The Best Type Of Mattress For Back Sleepers

The Best Type Of Mattress For Back Sleepers

Like stomach sleepers, back sleepers generally prefer firmer mattresses in order to keep proper spinal alignment. If the mattress is too soft, you’ll experience excess compression under your hips in particular, but possibly under your trunk and shoulders, as well. Basically, wherever you carry the majority of your weight, you need the mattress to keep its shape. We should be clear that a mattress being supportive does not necessarily meant that it will be firm. Support refers to the density and thickness of the materials within a mattress. Firmness/softness refers to the Indentation Load Deflection (ILD) rating for the materials. Picture a thin slab of foam that’s extremely firm. The firmness doesn’t counteract the fact that you have a thinner piece of foam. We’ll cover support here in a moment, but let’s stay focused on the firmness level of the mattress.

In general, side sleepers require a bed that is softer and offers ample pressure relief for their shoulders and hips. If you picture it from a side view, it makes a lot of sense in order to keep a straight spine.

For back sleepers, you still want to keep a straight spine, but if your hips sag down too much it could cause lower back pain. Therefore, the bed probably shouldn’t be rock solid, but it should be firm enough to keep your spine straight. Of course, a lot of this has to do with your own preferences, but, in general, you should be looking for a slightly firmer mattress in the range of medium to firm, depending on your weight and preferences.

Your Weight Affects Which Mattress Is Best

Not only does your weight impact how firm or soft you interpret the bed to be, but it also impacts the level of support that you require. Allow me to explain. Let’s unpack the softness/firmness concept first. If you’re a lighter individual, most beds in the medium range in terms of firmness will seem firmer to you. That’s because you don’t provide that much downward pressure on the bed and therefore you end up sleeping more on the mattress rather than in the mattress. For someone that’s heavier, the bed will seem softer. That’s because softness/firmness, while possible to quantify, is a subjective element when you’re testing beds. So don’t think of the bed as being a certain firmness rating, think of how firm it will feel to you.

Your weight also dictates how supportive the mattress should be. In general, spring and hybrid mattresses tend to provide more long-term support. That’s not always true, but if you’re especially heavier, you might want to first consider a coil mattress. Certain all-foam beds will work, as well, but they should be thick and dense. For someone that’s more average (under 200 lb) you can usually get by with a coil or all-foam mattress. Just make sure that the bed is at least 9” thick. If it’s thinner, it just won’t have the requisite support after 5-10 years.

Which Materials Should You Look For

I already covered the support systems—typically you’ll see all-foam beds or hybrid mattresses (i.e. have coils). In terms of the middle and top layers, there are five main material. The most popular is memory foam, which comes in varying thicknesses and densities. Memory foam is a touchy subject for people. If you’ve never tried it before, it has a lot of positive properties and then some elements that really turn off consumers. For example, if softens where pressure and heat are applied, which can cradle your body and be very comfortable. However, it’s not very responsive and therefore can leave you feeling stuck in the mattress. We calls this the stuck-in-the-mud feeling. With a firmer mattress, however, you’ll typically get less sinkage and therefore remain more on top of the mattress, so it won’t heat up as much as a softer memory foam bed. That said, memory foam is loathed for being a warmer material. To get around this, though, there are plenty of gel memory foams that seek to increase the airflow in the bed and keep you cooler. They do a good job, but aren’t the coolest materials out there. Still, if you sleep hotter, you’ll definitely prefer gel memory foam to standard memory foam.

Latex foam is another popular middle and top layer. It can offer ample pressure relief, but is also very responsive and supportive. It also has the added benefit of allowing for a lot of airflow, so if you sleep especially hot, latex is a good option for you. Latex is less common than memory foam, but it’s often a natural material (there’s also synthetic latex) with plenty of advantages, so don’t count it out.

We also sometimes see beds with proprietary foams, but there’s no rule of thumb for these. Don’t exclude beds with proprietary foams, but test them for yourself to see what you think. Similar story for a gel material mattress. There are only a few beds that use a gel-like material and we’ve been very happy with them.

Proper Mattress Foundation

This is often overlooked, but it’s very important with your mattress. If you don’t get the right foundation, you could potentially void the mattress warranty and even possibly damage the mattress. You should also check the FAQ section of the mattress brand’s website to find more information on approved foundations. For example, often you’ll see that a slatted bed frame, platform bed, box spring, or even the floor will do just fine, but some brands are especially strict and they require the bed to be placed on a solid surface with absolutely no flex. That eliminates some slatted bed frames, particularly those with wood slats as opposed to metal ones. Additionally, adjustable bed frames aren’t universally accepted either. If you want an adjustable bed frame, (a) I don’t blame you, they’re awesome, and (b) you should specifically ask the company if their mattress works with adjustable bed frames. You may also see that certain brands sell their own foundation system. If you don’t already have a foundation, it might be smart to get the one from the brand itself, so that you don’t have any issues.

Best Mattress For Lower Back Pain

We’ve heard time and time again that back sleepers suffer from lower back pain—not so much upper back, shoulder, or neck pain, though. If you’re dealing with lower back pain and you spend the majority of the night on your back, the fix is fairly straight forward. You need a firmer bed, but not so firm that it doesn’t contour to the shape of your body. More specifically, you need a bed with better support.

Why Firm Mattresses Sleep Cooler (Generally)

If you’ve read any of our other reviews, you’ll know that temperature regulation isn’t a straightforward, cut and dry subject. Materials, sleeping position, weight, and room temperature all affect how cool or warm a bed sleeps. What often goes overlooked, however, is that firmness plays a role as well. The firmer the bed, generally speaking, the cooler that bed will sleep. This is because the sleeper will rest on top of the bed with less of the materials coming in contact with their body. Softer beds, by design, allow for more give and necessitate that more of the surface of the bed will come in contact with their body. As an example, a firmer bed such as Plank will naturally tend sleep cooler than a plush mattress like Zinus.

How Much You Should Spend

The average queen size bed is about $1,000 online. You will typically see coil mattresses just above the $1,000 mark and foam beds just below it. There’s almost a mental barrier at $1,000 for queen size beds. That’s not to say that you should spend no more than $1,000. In fact, there are plenty of fantastic beds that we hold in high regard that are over $1,000—here’s our list of the best mattresses under $2,000. We just use the $1,000 mark to say that you can get some really nice beds for not much more than $1,000. At the end of the day, you should spend however much you want on a bed.

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