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5 Best Mattresses For Side Sleepers That Offer the Support You Need
If you feel like you're sleeping wrong, you probably are.
Reader, you're special. Why? You’re a collection of specific interests like hiking, vinyl collecting, cooking, or whatever the hell else. You’re a mosaic of (hopefully) original opinions on art, literature, and television. But, you know why you’re not special? Because you’re a side sleeper.
Side sleeping is pretty comfortably the most popular way to sleep. The numbers that studies come up with generally say that somewhere around 70 percent of all sleepers are side sleepers. You’re not one of the stomach sleepers fucking up their back. You’re not one of the perfect, stick-straight back sleepers who don’t have chronic pain. You’re a much more common third thing.
As such, you never get a straight answer. Other websites say you can use any kind of mattress—like cheap mattresses, cooling mattresses, hotel mattresses, luxe mattresses, and memory foam mattresses. I'll tell you what no one else will: that’s not true. Side sleepers are closer to stomach sleepers than back sleepers because they have a specific need. That need is pressure point relief. Where your hips, shoulders, and knees press into the bed, it's best to have a little give. The mattress should conform to you a bit. How do you find that? You go soft—generally speaking, you go memory foam soft. Come with me, and I’ll show you what I mean with these five best mattresses for side sleepers.
Saatva Classic Mattress
Pros
- Reasonable price
- Perfect combination of foam and innerspring
- One of the most supportive mattresses out there
Cons
- A bit firm for some tastes
- Doesn't have crazy cooling tech—though we rarely woke up hot
Like I said, side sleepers are in a bit of a Goldilocks zone. For stomach sleepers, it’s simple; you want a hard mattress. For back sleepers, it really doesn’t matter; it’s all preference. But, side sleepers need a mix of support and firmness—not just “medium.” Side sleepers need to sink into a mattress, but they also need support.
Saatva's classic mattress one of the best Goldilocks mattress. Though it tends to be on the firmer side, it gives you the best of both worlds. The top memory foam layer hugs you, and the bottom innerspring layer supports you. If you're not quite sure what you want, give a Saatva Classic a try.
| Return Timeline | 365 Days |
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Pros
- Soft and luxurious sleep
- Best in class cooling
- Surprisingly good support over the course of a night
- Disperses movement really well—great for couples
Cons
- Some might find it too plush
- The gel grid feels a bit funny at first
This is the mattress I personally sleep on, and it's far and away the most luxurious side sleeping experience out there.
Like every side sleeper mattress, the name of the game here is compromise. The top layer is Purple’s somewhat famous gel grid. The grid is crazy squishy—so squishy that I was a little bit skeptical at first, as I tend to toss over onto my stomach most nights. But, it was never an issue. The saving grace of this mattress is what’s under the grid. There’s an inch of separation between the foam and coils that keeps you cool all night. And, the individual coils at the base of the mattress give you firm support, no matter how you’re sleeping.
When compared to the Saatva, the real plus here is how plush it is. You really sink down into this mattress, even in the firm option. For side sleepers, that's absolutely perfect.
| Return Timeline | 100 Days |
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Pros
- Incredible price
- Surprisingly supportive for an all memory foam model
- Lightweight, easy for apartment living
- The perfect first adult mattress
Cons
- Cooling isn't as good as other mattresses
- Don't get the big support of a hybrid mattress
Foam is a side sleepers best friend, since it gives way to your pressure points. The benefit to foam is that you can often get 100 percent foam mattress in a box for relatively cheap. The downside is that a lot of those mattresses aren’t that great.
Casper’s budget mattress, The Casper, (clever name) is the perfect all memory foam mattress. On your shoulders, hips, and other pressure points, the first layer of memory foam conforms to you. The second layer of memory foam is beefier, supports you, and only lets you sink down so far. At under $1,000, it’s the perfect mix of plush and firm.
| Return Timeline | 30 Days |
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Pros
- Great cooling, a rarity for fully memory foam models
- Pressure support that's typical of memory foam
- Lightweight and easy to move
Cons
- For only a few hundred more, you could get a hybrid mattress
If you're a renter, especially a big city renter, chances are you do a lot of moving. When you get a new apartment every year or two, a big hybrid mattress can be a pain in the ass. It's easier to go all foam.
Tuft & Needle's Mint Mattress is a great upgrade to The Casper. The foam itself is on par with Casper's offering. What separates this mattress is its cooling. Throughout the mattress, there's ceramic gel and cooling graphite that do the heat regulating you'd normally get in a bigger mattress, just in a smaller package.
| Return Timeline | 100 Nights |
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Bear Elite Hybrid Mattress
Pros
- The most plush mattress you can find
- Bear often has great sales going on
Cons
- Obviously, it's going to be too plush for some
Our Entertainment Editor, Brady Langmann, has raved about this mattress as his super-plush dream: "This mattress has that elusive extra-squishiness—the kind that simply doesn't exist in any mattress ever bought by any person I know, ever.
I'm a side sleeper, with an internal temperature of 1,1345 degrees, and this bed manages to wrap around me without inducing a night-long sauna session. As for the specs, it's a hybrid, meaning it has both coils (two kinds, to be exact), and several layers of foam, which is where that squishiness comes from. The added bonus of a cooling layer makes it even better."
If you're a die hard side sleeper that wants something you really sink into, this is the mattress.
| Return Timeline | 120 Nights |
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