BEST MATTRESS FOR SIDE SLEEPERS 2024
Our Top Picks - Updated Yearly
Did you know that 73% of Americans sleep on their side? There is a high chance you do too. If you are a side sleeper, this list of Best Mattress for Side Sleepers is for you.
Sleeping on your side has its requirements. You do not want a mattress that is too firm or too soft. You need to find the perfect balance between high pressure point relief in your hips and shoulders, and support to those points and your spine.
Are you ready to discover which mattresses made it as Best Mattress for Side Sleepers this year?
What exactly should you be looking for in a mattress as a side sleeper? Balance. You need balance between soft and pressure relieving, and support for spine alignment.
A mattress too firm will squish your shoulders and hips, creating pain that won’t go away and having you turning and tossing all night long. You will not find relief, nor a comfortable position, in a firm mattress.
A mattress that is too soft will give you all of the high pressure point relief you are looking for, but lack providing support to those same areas. You will find your spine curved in unhealthy ways, likely waking up with pains and aches. Too soft of a mattress might also give you the feeling of being stuck in your mattress, making shifting positions a workout.
As you read through our list of Best Mattress for Side Sleepers, you will discover mattresses that provide just the right amount of plushness for you to feel nice and cozy. All of those mattresses will relieve the pressure in your hips and shoulders, while aligning your spine from neck to romp.
Without further ado, here is the list of Best Mattress For Side Sleepers 2024. Please note that this article is informational and consists, in no way, in medical advice. If you are experiencing stronger-than-usual, or chronic, back pains, consult your physician as soon as possible. Personal preferences vary and we cannot ensure that any of the mattresses listed below will result in eliminating all back pain. Mattresses in this list will however be some of the best mattresses for healthy sleep positions in 2024, and are based on my personal opinion and knowledge of the mattress industry.
Best Mattress For Side Sleepers 2024
Click on the Best Mattress category for more info on each mattress winner for that category!
- Non-Biased 2024 Favorite Pick: Nolah Evolution Plush
- Best Plush Mattress for Side Sleepers: Nest Bedding Sparrow
- Best Smart Mattress for Side Sleepers: ReST Original
- Best Mattress for the Hot Sleeping Side Sleepers: GhostBed Luxe
- Best Hybrid Mattress for Side Sleepers: DreamCloud Mattress
- Best Polymer Mattress for Side Sleepers: Purple Original
- Best Organic Mattress for Side Sleepers: NaturalForm Refresh
- Best Mattress for Active Side Sleepers: Zoma Mattress
- Best Mattress for Side Sleepers Under $1,000: Layla Memory Foam
Non-Biased 2024 Favorite Pick
Nolah Evolution - Plush
This year, the Nolah Evolution 15 earned our top spot as Best Mattress for Side Sleepers. It is no secret that we love absolutely everything about the Nolah Evolution (and all things Nolah, to be honest). It has earned the title of Best Mattress all around this year on Non-Biased Reviews.
Don’t forget to click the coupon box above for an exclusive extra discount for our readers only!
If things like Made in the USA, cooling comfort, and a plush pillowtop are important to you, you’re in for a treat. The Nolah Evolution 15 is all of that and more.
As a side-sleeper, you want pressure point relief. The Nolah Evolution first 4 inches are made of a softer and cooler foam that gives clearance to your hips and shoulders for full decompression.
Underneath the softer foams, your body will start hitting the 3 inches of high-resilience foam and another 8 inches of coils, providing the support your spine and high pressure areas need. Because the coils are tri-zoned, you are getting a targeted support under each part of your body, with firmer springs below your torso and softer springs under your hips and shoulders.
Nolah now lets you choose your firmness level in the Evolution. For side sleepers who are lighter weight or prefer very plush mattresses, I recommend the Plush option. If you sleep on your side and are heavier weight, a combo sleeper waking up on your back or stomach, sleeping with a partner with a different sleeping style, or simply enjoy a little more support, go for the Luxury Firm option (my favorite firmness). You will still get the pressure relief you need and a little extra support.
