Best Mattresses for Side Sleepers – Our Top 9 Picks

The Nectar Memory Foam Mattress is made with three layers of foam, plus a quilted cooling Tencel cover that draws heat away from your body. It is designed as a medium-firm mattress, giving you a great level of balance and support while you sleep, but relieving any pressure point pain on your side.

Included in this product are two layers of viscoelastic foam which are designed to minimize motion transfer. So if either you or your partner toss and turn a lot during the night, the other person should not be interrupted.

The middle foam layer of this mattress is an adaptive response transition layer, so while you get contouring, sinkage is prevented. There is a bottom mattress cover with this model to encase all the foam layers, ensuring it doesn’t slip around on your bed frame.

The Nectar Memory Foam mattress comes tightly packed as a bed in a box, so stand back while you open it and allow a good 48 hours for it to find its full shape. Once it is fully expanded, it will measure 25cm (10inches) in-depth, so is not overly thick, but still perfectly comfortable. It is compatible with any bed frame, provided you measure the size correctly.

With the Premier Mattress from Dreamcloud you get six layers, creating a comfortable hybrid bed. As it is a medium-firm mattress, it is suitable for front, side, and back sleepers.

The base is made from foam and designed to stay firmly in place, regardless of the bed frame you place it on. Above this, you find individual coils that run right to the edge and help to keep motion transfer to a minimum. The two foam layers on top relieve pressure points, particularly around your hips and shoulders on whichever side you lie on, and these are topped with a Trueloft memory foam cover. The top is the Dreamcloud signature cover, made with Mongolian cashmere which adds to the soft, comfortable feel and provides a cooling mattress surface.

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Dreamcloud offers a 365-night trial period and a lifetime guarantee with every new mattress. Its total depth is 15inches, so it is one of the thicker best mattress options available, so you may need to buy larger fitted bed sheets or opt for flat sheets.

The Nolah Original AirFoam Mattress is categorized as a medium-firm surface, but this still works very well for side sleepers. This bed measures 10inches in height, and, while it is made from 100% foam, it is said to give four times better pressure relief in comparison to regular memory foam.

Nolah AirFoam has been constructed through a compression process which creates billions of tiny air bubbles within the foam. For those who like data, this means you get an average pressure of 18.61mmHg, compared to 21.41mmHg with high-end memory foam. Plus a reduction of peak pressure from 200mmHg down to 58.7mmHg. Less pressure means greater relief for your side and less pain, so this mattress is advocated as one of the best to eliminate aches in your shoulders and hips.

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This bed is also extremely durable; approximately 300% more durable than regular memory foam, which means it won’t sag over time. And if it does, you have a lifetime guarantee for a replacement.

There are three layers within the Nolah Original mattress, and these are enclosed in a Tencel cellulosic cover. The top layer is a 2-inch cooling AirFoam which contours around your body but keeps you relatively cool. Then, there is a 1-inch layer of high-resilience foam for support and durability, and, for the base, you have seven inches of high-density breathable foam, keeping the other layers in place.

If you want a memory foam bed for its comfort properties when sleeping on your side, but are concerned about the heat as you sleep hot, then you will be pleased to know that this bed tries its best to reduce the heat. While memory foam ends up hugging your body for better spine alignment, it also traps heat around you. Nolah AirFoam is configured so that the heat can dissipate. There are also no heat-sensitive viscoelastic chemicals, so it doesn’t react to your body heat. The Nolah Original mattress has an optional 120-night sleep trial. The cost will be lower if you don’t choose this option.

This mattress is quite unique because of its Flippable Firmness concept, making it one of the best choices in terms of flexibility. The Layla Mattress gives you a soft mattress on one side, with a plush feeling, best suited for side sleepers, then a firmer side with less sink if you flip it over. While side sleepers will usually prefer the soft option, you can flip the mattress and test out both sides to make sure you pick the one that suits you best. Both options have Thermo-gel cooling technology that reacts to your body temperature.

In between the cooling mattress covers, there are two layers of copper-gel infused memory foam. Copper-gel foam is believed to provide better variable support while offering antimicrobial odor control. It will still slightly cocoon you but won’t retain heat as much as some of the traditional best memory foam materials. At the core of this side sleepers mattress 4inches of foam that has minimal bounce, maximum durability, and Airflow Support Foam that increasing cooling and customized support. The Layla mattress comes with a lifetime warranty and offers a 120night money-back guarantee.

The Casper Sleep Original Matterss is available in either a hybrid or full foam mattress option. With both options, you get three zones of support and a top level of breathable, polyurethane foam, to keep you cool. This top layer is made from Airscape foam, reportedly one of the best foams to encourage air circulation. The full foam mattress best suits sleeping on your side, especially if you already have joint pain.

In the centre of the mattress, the memory foam is divided into zoned sections; there are softer areas around the shoulders, firmness around the lower back and hip areas, and then softer areas again for the lower legs. This works well for pressure relieving around your joints and improving your spinal alignment while in your side sleeping position.

