[Veloce]

I've had lifelong chronic back pain which reached an all-time low in my early 20s when my back went out in two places, both lower and upper. Xrays showed severe subluxation in two places. It was a result of a mostly sedentary lifestyle, sleeping on bad beds, and really bad lifting practices at work.

I disagree about sleeping on floors solely for the reason our ancestors did it. I don't believe they were significantly stronger due to sleeping on floors. Our life expectancy has only gone up and I think humans are bigger and stronger than they've ever been, but I think this has more to do with improved diet across the human population than anything else. There seems to be glorified view of our ancestors as these badass raw meat eating hulksters who slept on dinosaur bones, fucked 10 women before breakfast, and kept sabretooth tigers as pets. In some parts of the world that might have been true, but not for most humans. The vast bulk of the human population has lived in squalor, had an extremely poor diet, been pretty unhealthy if not downright emaciated or diseased, and thus had a pretty short life expectancy. But I digress.

Back to beds.

I will say that I believe firmer is better...to a point.

The best I've slept is on my Tempur-Pedic. There are many criticisms (get too hot during the summer, no bouncing springs for fucking girls) and some are valid, however the fact remains that from someone who's dealt with a decade of really shitty back issues, I think the Tempurpedic has been a major factor in my back getting better. This is accompanied with exercise (lifting) and stretching (decompression yoga) and finding the right chiropractor.

I do think there are better mattresses out there, but they are fucking ridiculously expensive.

[Grit]

To the OP: did 'paleo' inspire you to try this? Curious how much game and paleo align- as they both make you rethink simple stuff like sleeping on the floor.

[Thomas the Rhymer]

(01-02-2013 10:23 AM)Hencredible Casanova Wrote:  

Below are some of the benefits to sleeping on the floor.

I used to sleep on the floor because matresses give me back pain, but had to stop because of the following disadvantages:

The Main Disadvantage: It get's hellishly cold in winter, even if you're lying on a comforter or sleeping bag, you can feel the cold floor sucking all the heat out of you. The constant cold made me sickly. Even in Summer it sometimes felt too cold.

The Minor Disadvantage: If you sleep too long in one position, the hardness of the floor starts giving you pressure pain at specific spots.

These days I sleep on a futon foam mattress, it's quiet hard so I don't get back pain and it's high enough from the floor to not act as a conductive heat loss mechanism.

[Joga Bonito]

For the guys with back pain, have you tried Chinese acupunture? I tried it for a time(not for back) and my overall health improved dramatically. It is known as a pretty effective treatment for back pain though.

Quote:

Acupuncture May Ease Chronic Back Pain
Study Shows Acupuncture Trumps Standard Care for Back Pain Relief

The ancient technique of acupuncture helps relieve chronic back pain better than standard care such as medications or physical therapy, according to a new study.

Even more surprising, all three acupuncture techniques tested -- including a "sham" technique with toothpicks and no skin puncturing -- worked better than the usual care given for the problem.

http://www.webmd.com/back-pain/news/2009...-back-pain

[Kickb]

I have some toothpicks where should I poke myself?

[speakeasy]

Another thing would keep me from sleeping on the floor. I don't want to get bitten by spiders.

(01-03-2013 01:16 AM)iWin Wrote:  

http://www.webmd.com/back-pain/news/2009...-back-pain

Hmm, doesn't the fact that the "sham" technique worked imply that acupuncture is just the placebo effect at work?

[Aliblahba]

(01-03-2013 01:46 AM)speakeasy Wrote:  

Another thing would keep me from sleeping on the floor. I don't want to get bitten by spiders.

(01-03-2013 01:16 AM)iWin Wrote:  

http://www.webmd.com/back-pain/news/2009...-back-pain

Hmm, doesn't the fact that the "sham" technique worked imply that acupuncture is just the placebo effect at work?

   

[Mage]

I like to sleep at floor from time to time for one to three nights in a month or so.

I believe one to three nights is enough for your back to feel much better.

