Snoring Studies: Snoring & the Tempur-Pedic (TM) Mattress

The first thing you need to know is this:  except for being a very grateful customer, we have no business, personal, financial, investment, or any other relationship with the Tempur-Pedic (TM) company; or any of its retailers, suppliers and anyone else even remotely related to the company as far as we know.  Nobody paid us for this study (we bought the mattresses ourselves).

This means that we are customers, just like thousands of others.  We purchased the mattress though a local Brookstone (TM) store in 2006 as a key part of our long-term research into effective, non-intrusive snoring relief.

We decided to buy a Tempur-Pedic (TM) mattress after an extensive study of the available data online.  We also talked with prior customers. Some (a very few) didn't like the mattress.  Most did.  What little information there was about the effect that this mattress might have on snoring was anecdotal - a few people telling us about their experiences.  Which is what got us interested in the product in the first place.

We wanted to conduct some careful research for ourselves and see if this revolutionary approach to mattress construction would offer any real snoring relief.   People had told us that it helped them, but we're pretty skeptical after all these years.

Studying the Data

So we kicked the idea around for two years, put off by the high price (starting around $1,500).  Finally, we decided to buy when a local department store held it's Labor Day mattress sale.  We knew that we needed a replacement - and that an investment in research could benefit our company - so we went shopping.

For about what we'd have to pay for a traditional high-quality queen coil-spring & memory foam mattress, we found that we could buy a queen Tempur-Pedic (TM) (the 9" "Classic")  It cost us about $1,650, and came with a 90-day money-back guarantee - and a 20-year product warranty. But it is still very expensive.  Gulp!

Delivery was going to take about a week, so we continued to sleep on the old (10 year) mattress. It was an expensive top-of-the-line mattress when we bought it, but a decade of wear had left it lumpy with saggy, uncomfortable springs.

The First Night

At first, we observed that the Tempur-Pedic (TM) mattress sleeps warm - warmer than the mattress you're using now.  You won't need lots of blankets because the material traps body heat.  We added a simple cotton mattress pad, and that cooled the bed down without reducing its comfort.

What We Noticed the Next Morning

1.  A lot less back pain (we're in our 50's & 60's, active & not overweight)

2.  Far more comfort, no sagging, no rolling, no tosssing & turning

3.  Much better, deeper and longer sleep.

4.  Less snoring (surprisingly, a LOT less!)

Both of us snore (a lot & loud) - sleeping on our back or side on the Tempur-Pedic (TM) has reduced our snoring by an astounding 70%.  We snore far less, the snoring is much quieter.  We sleep better, no symptoms of apnea.

How did we measure the snoring reduction?  Using a microphone and computer.  We recorded and analyzed snoring for time (how long did we snore), loudness, and breathing pattern (was there any "apnea-like pausing?), as well as other data.  Not a "sleep center" analysis by any measure, but good enough to give us some useful data.

What We're Planning

A longer, more rigorously detailed snoring study is underway over the next 2-3 years.  While we are now doing the initial planning for that long-term study, these preliminary findings are simply amazing.  And while we'd like to dream about earning a commission on any mattress sales (note: we won't), the simple fact so far is this:

Sleeping on this mattress just might help you reduce your snoring.

If you are going to consider the Tempur-Pedic (TM) mattress, go for the 120-day money-back guarantee.  It IS expensive.  There are cheaper products (and we actually tried a couple of them (not so good).  Try it, test it to see if it helps reduce your snoring.  And let us know!

Do I still Need a SnorEnder?

Yes.  Remember, you snore because your mouth is open while you sleep.  The Tempur-Pedic will very probably help give you a great night's sleep.  But your spouse will still suffer if you snore. 

But, sleeping on a Tempur-Pedic (TM) mattress may mean that you heavy snorers only need to use the SnorEnder 2-3 nights a week - instead of every night.

Web site page last updated: 08/14/2008