there is no such thing like the best mattress for everyone. Not when there are so many different sleeping positions. However, most people sleep on their side. The figures vary depending on the study and the rigidity with which a person who sleeps on their side is defined, but between the middle and three-quarters of people sleep on their side for at least part of the night.
I’m a side sleeper and have tested and reviewed over three dozen beds from various mattress brands over the past 18 months to find one that fits my needs. Firm mattresses are good for back sleepers, but side and stomach sleepers generally prefer a softer bed with some give for the hips and knees. Before I started testing mattresses for WIRED, I would have told you that the softer the bed, the better. But, as I tried more styles and religiously tracked my sleep on my Apple Watch, I found that the best mattresses for side sleepers offer both cushion and support. The top recommendations below have enough flexibility to allow your hips to sink and achieve natural spinal alignment without you feeling like turning is an uphill battle. Everything I recommend has undergone at least a week of real-world testing in my home. I provided my own ratings for the firmness of each mattress I tested based on how soft they felt after a week of testing; Since I only tested one variant of each mattress, you can approximate what a different firmness lever will be like when ordering. All prices shown are for queen size models.
Be sure to check out our other sleep guides, including the best mattresses, the best organic mattresses, the best cooling mattresses, and our new guide to the best body pillows for side sleepers.
Updated October 2024: We added the updated version of the all-foam Nectar Premier as our pick for people looking for a soft mattress and the Helix Midnight Luxe with GlacioTex and ErgoAlign as the top pick for spinal alignment.
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Is sleeping on your side good for you?
If you’ve ever tried to consciously change your sleeping position (perhaps due to a medical procedure or a strange bed), you probably know that it’s hard to fight your natural inclinations. The good news for side sleepers is that the broad consensus among experts is that it’s at least as good as any other option.
Sleep experts at Houston Methodist say sleeping on your side has “least negative impact on health.” Which is great! The only thing worse for you than sleeping on your side is not getting enough sleep or sleeping in any other position!
I have always envied people who sleep on their backs, but sleeping on their backs is the “worst position.” according to the mayo clinicwho considers sleeping on your side to be “a good way to sleep.”
What type of mattress is best for side sleepers, hybrid or memory foam?
We prefer hybrids for side sleepers. Since you’re putting more weight on a smaller surface area, you might think that memory foam is better than a hybrid mattress that has a layer of springs (often called coils). In memory foam, you sink into a fluffy little cloud and get support on the sides.
The problem is that when you sleep well and don’t move much, over the course of the night, that foam will slowly but surely compress beneath you. If it’s just a layer of foam, after a while you’ll feel like you’re sleeping on a yoga mat. That’s why mattresses with multiple comfort layers of foam of various weights are better, and why we like hybrids even more. In my experience, that layer of springs means the foam doesn’t compact as much.
A good hybrid gives you the opportunity to sleep for six hours straight without having to change positions, which is not necessarily the case for me on an all-foam mattress. Hybrids also tend to sleep cooler because there is less solid foam mass absorbing heat.
What are the ideal firmness levels for side sleepers?
Most side sleepers gravitate toward soft mattresses, which usually means medium-soft memory foam. However, over the course of the night, you should make sure you have a mattress with enough support. All types of mattresses can offer that, but be sure to pay close attention to the level of firmness the company advertises and the firmness options it contains. Also keep your body type in mind, as the more body weight you have, the firmer the mattress you will want to be. Below I offered my own subjective scale of how firm the mattresses I tested are, noting which variant I tested in each case.
Another thing worth considering is that it is easier to soften a mattress later. If you are spending a lot of money on a high-quality mattress made of good materials and feel that it is too firm, it is relatively cheap and easy to add a mattress topper, as almost all mattress toppers have the effect of softening the sleeping surface. However, you practically can’t make a mattress firmer: if you found a firm mattress topper and placed it on top of a soft foam bed, you’d still have a soft base that would cause it to sink and probably misalign your back. So my advice as a mattress tester who has slept on many, many bed-in-a-box mattresses shipped to my house is to always err on the side of too firm, knowing that if right after the testing period you realize you didn’t choose the mattress Perfect, you have many options to change your trajectory.
What is the best type of mattress for heavy side sleepers?
I’m a bigger, smaller guy now than when I started testing mattresses, thanks to semaglutide, but I’m still a bigger guy. I have found that the larger you are, the firmer you want your mattress, otherwise your body weight will overcompress the foam and springs beneath you. If you weigh more, seek additional support.
How do I test mattresses for side sleeping?
I’ve reviewed three dozen mattresses and personally tested every selection in this guide. I slept on each mattress chosen here in my own home for at least a week and long-term tested the best mattress, the Hybrid Elite Bearfor almost a year where I wasn’t actively working on a different mattress review. When multiple models are available, I usually ask for the firmest option available and rate the firmness based on my impressions after a full week of sleep. In addition to my subjective evaluation, I closely track my sleep statistics using an Apple Watch Ultra.