Nolah Sleep Trial – 120 nights
Shipping – FREE
Warranty – Lifetime
Best Plush Mattress For Side Sleepers
Nest Bedding Sparrow
Comfort, comfort, comfort made in the USA. When testing the Nest Bedding Sparrow, all I could think of was luxury and comfort. It is, in my opinion, one of the 5 comfiest mattresses most can afford on the market today.
The Nest Bedding Sparrow (formerly Alexander Hybrid) is another customizable mattress. I love seeing the market industry headed more and more towards a world of customization. Similarly to the Nolah Evolution above, I can recommend the Plush and Medium options based on your personal preference, weight, sleeping habits, and whether you sleep with a partner who is a side sleeper or not.
On the Nest Bedding Sparrow, your side-sleeping body gets all the pressure relief from the first 4 inches of foam. The top inch, and closest to your body, is infused with cooling technology to ensure your body heat never gets trapped in the foam.
Before the softer foam, your high pressure points start hitting a more supportive foam, transitioning you into 6 inches of coils with reinforced edge to ensure you never feel like you’re rolling out of the bed, and giving you a feeling of a wider sleeping surface.
Outside of the utmost comfort, one of my favorite things about the Nest Beddig Sparrow is the lifetime renewal exchange promise, allowing you to switch out the foam firmness level for as long as you own the mattress. Should your sleeping style change over the years, simply get a firmer or softer foam layer to replace your old one. This comes on top of Nest Bedding’s incredible 365 days of at-home sleep trial!
Additionally, if you order a King or California King, Nest Bedding lets you split the firmness level so each partner can choose his/her favorite comfort level.
Nest Bedding Sleep Trial – 365 nights
Shipping – FREE
Warranty – Lifetime
Best Smart Mattress For Side Sleepers
ReST Original Smart Bed
We are huge fans of technology at Non-Biased Reviews and the mattress industry has come a long, long way!! If you are not familiar with smart beds, they are the best thing when it comes to fully customizing your bed to your personal sleeping preferences. A smart bed will typically come with the added bonus of connecting through an app and providing you with sleep and wellness data.
We love the ReST Original Smart Bed for side sleepers as it includes a 4-inch top layer of cooling gel infused memory foam. Underneath that pressure relieving, cool sleeping, layer, lays all of the technology.
So what exactly is all the hype about the ReST Original Smart Bed. It comes with 5 customizable body parts: head, shoulders, lumbar, hips, and head. In other words, you can manually adjust the firmness level and pressure relief of 5 zones. A Position mode allows you to save 2 different positions (back and side) and the mattress will automatically as it senses your movement at night. The Automatic mode allows the ReST Smart Bed to adjust all 5 zones in real-time as the bed feels the shift in your position throughout the night.
Additionally, the Nightvision is a sleep quality monitor that records key sleep KPI’s and sends them straight to you through the ReST app.
Unfortunately, Smart Beds comes with a steep price tag. While the ReST Original rounds at about $5,300 for a Queen, they have developed an entry level mattress called ReST Essential with 3 body zones instead of 5, and have the ReST Original with GelGrid for a premium, with a 2-inch layer of polymer gel, for a bouncier feel.
ReST Sleep Trial – 90 nights
Shipping – FREE
Warranty – 10 years
Best Mattress For The Hot-Sleeping Side Sleeper
GhostBed Luxe
If you’re a hot sleeper, you need a bed with foams engineered for cool sleep. Most of the beds I am recommending to side sleepers have thick foam layers, essential to the unique requirements of side sleepers.While most mattress companies now add cooling properties to their foams, foam mattresses are known to sleep warm.
The GhostBed Luxe is one of our favorite mattresses to hot sleepers for a reason. With 7 unique layers of foam, 5 are engineered to keep you cool. From its Ghost Ice Fabric mattress cover to 2 layers of gel memory foam, some cooling fibers, and a patent-pending layer that conducts your body heat away to keep the core of your mattress cool, it is one of the best options for the hot-sleeping side sleepers.
Its medium-plush firmness is ideal for side sleepers, giving you the plushness and contouring you love, while relieving the pressure in your hips and shoulders. Below softer foam layers are more supportive layers that allow your spine to sleep aligned throughout.
