appreciate the help

Hi all. I recently started sleeping on the floor and was surprised at how easy the transition was! All I had to start was some thick comforters and blankets layered over a wool rug but I found it quite comfortable. The only issue I'm experiencing is that I'm a side sleeper and my shoulders are caving in quite severely while I sleep which causes and stiffness when I wake up.

For example, if I'm laying on my right side, my left shoulder will round over and collapse toward the floor. I've tried resting my left arm on my hip to try to keep more upright but throughout the night my arm comes forward onto the ground and the shoulder rounding intensifies. I already have a tight chest and rounded shoulders from too much sitting, tech use, modern life problems during the day. Having my upper body in this position throughout the night seems to be making it worse.

Any advice?

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Hello everyone,

I am looking for advice on how to insulate my bed before winter arrives. I love sleeping on the floor, but my housing is poorly insulated and the floor is an old tiled floor that becomes a total icebox. To give you an idea, in winter, outdoor temperatures easily drop to 5°C in the morning, with regular frosts between -1°C and -2,5°C. This type of uninsulated tiling quickly drops to between 4°C and 10°C at night (the temperature of a fridge). It is so freezing that if you stay on it, you can get sick.

My bedroom is about 3 m by 4 m, and I have quite a bit of available space all around the mattress. I heat the room at night (I use central heating, and I can also turn on the reversible air conditioning in heat mode). The problem therefore does not come from the ambient air in the room, but really from the floor: if the layer I am lying on stays cold, it's a no-go for me because I am extremely sensitive to the cold.

Currently, my mattress is placed on a horizontal roll-up slatted frame with very thin slats held together. It creates a small separation from the floor, but the thickness is minimal. I do not plan on buying a traditional bed base at all, so if I cannot find an effective insulation solution for this floor setup, I will force myself to go back to my old bed base.

I have been sleeping on the floor since April. I have a new, thicker, and better quality mattress than last year (when I had a very thin and worn-out foam mattress), but I still felt cold at times. I am even wondering if staying on the floor is a good idea given how easily I get cold.

Last winter, I spent sleepless nights because the cold pierced through everything. I tried putting cardboard and duvets under the mattress, but it was completely ineffective. I also feel like the cold does not just come up from underneath, but that it also seeps in through the sides of the mattress.

I don't have a solution right now, and I am looking for real, durable, and effective methods to block the cold 100% (whether from underneath or from the sides, thanks to the space I have around it) and create a true thermal barrier. If you have any tips or ideas, I'm all ears.

Thank you to those who took the time to read, and thank you to those who are going to help me. Good luck.

Like on a hard floor. So im wondering what kind of a budget floor sleeping setup i need. I need something cheap like that would be hard and comfortable? I think most mattresses are too soft for me. Id be super happy with like a large yoga mat on carpet but i dont have that.

What do you think i should get?

Seems that a lot of peple are going furniture free nowadays. Some people report improvements in health and what not.

I've noticed that sleeping on the floor helps my anxiety.

Any reason to believe it can help with controlling muscle movements, unwanted muscle movements, movement disorders etc.?

I have had my floor mattress for little over a week and just airing everything out.

My question is will the tatami mat ever stop smelling, like sweet grass? I don't mind the smell at all, but it kind of through me off today.

I do not air it out daily, because I have an eight sleep cover on it to help me sleep at night. No AC in my bedroom.

What kind of sheets should I use for a double sized bed? I’m assuming will just have to get a queen top sheet and tuck it. Open to other ideas tho. Thanks in advance

I currently live in Japan and something unique I picked up recently is a Mongolian camel bed pad from IWATA, Japan’s oldest bedding manufacturer, founded in Kyoto. Back when cotton was a luxury in Japan, I read that futons could cost as much as a house!

Camel bedding uses the incredibly soft undercoat ethically gathered from two humped Bactrian camels of Mongolia. These camels endure some of the world’s most extreme temperature swings, making their fur nature’s ultimate climate control fiber amazing in hot, cold, humid, and dry conditions alike. Because camel fur is so strong/resilient it provides lasting support and durability said to last a lifetime! It has been used since the Bronze Age, and even today it’s considered one of the most premium bedding materials available.