But my back generally feels good anyway because of exercise. The main reason I sleep to floor for some time is because:

Sleeping in bed after you haven't done it for a few days feels EXTRA PHANTASTIC!!!! It is such pleasure that sometimes feels better then sex!

[Joga Bonito]

(01-03-2013 01:46 AM)speakeasy Wrote:  

Another thing would keep me from sleeping on the floor. I don't want to get bitten by spiders.

(01-03-2013 01:16 AM)iWin Wrote:  

http://www.webmd.com/back-pain/news/2009...-back-pain

Hmm, doesn't the fact that the "sham" technique worked imply that acupuncture is just the placebo effect at work?

Not necessarily, the placebo effect is pervasive in nearly all types of drug trials and is a normal part of testing like this. For example, with a drug like morphine the placebo effect saw 39% percent of the test subjects improve their condition(which was better than the 4mg dose). That certainly doesn't invalidate that morphine is a powerful and effective pain killer. According to Wikipedia about 35% of subjects who are on the placebo effect(over a wide range of treatments) report improvement with just placebo. While the placebo worked effectively in this case, its also important to note that the actual acupunture procedure worked more effectively than other traditional treatments as well. Placebo effect doesn't invalidate the results of a test if it is found, but rather just attests to how powerful the mind is as a tool of healing by itself(for some people). I'm not saying acupuncture is the be all end all, I was just wondering whether people tried since quite a few in the thread said that they had back issues.

[speakeasy]

I finally got around to trying this last night. I didn't last 2 hours. I lied down flat on my back inside a thinly padded sleeping bag. I kept waking up every 15 minutes. I was not comfortable. By the second hour my back was hurting from the hard floor and I just got up and climbed into bed.

[renotime]

When I lived in NYC I had to sleep on a hard floor for a few nights. I kept waking up like every 45 minutes or so. It might be good for the body, but I can't imagine it's very good for REM.

[JohnKreese]

Have you not seen "Batman Begins"? Fucking BATMAN (/Patrick Bateman for those counting at home) sleeps on the floor! What more evidence do you need?

[Doctor]

If it works for you then more power to you. I have a memory foam mattress (full 12inches of memory foam) and I have never slept better in my life. It is like sleeping on a big pair of amazing tits. There is no uncomfortable position. I will never not have a memory foam mattress ever again in my life.

[reino341]

So a memory foam mattress is a good choice if you already have a bed? What exactly am I looking for in a "memory foam mattress"?

[soup]

If you sleep on the floor, be sure to make sure that it is really clean. I think there's a lot of dust and dirt that collects.

[painter]

I basically slept on the floor for 5 years when I was on the road. My life was basically eat, sleep, and work. I bought a sleeping pad and a sleeping bag from REI and had no problems. The only piece of furniture I had was this couch that fit in my truck that I wasn't quite long enough to sleep on comfortably for more than a nap on Sundays which was the only day off I had.

The weirdest part about sleeping on the floor for me was "getting up" In the morning. In a regular bed you roll over, swing your legs off and you are up and going, you don't even have to be quite awake to do it. Sleeping on the floor requires a lot more effort and a total commitment to get up in the morning or the middle of the night. You have to roll onto your knees and push yourself up and by the time you stand up you are really awake. Same thing with laying down to go to sleep.

I didn't find this hard to do or feel like I was punishing myself at all but I have camping in my blood. When I was a kid I basically lived outside in the summers, washed in a freezing cold lake every day, and dinner was made over an open fire every night.

Of course a chick came along and convinced me for half a second that I shouldn't be sleeping on the floor so I bought the most expensive air mattress I could find, spent half a night blowing it up, banged her on it the first night, woke up the second night and the thing was half deflated because of a leak which I couldn't find to fix so I threw it out and went back to sleeping on the floor and, of course, the chick never came back anyway and two months later I was down the road again.

To me a bed is a luxury now, it's nice to have but I could be out in the woods in a heartbeat sleeping on the ground or curled up in the back of a car or on somebody's couch and it won't bother me in the least, I'll have a good nights' sleep either way. It's all in your mindset, if you complain and worry about not having the comfort of a bed then you will not sleep well, if you make the best of the situation you have and look at things as an adventure it won't bother you much at all. You'd be surprised how easily you adapt to situations.

