Mattresses can help relieve shoulder pain and promote spinal alignment for side sleepers. Look for a medium-firm mattress that cradles hips and shoulders; if your current mattress is too firm, consider switching with one with more cushion. If necessary, soft mattress toppers may help as an interim measure.
Be mindful of other criteria like temperature regulation and motion isolation when selecting your mattress type, such as memory foam mattresses. While they offer contouring support for side sleepers, memory foam mattresses tend to lack edge support.
Pressure Relief
If you sleep on your side, it is crucial that your mattress cradles both hips and shoulders to help avoid aches and pains. Most side sleepers prefer soft to medium mattresses as these have enough give to ease shoulder and hip pressure without giving way completely, maintaining spine alignment without leaving you with stiff back in the morning.
Memory foam mattresses are widely renowned for providing pressure relief, and many of the top mattresses for side sleepers feature them as it conforms perfectly to your curves and distributes weight evenly, offering exceptional lumbar support and pressure relief. Furthermore, its moisture wicking abilities help it cool off quickly if heat build-up occurs during sleep.
Other mattress types may also prove suitable for side sleepers. Hybrid mattresses like Helix Midnight Luxe offer excellent pressure relief and cooling thanks to multiple comfort layers, while innerspring and latex beds are another good choice; both offer support as well as contouring features, while some models even tend to provide firmer feel than all-foam mattresses.
Firmness preferences depend on both size and sleeping style; heavier sleepers should aim for a medium-firm mattress or something slightly firmer so they don’t sink too deeply and cause spinal misalignment, while petite sleepers might prefer soft or extra soft mattresses so as to not become trapped within their beds.
Consider whether or not you will be sharing a bed when selecting a mattress, as this can influence motion transfer between partners. Certain mattresses such as Purple feature special construction to help limit motion transfer; others feature layers of cooling gel to help decrease temperatures during sleep such as Helix Luxury Hybrid or Amerisleep AS5.
Support
The best mattresses for side sleepers provide contouring and full-body support to reduce common discomfort points associated with this position. Side sleepers may experience pressure point fatigue and misalignment issues in their hips, shoulders and lumbar spine region – resulting in neck and back ache symptoms which may be prevented with measures like keeping a pillow between knees or choosing a mattress that conforms softly enough to the curvatures of their bodies.
Mattress firmness also plays an integral part in how a mattress feels for side sleepers. Medium (5-6) firmness mattresses tend to provide the ideal balance of comfort and support to keep the spine in its natural “S” shape, but lighter weight side sleepers may find that soft (3-4.5) firmness mattress provides greater pressure relief, providing hip cradling relief as hips sink into mattress surface for pressure relief and pressure relieving comfort. Heavier weight side sleepers may benefit from opting for something slightly firmer (7-7.5), helping stay supported without sinking too deep into their mattress surface compromising spinal alignment.
Many of the top mattresses for side sleepers include multiple layers of foam that conform to the unique contours of their bodies, relieving pressure in sensitive areas and decreasing the chance of developing painful pressure point maps on the body. Furthermore, many top side sleeping mattresses feature features like cooling layers and breathable covers to keep sleepers cool during their nap.
The Helix Midnight Luxe mattress is an exceptional mattress for side sleepers, designed with contoured support to relieve shoulder and hip pressure points while maintaining spinal alignment. Constructed using cotton and TENCEL fibers that breathe, the Helix Midnight Luxe keeps cool throughout the night despite its memory foam material; however, hot sleepers should note this may trap heat in some cases and we suggest finding alternatives from our list of best mattresses for cold sleepers instead.
Temperature Regulation
As a side sleeper, your most essential consideration in choosing a mattress should be its ability to provide proper hip and shoulder cradling while maintaining spinal alignment. Too-structured or firm mattresses can throw off posture and lead to soreness; ideal mattresses for side sleepers also feature phase change technology which actively lowers body temperatures.
Our testers found this mattress from Tempur-Sealy to meet all of these criteria. It features a bed-in-a-box design with both firm and soft options available, plus heat dissipating gel layers to promote breathability. In particular, our firm version provided enough support to alleviate back pain while keeping spines neutral alignment – something other mattresses often struggle to do effectively. It even managed to prevent excessive bending of spines which is an issue for side sleepers on certain brands of mattresses.
As previously noted, choosing your firmness level depends on both personal preference and body weight. Heavy individuals tend to press more deeply into mattresses than lighter people do, and this can affect how well a mattress conforms to your shape. Certain mattress types such as memory foam and latex tend to contour better to body shapes while innerspring coil mattresses provide more of a pushback feature in their structure.
If you’re searching for a mattress to provide ample support for your hips and shoulders, the Cocoon Chill from Tempur-Sealy could be an ideal choice. Made of memory foam combined with high density polyurethane foams infused with cooling gel layers designed to disperse body heat as you sleep, its design also comes in either soft or firm options; soft ones being ideal for side sleepers.
The Saatva Classic mattress is another excellent option for hot sleepers. This mattress boasts two impressive layers of individually wrapped coils paired with an impressive top layer of gel-infused memory foam and received perfect scores in our tests for durability, pressure relief, motion transference, breathability and bounce.
Motion Isolation
Side sleepers require a mattress that will support key pressure points (shoulders, hips and knees) while aligning the spine correctly. They tend to prefer soft-to-medium mattresses which offer enough give in order to ease pressure on key pressure points without sinking too far and creating unnecessary compression; firmer mattresses may even aggravate back pain in these individuals.
No matter whether it’s all-foam or hybrid mattress shopping is easy! There is an array of choices out there that can meet the individual needs of every sleep style and health condition. When sharing a bed with someone else, the ideal mattress would be one capable of isolating motion – meaning neither partner would feel their movements through the night! Furthermore, memory foam or gel mattresses offer great relief from back or hip pain by contouring to your body’s curves, relieving pressure points while relieving any associated aches.
The ideal mattress for side sleepers will also offer excellent edge support so that they can rest comfortably on the edges without fear of falling out in the middle of the night. This feature is especially important if you have mobility issues and rely on perimeter support of their mattress to safely enter and exit their sleep environment; DreamCloud Premier excels in this respect by providing excellent edge support suitable for all body types.
The Saatva Classic mattress is an excellent option for side sleepers as its firm yet comfortable design makes it the ideal combination. The innerspring coil layer offers zoned support, giving your shoulders and hips plenty of cushion without sinking too deeply into it. Meanwhile, its gel memory foam layer offers excellent pressure relief as you sleep. Plus its hybrid construction provides durability, cooling support cradling breathability. All our tests prove this mattress performs extremely well!
The Purple mattress is another excellent option for side sleepers as its unique Hyper-Elastic Polymer layer offers both firmness and softness, providing optimal support while remaining soft to the body. This material comes in the form of squares that conform to your weight and body shape while remaining strong – giving the Purple the ability to adapt itself to each person. However, its Hyper-Elastic Polymer material also means some bounce and responsiveness that other mattresses don’t provide.
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