If you’ve made your bed, you must lie on it, as they say, so you might as well make it a comfy one, and when it comes to hitting the sack, there’s no greater determining comfort factor than the kind of mattress you’re kipping on.
So in celebration of National Make Your Bed Day, let’s take a Goldilocks tour of your sleeping options to find the mattress that’s right for you.
Like so many things in life, there’s no one size fits all as far as mattresses go, and your best bet for optimal comfort is to first find out what kind of sleeper you are.
We can break sleepers down into four basic types: side sleepers, back sleepers, stomach sleepers and combination sleepers. Of course, we can’t all be quite so typecast, but many of us do tend to have a default position. So if you’re looking for a new mattress, it’s useful to know in advance the position in which you’re likely to spend most of your time using it. Unless you have that information already, spend a few nights with one eye open to get an idea of what your body does during sleep before hitting the bed shops. Once you’ve discovered your sleeping type, read the appropriate section below for the best mattress match.
Side Sleepers: a memory foam mattress
For side sleepers, the points of contact are the shoulders and hips, so they should look for a mattress at the softer end of the spectrum. Known for their body-contouring ability, memory foam mattresses allow the body to sink into them and relieve the pressure that’s exerted on the average side sleeper’s joints.
Back Sleepers: a hybrid mattress
Back sleepers need a mattress that falls in the middle of the firmness scale. If it’s too hard, they’ll feel it in the shoulders and back; if it’s too soft, they risk throwing their hips and shoulders out of alignment. Hybrid mattresses provide the necessary combination of bounce and support, with layers of foam on top and pocketed coils or springs underneath.
Stomach Sleepers: an innerspring or hybrid mattress
For our prostrate friends, firmness is key. An overly soft mattress could allow the hips to sink too far down, affecting their alignment with the spine and shoulders. Innerspring or hybrid mattresses provide the right amount of support to ensure an even line through the body.
Combination Sleepers: a latex or hybrid mattress
Those that toss and turn their way through the night need a medium-firm mattress that can meet these extra sleeping demands and provide the type of comfort that covers all bases. Being the most mobile of sleepers, the combination sleeper will appreciate the versatility of a buoyant latex or hybrid mattress, which will relieve any pressure in the shoulders during side sleep, while offering enough support for the hips for supine slumber.
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