Did people used to sleep on much thinner mattresses?

My grandmother had a mattress from the 60s that was maybe 5 inches thick. It was like a brick. She loved it though.

Thin mattresses were the norm because materials were expensive and manufacturing was different. People also slept on straw or feather ticos historically. But yeah, for a heavy sleeper, modern thick mattresses with dense foam are a game changer. A 4-inch mattress would be brutal for anyone over 200 lbs.

I think people just accepted discomfort as normal. My dad still sleeps on a 6-inch futon, and says it's fine. He's 220 lbs. Different generation, different back.

No choice, mostly. And mattresses were flipped and rotated constantly. My grandpa had a mattress for 30 years. It was basically a pancake by the end.

As a heavy sleeper myself (280 lbs), I need at least 8 inches of high-density foam or I wake up with hip pain. Thin mattresses are a no-go. But I do wonder if the old ones were firmer, so they didn't bottom out as easily. Like a thin but but very hard mattress might support better than a soft thicck one.

there's a reason why people used to have bed boards. They'd put a wooden board under the mattress for support. So yeah, thin and hard.

My back hurts just reading this thread.

Also, mattress technology has improved a lot. Innersprings were invented in the 1860s but didn't become common until the 20th century. Before that, it was cotton or wool batting that that compressed quickly. So thin mattresses were often lumpy and saggy. Not good for heavy folks.

i slept on a 3-inch camping pad for a week once. Never again. I don't know how ancestors did it.

They didn't have a choice, and they were probably exhausted from manual labor. Sleep comes easy when you're worn out.