GhostBed Sleep Trial – 101 nights
Shipping – FREE shipping
Warranty – 25 years
Best Hybrid Mattress For Side Sleepers
DreamCloud - Luxury Hybrid
If you have come to love the bouncier feel of hybrid mattresses, the DreamCloud is our favorite for side sleepers with an excellent value.
Its comfort takes the storefront with a soft and plush mattress cover. That cover is quilted with foam and topped with cashmere, giving your all of the cozy plushness you are dreaming of.
Below the cover are an additional 2 layers of foam keeping you cool, comforted, and supported, before hitting the individually-wrapped coils providing all the support your body needs.
The DreamCloud might be a tad bit firmer than the plusher mattresses on this list, but works really well for couples with different sleeping styles and for those who fall asleep on their sides but wake up on their backs or stomachs.
DreamCloud Sleep Trial – 365 nights
Shipping – FREE
Warranty – Lifetime
Best Polymer Mattress For Side Sleepers
Purple Original
The original Purple mattress is our favorite one for side sleepers. Being made of all gel polymer, it sleeps a little softer than the hybrid Purple mattresses.
It is really hard to describe the feeling of a Purple mattress. Its uniqueness lays in the polymer making up the mattress. At first contact (usually sitting down), you will find yourself sinking in. As soon as you lay, however, your body weight evenly distributes and firms up underneath your body. The beauty of polymer GelFlex Grid is that it contours your body shape as you move around, giving you the exact pressure relief your body needs, whether laying on your side or in any other position.
Underneath the GelFlex Grid are two foam layers, providing the basis for the mattress and the support to your spine. All-in-all, a great and unique mattress for side sleepers.
Purple Sleep Trial – 100 nights
Shipping – FREE
Warranty – 10 years
Best Organic Mattress For Side Sleepers
NaturalForm Refresh Mattress
The Refresh Mattress by Natural Form stole my heart this year, for many reasons, and I love it for side sleepers. Its innovative way to manually adjust its firmness is the perfect solution to customize the comfort level to your unique needs!
You should know that Natural Form’s experience lays in the medical bedding industry and they are the only brand bringing medical technology into private homes!
Let’s start with what makes the Natural Form Refresh Mattress. Its unique cover is made of 100% thick Australian Merino wool that helps naturally wick body moisture away and sleep cool in the summer and warm in the winter. Note that it is fully machine washable and replaceable, which is a very nice plus!
But the true wonder comes below the cover. Natural Form comes with a manual proprietary air system that allows you to control the firmness of your mattress manually. A turning knob instantly adjusts the firmness of up to 84 helix air pods and gives you instant feedback so you can make small adjustments as needed. There is an adjusting knob on both sides of the mattress, allowing each partner to adjust his/her side of the mattress to their personal preference, making this mattress ideal if your partner sleeps differently than you do.
Natural Form Sleep Trial – 100 nights
Shipping – FREE
Warranty – 10 years
Best Mattress For Active Side Sleepers
Zoma Mattress
Zoma is known throughout the bedding industry for being an athlete’s mattress. You do not have to be running weekly marathons to rip the full benefits of the Zoma mattress, but if you are, this will be your favorite recovery mattress.
Active side sleepers will love the focused support. Your hips and shoulders receive as much pressure relief, as they do support, ensuring that your body recovers in the healthiest position.
The top layer is a tri-zone memory foam layer that provides the right amount of pressure relief to the right areas, with a little more plushness under the hips and shoulders. That upper layer is infused with cooling gel and designed with cooling channels that work directly with the breathable and ventilated mattress cover to keep you cool after a day of exercise.
Underneath is a second thin layer of foam that provides contouring and plushness, while staying responsive to allow you to switch positions with no effort.
Then comes the firmer base layer that ensures support of all body areas and stability to the mattress. If you are the active kind and sleep on your side, seriously consider the Zoma mattress! We love this U.S.-made mattress and think the price value is incredible.
