I sleeping on the floor (I lay a blanket down first) bad for my back?
Mattresses are really a new thing.
In the early days of this country,pioneer days, it was a well to do household that had a feather tic or straw mat on a bed. The cabins were so small that there wasn’t room.
I have heard that many of the old timers would rather sleep outside even in the winter.
I’ve been doing it for years (frees up the floor space a bed would otherwise occupy), and it’s never hurt mine. I rather prefer it, actually. Probably depends on your back, though.
Does sleeping on a futon (a real one, not the sofa beds that pass for futons in the US now) count? I’ve been sleeping on the floor for almost ten years, and I have real problems with a bed now - too soft.
Every time I sleep on the floor, I wake feeling like I was beaten with a baseball bat.
The Native Americans never carried around matresses, and I’m sure early civilization didn’t always either. My damn parents are just saying it’s bad for my back and I just need to know the truth
I’ve been sleeping on a floor mat for over 20 years, and at the ripe old age of 46 have no problems with my back.
Okay. I used to be the type of person who would brag that i could sleep anywhere, anytime: bent in unusual positions in a chair, on the floor, on rocks… etc.
Let me just say that after sleeping on the floor, a concrete basement floor, mind you, (with a makeshift “bed” of two sleeping bags under me) for six months, and now in the process of moving somewhere I will have a bed… I have never looked forward to having a mattress, and sleeping on something that gives a little, more than right now. I’ve never had problems with my back before, but now, after these six months, it hurts, constantly.
Just my thoughts.
Just off the top of my head, I think it has more to do with the kind of floor it is, and its temperature, than with one’s back. Homo sapiens has been sleeping on the floor for thousands of years, but if it’s a dirt floor, or sand, which is relatively warm and has some “give” in it, it’s OK. But a cold unyielding stone floor is bad.
Even a wood floor has some “give” in it, if you think about it. It’s boards or plywood laid over joists, so it flexes a little bit when weight is placed on it. And it’s warmer than concrete or stone.
Strange, but I sleep on the floor to make my back feel better. When I need it to.
If I sleep on a floor for just one or two nights, it’s not comfortable. When I slept on floors for two months, it wasn’t a problem at all. I had to get used to it. However, I will say that during that time I was dead tired after the day was over. Still, there was no pain that I recall from sleeping without a mattress.
-Neil
I’ve been sleeping on the floor for about three years (just a blanket between me and the floor). Haven’t had problems with it, and I’ve slept on everything from a concrete patio to thick carpeting.
We’ve meant to buy a bed, but just haven’t done it. A lot of money for what no longer feels like a necessity.
I think sleeping on a wood floor would be good for your back. I knew some one years ago who put boards on top of his mattress because of his back. It gives good solid support to your back. A soft mattress that concaves is really hard on your back.
This isn’t a definitive answer…but I grew up sleeping on the floor, or on very firm mattresses. Never ever had any problems, and to this day cannot sleep very well on a soft mattress. And waterbeds :rolleyes: fugeddaboudit!
Last year I ruptured a disk in my back (fell off a two story roof.) Now, I cannot tolerate even one night in a soft bed, I can’t get through the night without waking up in pain. I’ve always been disgustingly fit, never liked any kind of soft mattress, probably never will.
YMMV. 
Uh, I have to ask.
WHY are you people voluntarily sleeping sans mattress? Sorry if I’m uninformed, it’s just that there’s nothing more fun than cuddling up in a cozy, yummy, blanketed mattress bed. But then maybe i’m just spoilt. 
I sometimes sleep on the floor to get rid of back pains.
Zoggie,
Baglady and I sleep on the floor out of inertia more than anything.
About three years ago we went through a period where we were moving from place to place sleeping on other people’s floors, or sleeping in campgrounds and whatnot. This last about 10 weeks. Then we moved to the Bay Area with jobs but no permanent residence. This lasted another 6-8 weeks. By the time we had found an apartment, a bed was low on the list of priorities, but we expected we would get one shortly. Hasn’t happened yet. It never seems to rise from the bottom of the list.
When we have the option we do sleep on beds (in hotels for example), but it just isn’t a problem at home - though I have to admit that snuggling and reading are not so comfortable on the floor.