time. I woke up kind of stiff, and sore in weird places- but, my back didn't hurt as much. So I kept trying it out. After a few nights, I started getting used to. After about a week, I was hooked.
Not only was my back feeling SO much better, my sleep was amazing. Honestly, my sleep has always been pretty great, but this was different- I slept deeply and felt more rested when I woke. The BEST PART was this: I woke up more quickly and easily than ever before, and my mind was so much clearer upon waking. As a mom of two kids under the age of two, this was a huge game-changer.
But we weren't ready to get rid of our bed yet. Arthur was willing to try sleeping on the floor, but let's be real- we had two little kids; new and adventurous ways of sleeping were not high on our list of priorities. Consequently, over the next year I actually spent most nights sleeping in bed. When my back just got TOO bad, I'd switch to the floor for a few nights, or a week or two. But without a space for Arthur and I both sleep on the floor, I typically chose cuddling with my husband over the makeshift floor bed.
Which shows how much I love my husband. Because that was actually a really difficult choice, because you guys: FLOOR SLEEP IS AMAZING. I craved it. I loved it. It's like the rest-equivalent of that dessert you love the most.
Anyways, fast-forward to Spring of 2017, and our life was crazy. We lived in three different places in two months, and somewhere in there we finally got rid of our mattress and sold our bed frame. We moved into our apartment in Walla Walla with beds for our kids, and a big pile of thrifted blankets and miscellaneous padding for ourselves. We stacked them, tucked a sheet over them, and called it good.
That was our bed for five months. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't amazing. Arthur wasn't in love with it- he didn't wake up after the first week and say "This sleep is like nectar from Heaven!" like I was sort of hoping he would. It was also really inconvenient to have the blanket pile get moved, or uneven, or bunched in weird places.
We decided to get a mattress, as long as it was thin and firm enough to maintain the benefits of sleeping on the floor, while having just enough cushion that it was still a comfortable place to sit and read at the end of the day. In November we bought the MEISTERVIK foam mattress from IKEA, and it's genuinely perfect for us. It's very firm, less than five inches thick, but still feels more like a "real" bed than sleeping on blankets. Plus, keeping it directly on the floor upholds the firmness, and my back is just as happy with this. If anything, I actually like it better than sleeping directly on the floor- it's more comfortable for sleeping on my side (rather than just on my back), and it provides just enough support and cushion that I don't have to be as careful about providing spot support with pillows.
So, that's what works for us. Personally, I can't imagine ever switching back a standard mattress. We're really happy with what we have, and my back is better than it's been in about ten years. Also, I feel like my crazy-floor-bed-phase is validated by the fact that when I was sleeping on a blanket on the floor and went in for a chiropractic adjustment this spring, my chiropractor said my alignment was actually really good. That was the first time, ever, that's been true for me when I got an adjustment.
All that being said, find what works for you. I thought people who slept on the floor were crazy, but it turns out, we're just happier and healthier this way. That doesn't mean you have to do it, but if you're curious, look into it! It's been a huge help to me.
Alright, I'm trying not to get pushy or to oversell this, so I'm gonna wrap this up.
Last note: Our four-year-old son sleeps on a floor bed also. He is currently sleeping on a stack of two MINNESUND foam mattresses (also from IKEA). I've fallen asleep on his bed, and it's very comfortable- firm, but not hard. Our two-and-a-half-year-old daughter is still in her crib, but when she's ready to move out of that, she will get one of the MINNESUND mattresses and the other will stay with our son.
They are all proving to be great mattresses for floor beds, and are very easy to flip, air out, and move. The only real downside is that because they are so thin, standard fitted sheets are too deep, and we need to kind of tuck the extra fabric under the mattress to keep the sheet tight. Which is totally worth it, given how well these beds are working for us.
Ok, cool, that's it. If you have questions, let me know! Otherwise, I'll just leave you here awkwardly with this blog post that is probably way too long about our strange sleeping habits...
So, I asked friends on my Instagram account recently about topics they'd be interested in seeing me blog about. Almost everyone wanted to hear about how and why we now sleep on floor beds like wierdos. So let's do this thang.
In high school and early adulthood I slept a variety of terrible mattresses (Red Barn, anyone?) and my back hurt, but I didn't really care, so I just moved on with my life. My health was no great concern to me. I was happily living off of Dr. Pepper, cottage cheese, and avocados- clearly, I didn't know what I was doing.
After Arthur and I got married, we got a mattress that we really loved. Two babies later, though, and not only had the mattress seen better days (there was a permanent valley were my huge pregnant body had been sleeping), so had my body. Pregnancies (with big babies), a rollercoaster and weight gain/loss, nursing, co-sleeping (read: sleeping in crazy positions to keep your babe safe), and baby/toddler wearing had done a number on me.
