Hehe, that image wasn't from the bed, just from the net. It seems that although I'm a side sleeper, this bed was too soft in real life. I'm glad your mattress worked out, which one did you get?
I don't sleep on my back, when it doesn't give enough it still makes you out of alignment. Thanks for the feedback.
My mattress is a local brand so I couldn't really point you to it. But it's relatively simple in it's design - two layers of memory foam - one softer and one firmer that you could reverse depending on your softness preferences with a thin layer of really soft memory foam on top. Even the softer side feels quite firm compared to most mattresses I've slept on in hotels for example.
I'm not so sure about the spinal alignment when you are sleeping on the side. My father is a side sleeper too and when he slept on the floor, he was on the side a lot of the time, so I'm not sure you really need the mattress to give a lot when you are a side sleeper. I guess your spine doesn't need to be straight, it just needs to be properly supported so your muscles can relax. If the bed is too soft, I guess your muscles stay tense because you unconsciously feel unsafe and unsupported. But that's pure speculation based on apocryphal evidence. I'm not sure why did it work for him so well, I'm just sharing the very limited experience I've had with this type of things.
I tend to sleep mainly on my front, but my girlfriend is a side sleeper and this firmer memory foam mattress is the best one she has ever slept on. I personally can sleep on a rock and wouldn't really mind, but my girlfriend hated our previous mattress so we just bought an expensive one and she hadn't tried it before I brought it home. I also didn't really try it in the shop as a friend with back problems had recommended it a lot so I just bought it. When she first tried it she actually complained that it was too firm and that she couldn't believe that I had spent so much on such a stiff mattress. It took her only one night to realize she loved it.
So my biased advice would be, don't get something that is too soft.
Thanks, I agree, the soft is an issue I think. Plus the store was cool with AC and my apt. isn't. But I think this new mattress is softer than the used one in the store. I'm going to pay $60 and change model and prob pay a bit more, latex foam instead of just just polyurethane or memory foam.
I hope you end up with a mattress that has been worth your cash that has you waking up well-rested and relaxed.
Thanks, I spent more and got the other mattress I was looking at. Latex. Costs more, but lasts longer too.