Zoma Sleep Trial – 100 nights
Shipping – FREE
Warranty – 10 years
Best Mattress for Side Sleepers Under $1,000
Layla Memory Foam
If you are on a pinch, I want to make sure you find a mattress for side sleepers that you love and doesn’t break the bank. Some of the mattresses in this list are well below $1,000, but I want to make sure you consider the Layla Memory Foam mattress as well.
Being a copper mattress, it is a little different than the other mattresses on this list. All other mattresses use cooling gel infused foam to prevent you from sweating at night. The Layla Memory Foam mattress uses copper in its foam. The copper acts in response to your body’s pressure, firming up with pressure and ensuring you receive the right amount of support everywhere, even under those high-pressure areas. It provides the perfect balance of plushness pressure relief and support.
Copper’s second property is to conduct your body heat and channel it down the foams, keeping you cool at night, no matter your body’s temperature.
Here’s what we love most about the Layla Memory Foam mattress – it is flippable! The black/grey side sleeps firmer, while the white/grey side sleeps softer, making it the ideal side for side sleepers.
On the soft side, the copper memory foam is 3 inches thick, providing plushness to your hips and shoulders, before meeting 2 layers of increasingly firmer comfort.
For budgets under $1,000, the Layla Memory Foam is a great mattress for side sleepers.
Layla Sleep Trial – 120 nights
Shipping – FREE
Warranty – Lifetime
Best Mattress For Side Sleepers 2024 - Recap
I hope you found this guide helpful. Each sleeper has his/her own sleeping preferences and what feels right to me, might not work with your personal preferences, however, I have based my selection of Best Mattress For Side Sleepers based on my industry testing experience and knowledge of the materials used in each mattress.
All of the mattresses included in this list are of medium firmness and provide the perfect balance of plushness in the upper layers, for pressure relief, and support in the lower layers, to ensure a healthy sleeping position.
Do Side Sleepers Need A Firm Or Soft Mattress?
A medium to plush mattress will typically work best for side sleepers. However, each sleeper has his/her own preferences and the best mattress will depend on several factors. As a general rule, however, a softer mattress will be best for side sleepers, as they need more pressure relief in those upper layers to make way for their hips and shoulders.
Those are the side sleepers who will typically benefit from a softer, or plusher, mattress: lighter weight, personal preference for plush mattresses.
Those are the side sleepers who will typically benefit from a medium-plush mattress: heavier weight sleepers, combo sleepers who switch positions during the night, those sleeping with a partner with a different sleeping style, people suffering from back pain, or simply people preferring a firmer and more supportive mattress.
What Mattress Is Right For Me?
Did you know that, if you lay on your bed 8 hours each day, you spend over 121 entire days on it each year? That’s right – 2,912 hours each year, laying on your mattress. You better make it good!
Each person has their own set of preferences when it comes to mattresses and comfort levels, and while I can’t make the decision for you, I will do my best to give you enough information to help in your buying process.
Side sleepers will typically find good options in mattresses providing softer foam layers, atop a firmer foundation made of high-resilience foam or coils.
What Should I Be Looking For In A Mattress If I Sleep On My Side
Firmness
Softer mattresses allow for deep pressure point relief, which side sleepers need as their shoulders and hips sink deep into the mattress.
Too soft of a mattress, however, will not provide the spine with the alignment it needs for pain-free sleep. Below the softer foam layers, you will need a firmer base to support those high pressure areas and align your spine from neck to romp.
Support
Support is essential in every mattress. It is paramount to sleeping comfortably and waking up free of pain and aches.
The fact that side sleepers typically prefer softer mattresses, does not mean that you should forgo support. The lower layers of your mattress need to provide healthy support to your entire body – from those hips and shoulders, to the lighter parts of your body such as legs, knees, and torso.
Make sure that your mattress has a strong foundation of high-resilience foam or coils. We love tri-zoned coils with different firmness levels under different parts of your body.
Pressure Relief
Here it is. You want just the right balance of firmness and support, coupled with pressure relief properties, especially if you are a side sleeper.
The top layer(s) of foam will generally be softer than the bottom layers of the mattress. They allow for the heavier parts (high-pressure areas) in your body to sink in deeper than the rest of your body, keeping your spine straight.
