Side Sleeper? These Are The Best Mattresses For Alignment & Pain Relief

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January 30, 2022 — 11:42 AM

The position you sleep in will affect the mattress that’s best for you. Side sleeper? You’ll likely want a mattress that is soft enough to be comfortable (particularly on your hips and shoulders), but firm enough to give your body the support it needs to sleep soundly.

We spoke with licensed chiropractors and physical therapists to learn why this middle ground is so important and how to find it. Led by their guidance, we sifted through the many, many mattresses on the market to find the ones that will be best for side sleepers looking to rest easy.

Waking up refreshed and pain-free is a good sign that your mattress is helping you sleep deeply. The wrong mattress may cause you to toss and turn in the middle of the night, aggravate existing pain, and potentially cause new discomforts to form.

This tends to become more common with age. While kids can basically sleep anywhere, physical therapist and founder of Aletha Health Christine Koth notes that as we get older and develop muscle tension and various aches and pains, we’ll need to find a sleep solution that’s more customized to our unique needs.

Factors like weight, gender, and sleep environment can all influence the type of mattress you’ll find most comfortable. However, chiropractor Kevin Leeds, D.C., of The Joint Corp says that most side sleepers will want to look for one that is supportive but not too firm.

“A mattress that is too firm may cause shoulder and hip pain, as well as change the spinal alignment,” he notes, pointing to a 2011 study in the journal Ergonomics that found that mattresses that are too soft or saggy can negatively affect side sleepers’ sleep quality.

However, Leeds notes, “Side sleepers tend to have more pressure on their shoulders and hips, and usually need a slightly softer mattress to accommodate that extra pressure,” so finding a middle ground is key.

Side sleeping is the most common sleep position, and experts agree that it’s typically also the healthiest. Leeds explains that sleeping on one’s side provides relief from back pain and may reduce one’s risk of breathing problems like sleep apnea, while Park notes that it tends to promote good circulation. However, the sleeping position also comes with some potential downsides.

The key to restful, restorative sleep is to keep your spine, neck, and shoulders all in good alignment. But picture the shape of someone sleeping on their side: The widest parts of their body, their shoulders and hips, will naturally want to sink deeper into a mattress.

If your mattress is super firm and doesn’t have enough give, you might wake up with shoulders and hips that feel sore or stiff in the morning. If it’s really soft, your shoulders and hips may sink too far into your mattress and throw off that ever-important alignment, which can irritate your joints and ligaments and contribute to low back pain.

“If you have too soft of a mattress, regardless of your sleep position, your body kind of gets absorbed into that,” Koth says. “It might feel good, but your body has to do absolutely no work. Without a little bit of muscle contraction to stabilize you, you actually lose some of the support that your body needs.”

From head to toe, experts say side sleepers should aim for the following alignment when sleeping:

• Head: Keep your head in a neutral position. It should be no higher or lower than your shoulders. This will help prevent neck cricks and shoulder discomfort. (The right pillow can really help here.)
• Hips: Your hips should feel supported, and there shouldn’t be any gaps between your mattress and your side body. (If there are, placing a rolled-up beach towel in the area may help.) This should help prevent hip pain and tightness.
• Knees: The legs aren’t parallel when we sleep on our sides, which Park says can alter pelvic positioning, affect spinal alignment, and increase muscle tension. Place a pillow between your knees and ankles to promote better alignment and relieve potential hip and low back pain.

• Pros: If you’ve ever felt like you were sleeping on a cloud, you were probably dozing on memory foam. This material is usually made of polyurethane, a plastic polymer that has been processed to be super soft, absorbent, and good at evenly distributing weight. This makes it easy to sink deeply into memory foam and move around without waking up a bed partner.
• Cons: Since memory foam tends to be so soft, it might not provide the support you need as a side sleeper. Heavier sleepers also might find the feeling of sinking into the bed uncomfortable. Park also notes that memory foam tends to trap heat, which may be uncomfortable and cause sleep disruption. Plus, it’s a highly processed material, which may dissuade those looking for a more natural mattress.

• Pros: Park notes that natural latex—a type of foam that is made from rubber tree sap—tends to be more breathable than memory foam, making it more comfortable for hot sleepers. It also tends to be a bit firmer, which side sleepers should appreciate. A bed that is made from 100% natural latex will also have been treated with fewer harsh and potentially irritating chemicals, especially if it’s GOLS (Global Organic Latex Standard) certified.
• Cons: Natural latex mattresses can be on the pricey side, and they still might prove too soft for side sleepers looking to keep their whole body in alignment.

• Pros: The original mattress design, spring mattresses are firm and supportive. They are also typically more breathable than memory foam and tend to be relatively affordable.
• Cons: Since spring mattresses don’t absorb movements like softer foams do, those who share the bed might find that they can feel their sleep partner’s every move on a spring. Depending on the spring design, these mattresses can also be loud to sleep on. And since they are so firm, they may put too much pressure on side sleepers’ hips and shoulders.

• Pros: The experts interviewed for this piece agree that hybrid mattresses will be most comfortable for the majority of side sleepers. Hybrid mattresses combine springs with foam or latex, making them supportive yet soft.
• Cons: Hybrid mattresses tend to be on the pricey side. They can also still have the cons of non-hybrid foam or spring beds, like noisiness, motion transfer, and heat absorption. This makes it important to shop around and try out a hybrid mattress before committing.

While our experts say hybrid mattresses can provide the right balance for most people, they stress the importance of trying out a mattress yourself before committing to it.

Koth urges you to look for mattress companies that offer trial periods of at least 30 days, so you can really see how your body adjusts to the bed over time. One reason is that while firmer models may feel uncomfortable at first, that doesn’t mean they aren’t right for you. Your muscles are just under more pressure than they’re used to. You need to give your body some time to adjust to the new sleeping experience.

“People also have different budgets for their mattress, so it helps to make sure there is a return policy or guarantee that comes with that investment,” Leeds adds.

With so many mattress options out there, I set out to whittle down your search down to a handful of options. The following mattresses tick all the expert’s boxes: They are comfortable yet supportive, great at supporting side sleeping alignment, and come with an (at least) 30-day trial period and generous return or warranty policy.

When searching, I also kept mindbodygreen’s criteria for environmentally friendly, nontoxic mattresses top of mind. You’ll see those health and eco perks listed under every mattress.

While I couldn’t test out all of these mattresses myself (I sleep a lot—but not that much), I combed through user reviews to find the ones that earn the highest marks from users around the country and further narrowed the list down to the best option for various needs that people expressed often.

After that, I was left with six options that are fit for any side sleeper.