Depending on which construction you choose, the base is made of either thick foam or multiple resilient springs. If your partner moves a lot at night, then the foam mattress may be best as it has marginally better motion isolation than the hybrid version.

The depth of the Casper Original mattress is 11inches, it has a medium firmness level, and comes with a 100-night trial.

The Original Bear Mattress is made of 100% foam and measures 7.1 out of 10 on the firmness scale. This gives it a medium to medium-firm feel, with the right blend of support and comfort to keep your spine aligned while sleeping. Bear Mattresses are traditionally designed for athletes, but there is no reason why they aren’t equally comfortable for everyone else! For more information, check out our guide on the best mattresses for athletes.

In total, this product measures 10inches is covered with a breathable Celliant cover, and is described as giving you a ‘contouring hug’. The trademarked Celliant Infrared Yarn Technology has been created to harness your natural energy, which promotes recovery and well-being.

The top layer of foam is cooling graphite-gel memory foam that helps to remove unwanted body heat, rather than retaining it. Underneath this is responsive and support foam layers that contour to your shape, thus reducing the pressure in any position.

Bear Mattresses are also created with open-cell construction, so there is a decent amount of airflow, so you shouldn’t get uncomfortably hot. They are made with environmentally friendly products and have very minimal odor compared to some memory foam.

The Casper Sleep Wave Mattress is a hybrid design with impressive comfort, cooling and sustainability features to differentiate it from other models. Casper is a well-reputed brand when it comes to beds in a box, and the Wave Hybrid is an advanced version of one of their flagship products and their most expensive option.

This bed is made from four layers of different foams, which sit on individually pocketed coils. It is designed for back and side sleepers, those who move a lot when sleeping, and those who tend to sleep hot. This is a soft to medium mattress, so it is ideal for a side sleeper as it gives you pressure point relief and comfort.

In terms of sustainability, this bed has a unique feature – its cover is made with a blend of recycled polyester. This polyester is created by recycling plastic bottles, turning them into fabric, so it is one of the best mattresses when it comes to being eco-friendly.

The Casper Wave has three distinctive layers in its comfort system. The top layer has open-cell polyfoam, which provides its cooling airflow properties and cushioning effect. The open-cell latex layer below is perforated for maximum air circulation, and beneath this is a zoned memory foam layer. The memory foam layer has Zoned Support Max to align your spine, providing softness under the shoulders but a greater firmness for the waist, lower back and hips.

Following this is a transition layer of polyfoam that has targeted gel pods. These pods lie specifically around the lower back and hip area, giving extra support here but a soft sinking surface for the shoulders to relieve shoulder pain. Under all these layers, is the core, which uses 6-inch pocketed coils to add more support and to minimize motion transfer. In total, this mattress measures 13 inches deep, so you may need larger, deeper sheets to fit it.

Purple Mattresses use innovative technology to create three different types of mattresses; The Purple Mattress, the Purple Hybrid and the Purple Hybrid Premier. For those who sleep on their side, any of these could work, but the preference tends to be the original Purple Mattress as it is slightly softer.

This mattress is covered with a SoftFlex Cover, which is designed to keep you cool and allow you to feel the properties of the purple grid below it. The grid on this particular design is two inches thick and created for those who want a medium firmness. It also comes with reinforced edge support to prevent any sagging. Below the grid is a dual-layer comfort foam, made with high-density foam for extra durability.

Now, to explain the purple grid. This is a unique technology that doesn’t exist with any other brand. It is designed to provide no-pressure support, cradling areas of your body weight where it is more focused, usually your pressure points such as hips and shoulders. The grid looks like a waffle, with multiple little squares, and these are known as air channels. These make it extra breathable, and as it coupled with a temperature-neutral gel polymer, it will help you stay cool at night. The material in the gel also responds and reacts to your movements, so it adjusts its contouring as you do, just like memory foam does.

If you aren’t convinced if the Purple technology is for you, then they do offer a 100night sleep trial period, so you can test it and return if it doesn’t suit you.

The Copper Dreams boxed bed from Brooklyn Bedding is a full foam construction, combining the best features of memory foam mattresses, with the cooling effect of copper and graphite.

With this foam mattress, you get a smooth top weave, above four layers. The first layer, with the copper infusion, is designed to draw heat away from the body, to maintain optimal temperature conditions for side sleepers. Below this, you get a soft layer of memory foam to provide targeted pressure relief. There is then a two-inch intermediate foam layer, followed by a six-inch, high-density foundation layer.

The Copper Dreams bed in a box is available in two different comfort levels; a 12-inch firm support level and a 13-inch medium-firm option, with the medium-firm option designed for side sleepers. They are compatible with any frame, provided that base has minimal or no flex, and a 120night sleep trial is included. If you like the idea of this mattress you will be pleased to know it comes in seven different sizes, so you are likely to find one that fits your room.