Side-sleepers will require more pressure relief than back and stomach sleepers, and all mattresses on this list provide for healthy pressure-relief, coupled with strong and healthy support for your spine.
I know that buying a mattress involves a certain level of investment… and spending $700 to $2,500+ online without having seen or touched the mattress can be scary and discouraging.
In this Best Mattress For Side Sleepers list, I am not only telling who I think would love each mattress, I am also including information such as at-home trials and warranties. This information should be carefully considered, especially if you feel that you might need from trial-and-error testing prior to finding your favorite mattress. Each mattress company’s website includes clear information on their at-home trials. Things to look out for are whether returns are free, whether there is a restocking fee, or if a replacement is order, whether it might become final sale, etc.
Why Buy A Mattress Online?
I hear you. I am telling you that this is one of the most important purchases you will be making in the next 5 to 10 years, yet I am encouraging you to buy from a website, with no chance to see, feel, or lay on the mattress. I promise you it’s worth it, though! Feel free to read over our Guide To Buying An Online Mattress, but let’s also look at the benefits of buying a mattress online vs. in store:
More Options
When walking inside a mattress store, you are limited to the brands and models carried by the store. Not only are they limited, but the store needs to survive and higher margin products will probably take the store-front, which doesn’t always work in favor of the buyer. However, when shopping online, you will find dozens of online mattress brands.
Now of course, more options means that you need to educate yourself a little more, to understand which mattress brands will be worth your money, and this is where I come in. I test hundreds of mattresses for you each year, and when you read the reviews of an independent mattress reviewer such as Non-Biased Reviews, you get unbiased mattress reviews. Many mattress review websites are now owned by large mattress companies, so make sure you use the services of independent mattress reviewers!
Less Sale Pressure
Buying a mattress can feel as stressful as buying a car these days. You walk into the mattress store and get overwhelmed with sale tactics, straight out of the car lot! Online, you get the benefit of time and peace. Once you have narrowed your choices down to a brand or mattress style, take your time to read the details and do deeper research on the brand sites and right here. See all of the brands we have reviewed so far. Any questions, feel free to email me directly at laura@nonbiasedreviews.com and I’ll be happy to brainstorm ideas with you!
Cheaper Mattresses
By purchasing a mattress online, you are cutting the middle man. You do direct business with the mattress brands and they save on labor, rent, and other overhead costs. It is a win-win and you put the savings in your pocket! You also have many more options, and while you can buy extremely luxurious and expensive mattresses online, you also have access to a large number of cheaper options!
Longer Sleep Test
This one might seem counterintuitive. I bet that your first resistance to buying a mattress online is linked to the lack of testing. You can’t see nor touch the mattress for yourself and you’re not sure whether you can truly believe the edited photos you see online.
Think about it for a second. You walk into a mattress store, lay on a mattress, shoes on, fully clothed, with an adult salesperson staring at you, while trying to keep your kids from taking the store for a trampoline arena. You’ve awkwardly laid on that mattress a total of 50 seconds before making a long-term decision…
When purchasing your mattress online, it nearly always comes with a 100 to 365-night trial. You get to sleep full nights on your investment for several weeks before deciding whether it is adapted to your sleeping needs and preferences. I recommend sleep testing your mattress for at least 30 nights before making your final decision, to give your body a chance to adjust to the new sleeping surface.
Still unhappy, most online mattress companies will arrange for your mattress to be picked up from your home and donated, and your money will be refunded. There is generally no restocking fee and most of the time, your return shipping is free as well. If you buy a Purple mattress at MattressFirm, for example, your return will be subject to MattressFirm’s return policy and restocking fees. Buy directly from Purple and your return is free!
Hassle-Free Hauling
When you buy a mattress online, it ships directly to your home, most of the time for free! Nearly all mattresses ship in a box, making them easy to transport to the room of your choice.
Forget about renting a truck or trying to tie a king-size mattress to the roof of your car, then asking a friend to come help you to get it inside. Instead, a regular carrier drops off a manageable box by your front door, you set the vacuumed mattress on your bed, rip the plastic wrap, and watch it expand in seconds!