[sheesh]

(01-02-2013 10:23 AM)Hencredible Casanova Wrote:  

Money
Many beds nowadays have ridiculous costs. Some are even in thousands of dollars. While you may disagree with the statement that floor is free, or at least cheaper, if you already have one, then the deal is done. You have to buy a new bed if you don’t have one, right?


We are travelling the world but can't pay for a good matress ? Lol.

These arguments just don't make sense to me.

It sounds too much like bro science , especially the "ancestor argument" that is so common these days and yet is so unfounded.

Ancestors
Think about our ancestors and how they lived thousands of years ago. They slept more than we do in today’s world, and they did sleep on the floor, right? Maybe they had “beds” made of leaves, fur, etc. At the bottom line, the fact is that they had a better lifestyle, stronger body and a healthier soul. Probably, just probably, they had something right.

Waking Up
You know that mornings when you feel too much comfortable in your bed and you just can’t wake up, or at least on time? When sleeping on the floor you just won’t have the excuse to not get out of your bed. Moreover, when you wake up on time it is only in your favor. Personally, I like my nights long but my days even longer. More time to do anything you want and improve yourself.

Links

http://greensmoothiesblog.com/sleep-hard-surface/

http://www.beautifulonraw.com/raw-food-b...the-floor/

http://benefitof.net/benefits-of-sleeping-on-the-floor/

[sheesh]

[quote] (02-16-2013 08:32 AM)sheesh Wrote:  

[quote='Hencredible Casanova' pid='339003' dateline='1357140187']

Money
Many beds nowadays have ridiculous costs. Some are even in thousands of dollars. While you may disagree with the statement that floor is free, or at least cheaper, if you already have one, then the deal is done. You have to buy a new bed if you don’t have one, right?



Ancestors
Think about our ancestors and how they lived thousands of years ago. They slept more than we do in today’s world, and they did sleep on the floor, right? Maybe they had “beds” made of leaves, fur, etc. At the bottom line, the fact is that they had a better lifestyle, stronger body and a healthier soul. Probably, just probably, they had something right.[/quote]
We are travelling the world but can't pay for a good matress ? Lol.

These arguments just don't make sense to me.

It sounds too much like bro science , especially the "ancestor argument" that is so common in marketing these days when and yet is so unfounded.

[Doctor]

(02-15-2013 10:59 PM)reino341 Wrote:  

So a memory foam mattress is a good choice if you already have a bed? What exactly am I looking for in a "memory foam mattress"?

I have no idea what to look for. I've never sat on the 2000$ memory foam mattresses. I bought mine off amazon. ~400$ queen size, came in a roughly 1ftx1ftx3ft box air sealed, and free prime shipping. Opened it up, sliced open the plastic, and let it expand onto the frame. Haven't looked back since.

[MikeinMKE]

When given the choice my dog chooses to sleep on the bad over the floor 10 out of 10 times. If the dog is intelligent enough to make this decision perhaps you're overthinking it a tad

[Hencredible Casanova]

Dogs don't sleep on their backs.

[Fortitudinal]

I love sleepign on the floor. a futon at most. I would love to get tatamis on my floors, best sleep ever. they have just he right amount of spring, and a very pleasant, soothing smell like fresh cut grass. I dig it.

[pbw]

I got rid of my mattress today --

[JackDavey]

I used to sleep on the floor, or the ground, with just an army blanket under me, for years in my twenties. An old yogi taught me about the health benefits of this, and once I got used to it, it seemed like I would get better sleep. Then, I fucked up my back, and sleeping on my side on the floor made it worse. So I can attest to the benefits somewhat, but recommend using common sense.

[rottenapple]

I just love how people on this forum think over the seemingly most established things in life. I dont know anyone in real life who would actually think about this and decide to give it a go. Ill give it a try sometime although i have 0 back problems.