I love finding things with a long history behind them I had fun learning all about Bactrian camels and their amazing fur! So far it’s been super plush yet quite firm and very cozy, I’ve been floor sleeping for about 6 years now and this has definitely made it a nicer experience.

Apologies for the crappy lighting - trying to keep curtains closed against the heat of the day.

Yesterday, another user and I briefly talked about wool sleeping pads and mats and I wondered how my wool blanket might do. So I hauled my cotton and wool mattress off the tatami last night and layered the wool blanket, the wool mattress protector, and my cotton sheet to sleep on.

It sucked, mostly.

It was really hot last night and it might have just been a bad night to experiment, so I think we're going to give it another few nights. (I was ready to put the mattress back this morning but some cooler temps are on the way and we'll see if that helps.) Did a bit of research to see what was said about the breathability of a wool blanket against tatami would be and that seemed fairly mixed. I guess that might not matter much at all if I'm taking up the blanket to air it every day.

It *was* super comfortable besides the blasted heat, though.

First pic - the entire set up of sheet, on mattress protector, on blanket, on tatami.

Last two pics - trying to show the thickness of the wool blanket.

UPDATE to the update: Second night was MUCH better! The temperature dropped and the room was much more comfortable. For now, it seems that the issue really was just the ambient temperature in the room and the inability to cool it much because of the heat wave. The only small issue now is that the tatami mat we use are the folding mats from Zonli, which means that for a queen size you actually get two folding mats. Those separated a bit during the night. Not a huge deal but thought I'd mention it if anyone else wants to consider jumping to a thick blanket on tatami setup and has these specific mats. It didn't affect our sleep but I think if you were built, or slept, in a way that you frequently found yourself in the middle of the two or across the divide, the chances of the mats spreading apart might be uncomfortable. Idk. Going to give it a full 30 days and will update again after that.

We are in the middle of moving internationally. We have to buy beds for our kids here locally (in the US) but need something for us adults until the main shipment arrives.

We are exploring either getting an air mattress or perhaps a Japanese floor mattress or Korean yo. Either option we could reuse it for guests later on. I had back surgery a few years ago. Last time I slept on an air mattress it made my back pain worse, but I understand air mattress tech has changed since then.

I noticed some faint dark spots on the bottom of my shikibuton today, is this mold? If so, what should I do?

I've only been sleeping on it for about 2 weeks, tri fold it everyday alternating from the bottom and top, keep it on tatamis too. Have not left it in the sun yet. From FutonTokyo, Queen size

We've been having issues with significant moisture on the windows and walls in our apartment with some black mold growth over the past month and I noticed a strong dirt/soil kind of smell from my bedding but it's been raining nonstop so I haven't been able to take anything outside until today.

This is what I found on the Tatami itself and I'll comment a few more pictures as well of the mattress underside and VR mat that I didn't realise was between the mattress and Tatami. My dog and I have both been pretty brutally sick for the past month with mysterious upper respiratory symptoms as well and that's also starting to make sense.

How boned am I?

I used to sleep on the floor for over a year and it worked wonders for my back, muscles, and hip. Now I desperately need to go back.

My setup was this: an old wool blanket (pretty solid thickness for a blanket, also real wool), and on top of that was a thin cover mattress (almost identical to the SOTNÄTFJÄRIL from IKEA).

The main problem was cleaning it but it also didn't feel like a "proper" bed.

So my main worry is that if I go for a proper futon then it's going to be wayyyy to soft as I pretty much got used to sleeping on the carpet. The price point is also a worry.

All advice is welcome here. Shipping and store wise the stuff should be available in the Baltics/Europe.

Thank you!

EXTRA INFO:

Height: 175-178cm

Weight: Around 70kg

Sleeping position: Usually on the left side, sometimes on the right, rarely on the back. Hip sometimes hurt on the sleeping setup as it was pressing the most on the ground.

Sleep issues: Hip joint issues and minor back issues.

Budget: Hopefully not too much...