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Laura Georgieff
Laura is a mother of three who did not sleep through the night for the first 5.5 years of her kids' lives. She is passionate about sleep quality and loves sharing her experience and knowledge of all thing bedding! It is her mission to help you make the best decisions when it comes to sleep and help you get the best deal on the market!
I am a big side sleeper and the photo you have of the bed for side sleepers makes it look so comfortable! If I win, that will be the bed that I want!
My wife and I have recently begun the daunting task of mattress shopping. She’s 5’ 130lbs strict side sleeper with shoulder pain on our current mattress, and I’m 5’11” 180lbs side/back combo. We’ve both liked soft to medium-soft beds, our favorites have been Tempur-Pedic tempur-cloud breeze supreme, Ashley Sierra sleep mygel 1100 hybrid (2” gel foam, 3” high density and 6” pocketed coils). We recently tried Casper and purple at stores, wife didn’t like Casper and we both thought purple might be worth trying. We’ve been recommended Layla as well but my concern is edge support due to my wife slowly pushing my to edge each night. Any more recommendations for us??
Your size is really close to ours and my husband has the same issue with getting backed into the edges when a child or dog decides to jump into bed. When you are forced to the side one thing that he hates is when the mattress changes, so with the purple hybrid mattresses when you sleep in the middle of the mattress it is much different than being on the edge. The original purple doesn’t have that issue though, and that’s one that we are really happy with. We haven’t noticed any similar issues with the Layla. One bed that we are really impressed with, but is much more expensive is the Spartan. They have a system where the coils are different as you get closer to the edges. Unfortunately, you probably won’t be able to test those in store unless you are in Arizona.
Just curious what you think of the Nest Bed-the Alexander Hybrid.
Hi Rana! I’m a side sleeper, too, and I also live in PHX 🙂
Thanks for all the great info on your site, which I stumbled upon while starting my research into a new mattress a few months ago. For the past 11 years I’ve been sleeping on a SpringAir Comfortflex Euro 600, which is an innerspring with a pillow top. I’ve always slept comfortably and pain-free (I’m 5’8″, 160 lbs).
I wanted to try a memory foam mattress, and have pretty much narrowed my choices to Layla, Leesa, and Purple (though the AS4, Nectar, Nolah, and Loom & Leaf keep showing up in my searches for “best memory foam mattresses for side sleepers”). A lot of sites recommended the Layla (less firm side) over the Leesa for side sleepers, but your preference for the Leesa makes me think it might be the right choice for me.
The Purple was at West Elm, but doesn’t seem to be any longer; now the Leesa is, so I’m thinking about going over there and checking it out. The only sleeping issue I have is occasional night sweats (I tend to go to sleep chilly and then sometimes wake up in the middle of the night hot). For this specific issue, which memory foam would you recommend?
Thanks!
-Alex
The Purple and Layla have a bit more cooling tech in them than the leesa, that said I haven’t had any issues with sleeping hot on any of them. The purple is unique and they usually have them at the larger mattress firm locations if you want to try one before you decide. Leesa and sometimes the sapira are in west elm, and Layla just released a new and improved version. They are all priced about the same with similar current discounts so you should be fine with any of those. The ones who keep showing up in search are all huge advertisers, but I wouldn’t suggest any of them for side sleepers of your size.
Hi,
I enjoy watching your reviews. Can you review the Nolah Signature mattress? It’s their 12″ mattress. I heard it’s the best for side sleepers who want a soft yet supportive mattress.
Thanks!
Thank you! I would love to try the Nolah and have reached out to them several times, I’m still keeping my fingers crossed that they let me test it one day.
I need help! I spent $1500 on a queen Simmons Resonance mattress about 4 years ago and within the past year the center of it starting caving in causing me to wake up with terrible lower back pain. I purchased a Zinus Cooling Gel Memory Foam mattress about a month ago now and within a week (about how long it took to reach maximum firmness) I was waking up with dead arms. I put a 3 inch memory foam topper over it to soften it (which I shouldn’t have to do!) and I don’t wake up with dead arms but haven’t been able to feel the tips of my middle finger on both hands and have stiff neck and arms early in the day. My partner is complaining of shoulder pain as well. Needless to say, the Zinus isn’t working out so I’m donating it for a refund.
