Can Your Mattress Help Your Sleep Apnea?

You might have seen on the internet ads proclaiming that a new mattress—or a very specific kind of mattress—could help improve your sleep apnea. But these are all claims from people who want to sell mattresses, of course. What’s the truth? Can a mattress really help your obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), or does it not make much of a difference at all? 

Claims that a mattress can help your sleep apnea 

What do mattress ads claim? While it’s illegal to claim that a specific mattress can cure your diagnosed sleep apnea without thorough scientific research, mattress stores and online shops find ways to insinuate that the mattress that they’re selling could solve all of your sleep problems. 

You might see mattress websites or billboards that claim their mattress can: 

• Help you get better sleep if you have sleep apnea 
• Reduce the amount or volume of your snoring. 
• Improve your rest and daytime fatigue. 
• Improve the posture of your back. 
• Open your obstructed airways. 

Let’s take a closer look. 

Sleep position, mattresses, and sleep apnea

One thing that we do know is that sleep apnea can be slightly improved in some cases by sleep position. For example, sleeping on your back can cause your tongue to fall to the back of your mouth and close your airways, making it harder to breathe freely while you rest. On the other hand, sleeping on your side is the best position for your body to get air while you rest. 

It follows that getting a mattress that’s better for side sleeping could help you enjoy that sleeping position, and in turn improve your sleep apnea symptoms. Generally, that means a less firm mattress, or a mattress with a cushy top that won’t hurt your hips or shoulders. 

If you are a die hard back sleeper, getting a mattress system that allows you to elevate your head could also be helpful. A bed that moves up and down may find you some relief, or a firm pillow that’s shaped correctly could do the same job. 

One sleep apnea study found that memory foam mattresses helped sleep apnea patients sleep on their stomachs, which in turn helped them minimize their sleep apnea symptoms. 

Mattress firmness and sleep apnea

Mattress firmness could also be either helping or hurting your sleep apnea symptoms. Depending on your sleep position and other factors, you could need either a more firm or less firm mattress to open your airways optimally. 

Specifically, if your mattress is too firm for side sleeping, getting a softer mattress or mattress topper could help. But if your mattress is too soft and causing your back or neck to bend in unnatural ways, you could benefit from a firmer mattress. 

Better mattress, better sleep 

One claim about sleep apnea and mattresses that could hold water is that if you’re sleeping on a crappy mattress and have sleep apnea, getting a better mattress could improve your overall sleep and fatigue issues, even if the mattress doesn’t do anything for your sleep apnea symptoms. That is: if you get a quality mattress, you may get better sleep regardless of your sleep disorders. 

Bottom line: A mattress won’t cure your sleep apnea 

We found that although getting a brand new high-quality mattress could help you get better sleep—and that switching the type of mattress you have could help you sleep in a position that minimizes the obstruction in your airway. 

But a mattress will not cure your sleep apnea if you have a moderate to severe case of it. 

In fact, buying a new mattress for your sleep apnea may just be a pretty expensive step on the path of trying everything you can think of to help it. 

If you suffer from moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea, and other quick fixes haven’t worked, you may wish to consider a surgical sleep apnea treatment: one that literally changes your airway so that it is permanently open and unobstructed during sleep. 

To find out more, or to speak with a sleep apnea surgeon, please contact us today.