While pregnant, I had been seeing an amazing and incredibly helpful chiropractor. I continued to see her after Clara was born, but between limited insurance coverage and a very tight budget, I couldn't see her frequently enough to really resolve my back issues.
My back pain, which had never left, was bad enough for me to finally do something about it.
Enter: Floor beds.
I saw someone online mention getting a floor bed for their toddler. I had no idea what that was, so I quit shopping for toddler beds on Craigslist and started Googling "floor beds" instead. Turns out, some adults sleep on the floor, too.
Some people use different sorts of mattresses or bed pads on the floor. Others just throw a rug or two down as padding, and sleep right there. Since I was looking for immediate help for my back, I went for the latter. I lay a few blankets out on the floor, researched the best ways to use pillows for neck and leg support when sleeping on such a hard, flat surface, and went to sleep.
Actually, I lay awake.
Because it was so uncomfortable. Like, it really was NOT awesome.
That first night I was sore, cold, and uncomfortable pretty much the entire time. I woke up kind of stiff, and sore in weird places- but, my back didn't hurt as much. So I kept trying it out. After a few nights, I started getting used to. After about a week, I was hooked.
Not only was my back feeling SO much better, my sleep was amazing. Honestly, my sleep has always been pretty great, but this was different- I slept deeply and felt more rested when I woke. The BEST PART was this: I woke up more quickly and easily than ever before, and my mind was so much clearer upon waking. As a mom of two kids under the age of two, this was a huge game-changer.
But we weren't ready to get rid of our bed yet. Arthur was willing to try sleeping on the floor, but let's be real- we had two little kids; new and adventurous ways of sleeping were not high on our list of priorities. Consequently, over the next year I actually spent most nights sleeping in bed. When my back just got TOO bad, I'd switch to the floor for a few nights, or a week or two. But without a space for Arthur and I both sleep on the floor, I typically chose cuddling with my husband over the makeshift floor bed.
Which shows how much I love my husband. Because that was actually a really difficult choice, because you guys: FLOOR SLEEP IS AMAZING. I craved it. I loved it. It's like the rest-equivalent of that dessert you love the most.
Anyways, fast-forward to Spring of 2017, and our life was crazy. We lived in three different places in two months, and somewhere in there we finally got rid of our mattress and sold our bed frame. We moved into our apartment in Walla Walla with beds for our kids, and a big pile of thrifted blankets and miscellaneous padding for ourselves. We stacked them, tucked a sheet over them, and called it good.
That was our bed for five months. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't amazing. Arthur wasn't in love with it- he didn't wake up after the first week and say "This sleep is like nectar from Heaven!" like I was sort of hoping he would. It was also really inconvenient to have the blanket pile get moved, or uneven, or bunched in weird places.
We decided to get a mattress, as long as it was thin and firm enough to maintain the benefits of sleeping on the floor, while having just enough cushion that it was still a comfortable place to sit and read at the end of the day. In November we bought the MEISTERVIK foam mattress from IKEA, and it's genuinely perfect for us. It's very firm, less than five inches thick, but still feels more like a "real" bed than sleeping on blankets. Plus, keeping it directly on the floor upholds the firmness, and my back is just as happy with this. If anything, I actually like it better than sleeping directly on the floor- it's more comfortable for sleeping on my side (rather than just on my back), and it provides just enough support and cushion that I don't have to be as careful about providing spot support with pillows.
So, that's what works for us. Personally, I can't imagine ever switching back a standard mattress. We're really happy with what we have, and my back is better than it's been in about ten years. Also, I feel like my crazy-floor-bed-phase is validated by the fact that when I was sleeping on a blanket on the floor and went in for a chiropractic adjustment this spring, my chiropractor said my alignment was actually really good. That was the first time, ever, that's been true for me when I got an adjustment.
All that being said, find what works for you. I thought people who slept on the floor were crazy, but it turns out, we're just happier and healthier this way. That doesn't mean you have to do it, but if you're curious, look into it! It's been a huge help to me.
Alright, I'm trying not to get pushy or to oversell this, so I'm gonna wrap this up.
Last note: Our four-year-old son sleeps on a floor bed also. He is currently sleeping on a stack of two MINNESUND foam mattresses (also from IKEA). I've fallen asleep on his bed, and it's very comfortable- firm, but not hard. Our two-and-a-half-year-old daughter is still in her crib, but when she's ready to move out of that, she will get one of the MINNESUND mattresses and the other will stay with our son.
They are all proving to be great mattresses for floor beds, and are very easy to flip, air out, and move. The only real downside is that because they are so thin, standard fitted sheets are too deep, and we need to kind of tuck the extra fabric under the mattress to keep the sheet tight. Which is totally worth it, given how well these beds are working for us.
Ok, cool, that's it. If you have questions, let me know! Otherwise, I'll just leave you here awkwardly with this blog post that is probably way too long about our strange sleeping habits...
Comments
Post a Comment