I am 5’3 and weigh 118lbs, my boyfriend is 6’7 and weighs 270lbs so we are definitely looking for something that will prevent me from falling into his “hole” if he rolls over in the night. I am an ICU nurse so tend to have a lot of neck and shoulder stiffness/pain at baseline, plus genetically at a disadvantage with regard to arthritic tendencies.
I thought I needed a firm mattress but the Zinus was literally rock hard and it was listed as a medium. Can you recommend something that will minimize motion transfer due to the significant weight difference between myself and my partner, that is of medium firmness and that would work for someone who sleeps in ALL positions? My boyfriend is a side/back sleeper and I am mostly as well, but I do sleep on my stomach sometimes as well. Also, I’m not a trust fund kid and don’t have a million dollars to spend on a mattress. I’d love to keep it under $1000 if possible…
Any advice you can give would be so appreciated – I’m so desperate to have feeling back in my hands!
With the size difference that you guys have (which is some serious sexual dimorphism) I would consider a custom mattress from Helix or Eight Sleep. You will be really tempted to get a firm side for him and a soft side for you. The problem with that is that the soft side will still roll into the firm side. Even though it will be against your instincts, go with a firm side for him and a medium for you. Or if you want to roll the dice a bit more go with a medium for him and a soft for you.
I really enjoy your reviews. I wonder if you could help me… I am a side sleeper (5’9″, 210lbs), my wife is a stomach sleeper. We purchased a king Casper Wave (wife was reluctant to buy a mattress she couldn’t try first – even with return policies). She loved it, I hated it. Caused me all kinds of back and side pain. We returned it without any problems. I purchased a split king (two twin xl’s) Idle Sleep Hybrid luxury firm (love the concept of a flipable mattress) after being told the firmness was recently softened and that I should be able to sleep on it. It is not working out for me however, my wife loves it. I am now considering returning my mattress for a medium in the same model. If I go with another company, I need to come close to matching a 14″ high mattress in order to make a king-sized bed. Any thoughts/suggestions?
I really wish that I could have slept on the Wave without pain. I really liked the idea of the idle mattresses as it gives you 2 chances to get the firmness right. But it seems like that’s not really the issue with you guys. Stomach sleepers tend to like firm beds and side sleepers tend to like soft beds. You may want to look into a dual firmness bed, from Eight or Helix. The down side is that the middle of the bed becomes “unusable” if you know what I mean…
Best Article out there!
Thank you! Shoot me an email if you want to discuss your sleeping situation.
For Tomorrow Sleep – did you test Medium Firm or Medium Soft? Would you recommend both as good for side sleepers?
The soft version was great for my size/shape. I didn’t test the medium firm version.
Thanks so much for all these reviews and charts they are amazing! I was in an accident 4 yrs ago and have an incomplete spinal cord injury now so I sleep on the recliner 99% of the time. We are now on the lookout for a new mattress and adjustable frame and trying to research for a mattress that can support my spine while I am sleeping on my side or my back in the zero gravity position has been a nightmare lol. I also have no control over my temperature regulation so I can’t have anything that overheats me since I’m not able to sweat. I think I’m going to try and find if there is anywhere we can find the Leesa mattress to try out as I am 5’8 and my husband is 6’2.
You can find leesa at West Elm or if you are in New York they have their own spot.
We purchased a king-sized Nest Signature Hybrid after reading reviews that some felt the Leesa was too firm for small people/side sleepers (I’m both). We used to sleep in a Stearns and Foster memory-foam topped spring bed and figured the hybrid with a topper would be most similar (we loved our S&F, but got an _amazing_ deal on it thanks to the old Famous-Barr warehouse sales and didn’t want to commit to $2K plus for a mattress); we also can’t get a king mattress up to our second floor unless it can roll.
