Side sleepers have something of an advantage in the hunt for the best mattress. As the most common sleep position, choices are vast and there are plenty of mattresses designed to support your spine and hips. However, sleeping on your side leaves you open to putting undue pressure on your hips, shoulders, legs, thighs, elbows and even your heels. With so many tender zones to cradle, you need just the right mattress (and pillow) to maintain alignment, otherwise you could miss out on all the health and wellbeing goodness experts suggest come with better sleep.
If you wake up with mysterious aches, or your once beloved mattress is not as cloud-like as it used to be, then it's probably time for a new mattress–and your sleep position should be a key consideration in your search. With so many natural rewards of side sleeping, upgrading your mattress is one of the simplest changes you can make to improve your physical and mental wellbeing. Read on to find out our top picks for the best mattresses for side sleepers.
What type of mattress is best for a side sleeper?
The sweet spot for side sleepers is often a soft to medium-firm mattress. You need a sleep surface that yields, but not to the point of being downright marshmallowy. Too firm, though, and your mattress won’t adapt to the curvature of your spine and will end up aggravating those pressure points.
Best mattresses for side sleepers at a glance:
- Best mattress for side sleepers: Simba Hybrid Pro, from £799
- Best mattress for hot side sleepers: Emma Hybrid Thermosync Mattress, from £519
- Best mattress for side sleepers with back pain: REM-FIT 400 Hybrid Mattress, from £599
- Best organic mattress for side sleepers: Naturalmat The Superb Mattress, from £1,360
- Best mattress for side sleepers with shoulder and hip pain: Nectar Premier Hybrid Mattress, from £599
- Best luxury mattress for side sleepers: Vispring Devonshire Mattress, from £2,385
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When it comes to responsiveness (a critical factor for a side sleeper), any Simba mattress will take a top prize. The Pro sits in the middle of Simba’s price structure, so you’ll get a very impressive 4,800 springs including a double stack of custom ‘Aerocoil’ ones that act specifically to bend and flex with your body’s every movement, all without the price tag of the brand’s more premium models. Our House & Garden tester had only good things to say about the breathable, body contouring foam surface as well as “the thick layer of wool that makes this medium tension mattress a pleasure to sink into.”
- Pro: Simba offers a Hybrid Firm Pillow that works alongside this mattress to keep your neck aligned.
- Con: Weight plays a major role in determining whether a mattress is right for a side sleeper, and this mattress may be too firm for lighter people. However, Simba does offer a Hybrid Mattress Topper if you find this mattress to be too firm.
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Our House & Garden tester describes this mattress as the “perfect balance of very soft and very firm”–the ideal tension proposition for a side sleeper. Emma's Hybrid Thermosync Mattress is constructed with seven different pocket spring zones, designed to be responsive to the pressure points that tend to ache side sleeper, including shoulders, hips and thighs. Clever temperature regulating technology helps you to maintain your ideal body temperature on the warmest of nights, leading to less tossing and turning and more time spent enjoying the health benefits of staying put on your side.
- Pro: This highly awarded mattress strikes a fine balance between comfort and support at an affordable price point.
- Con: Based on the findings of our tester and customer feedback, lighter weight side sleepers may find this medium mattress to be too firm. Emma sends out additional layers to allow you to make this mattress softer or firmer.
Relieving back pain when you are a side sleeper may be tricky and REM-FIT's 400 Hybrid Mattress is well regarded as a mattress that customers rely on to get this balance right. Made with an emphasis on supporting spine alignment, this mattress features five layers including 2,000 pocket springs and a base of dense foam. Edge to edge support also makes it a great pick for side sleepers.
- Pro: REM-FIT’s 400 Hybrid Mattress earns high praise for calming back pain at an affordable price.
- Con: Some customers note there is a chemical smell that tends to linger for a while.
With its full lifecycle sustainability ethos, Naturalmat's The Superb Mattress is at home in some of the finest hotels in the world. Offering both medium and harder to find soft tension mattresses, there’s a good chance side sleepers can invest in an option giving a harmonious balance of comfort and support. With a strict ‘no chemical’ approach to crafting their mattresses, Naturalmat treats their cotton and wool covers with natural extracts that are guaranteed to repel dust mites and bed bugs making this mattress a perfect choice for anyone with sensitive skin or allergies.
- Pro: Lighter side sleepers who find the medium mattresses too firm have a soft choice option, which is rare amongst Naturalmat’s premium competitors.
- Con: When this mattress arrives it may smell of wool but it soon subsides. Some customers love the smell; others are happy when it goes.
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Memory foam is considered to be the gold standard for side sleepers given its ability to contour beautifully and Nectar’s Premier Hybrid Mattress earns high praise for its adaptive foam’s ability to relieve common achey areas like shoulders, legs and hips. Constructed with eight layers, our tester praised the ultra-soft top layer that proved to be extra supportive for weary backs.
- Pro: Our tester found this mattress to offer outstanding motion isolation and described it as ‘ideal’ for co-sleepers.
- Con: If you’re a side sleeper who prefers ‘pillow-like softness’ this one isn't for you as our tester found it to be precisely medium firm - not too hard; not too soft.
We spend a third of our lives on our mattress, so for side sleepers who settle for nothing but the best, Vispring’s Devonshire Mattress is the ultimate investment in nourishing rest. Handmade to the finest detail the Devonshire affords full body medium tension comfort. Hand tufted British wool, finest cotton and custom made vanadium springs all work together to give the mattress cloud-like softness.
- Pro: If you co-sleep, your bed can be ‘split’ down the middle with each side getting the perfect mattress tension to suit the sleeper.
- Con: As a luxury handmade mattress, the Devonshire isn’t the most affordable option, so if budget is a consideration, look out for retailers with sale offers.