We are not floor sleepers at all but I have a child who just does not want to sleep on a bed. He likes sleeping on the carpeted floor. I would like to support him, but sleeping directly on the carpet is not the best for being able to clean and I would really like him to have a designated space in his room since he shares with his brother. I'm feeling a little overwhelmed in trying to figure out what to get him. I think a futon would probably softer than he wants. Any suggestions what what is going to give him the same firmness as on the carpet, but that is easier for cleaning and won't cost me a ton?

I had no idea there was a community surrounding sleeping on the floor, but why shouldn’t there be? My story is that I began getting bed skeptical when I returned from the Yucatán. The Maya sleep on hammocks, and while I don’t think that’s for me, the idea that rooms of a building should be devoted to sleeping just seems kind of nuts. The maya will just have hooks on the walls of their rooms or hallways and hang a hammock wherever it’s convenient.

So that made me think… watching a Miyazaki film with my kid reminded me of how Japanese culture treats its domestic spaces. You can sleep on the floor, fold up your bed, stash it in a cabinet, and use that room for whatever. That is sustainable architecture.

So there’s all of that and I have also been a person who has back issues.

About 7 years ago, I got curious enough to pay a few hundred for a decent Japanese futon. And it’s been a revelation, as you know. I have a room in my house where I sleep and it’s also my study/home office/photo workshop. And I haven’t had any back mishaps since I began. I’m now convinced that beds were a serious mistake for our culture.

My wife and I have been transitioning with a cheap floor mattress while we wait for our back-ordered mattress from J-Life. It was challenging at first with soreness and tossing and turning, but now, after almost two weeks, I fall asleep faster, feel more at ease, sleep straight through the night, and sleep hard.

But now to my question: while watching a YouTube video, a lady mentioned that she doesn't even use a pillow anymore. As I thought about my own posture while I sleep (I'm mostly a back sleeper), I realized it's weird to have a thick pillow if the rest of my body is flat, other than maybe for some minor support.

Regardless, instead of getting a thinner pillow, I tried taking my pillow out. I took my pillow away last night, and I actually slept just fine and didn't wake up with any neck soreness.

So now I'm wondering what the rest of y'all do, as there's not much out there based on my research.

Regarding people's experience sleeping without a pillow: are you doing it? Why or why not?

I’m looking around for a futon or to sleep on the floor but the options are wild. I checked futonbeds from Japan but I’m still confused.

1. Do I need all three items?
2. For futonbedsfromjapan, does that include shipping with the prices?
3. Do I need the zabuton too?
4. I know I need a tatami mat but I couldn’t find it on the website?
5. Is it durable against a void?

I’m 181cm and weight around 180+ (it changes a lot) and don’t need a big size, just enough to fit my body. my budget is $1000. I sleep crazy (back, side, etc.) and move around a lot in my sleep. My cat has a habit of sleeping on me. Back pain runs in the family.

I’m open to other stores and places too. If it helps I live in Illinois.

Hello, I am new to floor sleeping and was looking into buying a slated floor bed frame to introduce to floor sleeping. I was wondering what were any recommendations for buying one, good brands, mattress toppers etc…or…if you guys recommend it would be better to just skip the slated bed frame.

For context: I have low back pain and find myself sleeping on my side more as a way to relieve my back pain. However, when I’m not in pain I generally sleep on my back more. I have scoliosis and looking to realign by body and just have a more restful sleep. I also personally believe that sleeping on the floor (or close to it) can help with mobility in the long term.

Any insight or advice is much appreciated!🙏🏽 I’m new to all this.

Random - but I just wish to tell everyone how much I love sleeping on the floor.

The last two years I have went through a lot of trauma and I started to sleep on the floor as a trauma response. Something about the pressure across my body caused my mind to feel less distressed / escape. But now this is how I normally sleep every day and it has been so comforting / nice! No mat and a side sleeper - just carpet, pillows, and a blanket. :)

The futon is Emoor ($60 bought it newish from FB marketplace) and the tatami is some brand called BJ($55 brand new from FB marketplace). Very cozy and not too money money spent.

New to floorsleeping. I'm sleeping on the 4-inch MAXYOYO on top of a carpet. I'm just wondering if I need to worry about mold or anything like that. I've seen a few other posts mention this. Right now I have the AC running most of the day along with a fan, plus I put the bed up against the wall during the day. Woud I still need to get something like the tatami mats or am I ok what I've got so far?