I am just meh about the NSH bed. I want to love it. I like so much what the company stands for, and I can tell it’s a quality mattress. But I don’t sink in like I did with the memory topper (though it _does_ sleep cooler) and I have terrible pressure points in my hips and shoulders.
I noticed you rated the NSH very high in your review, but it didn’t make your top list of side-sleeper beds and wondered your thoughts on that vs. Leesa, etc. Your comment above nails it – it’s so hard to try what’s out there and you really don’t know what you’re getting into until you’ve slept on the thing a while.
I’m also mindful of the amazing amount of waste and space a junked mattress takes up, so I want to be very mindful of consumption…
Hi Rebecca,
The NSH is highly rated due to all its fine qualities including high quality materials inside out, the fact that it’s made in the USA, the Company and itself, their customer support and background, their quick response and fast shipping. And it is pretty good mattress if you are a BACK SLEEPER or stomach or both.
I couldn’t let myself put it where it didn’t belong (side sleeper beds). It’s too firm and thick to be on that list.
When it comes to firmness, comparing it to the Leesa I personally think Nest is firmer. Leesa has the ability to let you have your shoulders and hips sink in a little more than Nest. I am talking about the Foam Leesa mattress, not Sapira (their Hybrid).
I am a firm believer that it absolutely takes a while , at least a month , to get out of our old mattress and get used to a whole new one. It’s like when your feet got perfectly used to your comfy shoes you slip or slide your feet in without any effort but once you switch to new shoes you go through that process all over again where you have to hold onto something to put your shoes on trying to support yourself, trying to wear them using a shoe horn. Until your feet get used to them.
NBH may be the one for you so take advantage of their free in home trial, if you don’t like it, setting up a pickup is super easy their mattresses will be donated to a local shelter. You’re probably thinking it’s too much, but you’d rather find the right one then get stuck with something you don’t like. If you have a West Elm in your area see if they have the Leesa on display and try it. Or switch to something softer with Nest Bedding. Let me know if you have any other questions. I am always here
Thank you so much! It actually helps to have someone confirm what I suspected. We’ve had the mattress about 15 months, so we’ve given it a pretty fab trial (we bought it when I was about 5 months pregnant, and I’m still nursing, so I am also nervous that pregnancy and postpartum aches and pains are contributing to my dissatisfaction, but if a bed doesn’t improve and may exacerbate those, then that’s also an issue…)
Last I was in a West Elm, they had a sample Casper, which was not my favorite feel. I know the Leesa is SO consistently highly rated, so I’ll grab my hubby and we’ll head to the mall to try it. I’m also reading rave reviews about DreamCloud by Nectar and think you have a review about that (but also don’t see it on this list) and am curious about Purple.
I’m sorry you don’t like your current mattress, and I hope I can help you find one that works for you. West Elm switched their aliance from Casper to Leesa about a year ago, so if you have a West elm near you they should have a leesa.
As much as I love the DreamCloud and the Nectar(especially their prices), they are both a bit more firm that I like when I’m sleeping on my side. The Purple does really well if you are on the lighter side, BUT you need to be aware that it is unlike anything else you have ever slept on. That means that some people will find it too strange. Mattress firm has been rolling some of the original purples into their show rooms. So if you want to try one in store they may have it.
I am a back and side sleeper so this is super handy information! I tend to get hip pain and back pain similar to yours with my current bed!
I love all of the comparison charts- thank you for including what comes with it and the coupons! Those really do matter when you are on a stretch for money!
Love your reviews, since these beds all come to your door, the chance that it isn’t a good fit goes way up, but with your reviews this takes that chance way down. I am a side and back sleeper, I flip and flop due to problems I have after breaking my neck and crunching my lower back years ago- long story. But for someone that really has to, and still is, saving to get a new bed, these reviews are so valuable. I thought the Casper Wave sounded great until I read your review, and if you had back issues I think it would kill me and I appreciate that you let everyone know about that. The side sleeper review here is also very good and in depth and I just wanted to thank you for all of your reviews.
Thanks JJ. Sometimes mattresses just don’t work for me, and the only way to figure that out is to actually sleep on them. The real problem is that there are just too many options out there so it is impossible to try them all.