Finding the Right Mattress
Whether you are a stomach, back, side or combination sleeper, if you are heavier set, you’ll want to find a mattress on the firmer end of the spectrum. A firmer mattress will provide heavy people with the right amount of support to maintain spinal alignment, giving them the best, most pain-free sleep possible.
Sleeping on a mattress that is too soft will lead to unnatural curving of the spine when you’re lying down. For this reason, it is especially important for heavier people to find a mattress that can support their weight. You may be a heavier-set sleeper who prefers a softer bed. That’s fine, as long as you’re not waking up with back, neck, hip or shoulder pain on a regular basis. The kind of pain that may result from poor spinal alignment or pressure points may be a sign that your mattress is too firm or too soft for you.
What Is the Best Mattress for Heavy People?
There are a lot of great firm mattress choices out there for heavier people. Our favorite is Saatva, which is especially good for pressure relief and customizable support. Pocket coils provide just the right amount of flexibility and motion isolation. Notably, the Saatva is available in a firm option, which is about a 7.5 on a scale of 1 to 10, and provides the optimal level of support for heavyweight people.
At 15” thick, the DreamCloud is another great option for heavy people, as it provides superior pressure relief through a system of pocketed coils, as well as layers of foam. Like the Saatva, it is fantastically priced for its luxury quality and is great at isolating motion and keeping the sleeper cool.
Heavy-set sleepers should be careful when it comes to memory foam beds, as they tend to be softer and can throw a heavier person’s spine out of alignment. But if you’re interested in a memory foam bed and enjoy the conforming quality of that kind of mattress, the Loom & Leaf is a fantastic option for heavy people. It comes in a firmer option to provide the support for optimal spinal alignment that meets the needs of any stomach, back or heavier-set sleeper.
Finally, for an exceptional, firm-mattress sleep in the latex category, consider the luxurious Zenhaven flip-able mattress. Latex mattresses can be great material for heavier people because they are very responsive and extremely durable. The Zenhaven offers a different firmness on each side: a medium-soft, and a firm on the other. Backed by a 120-day trial period and a generous 20-year guarantee, the Zenhaven comes with free white glove delivery service that includes in-home setup and removal of your old mattress.
Tips for Choosing the Right Firmness
The most important factor in choosing the right mattress firmness for you is your size/weight. As we said, heavier-set individuals will likely get the most comfortable sleep on very firm beds that can offer a lot of support. A heavy sleeper should probably not go with a less-firm bed as it can create pressure points and awkward curving of the spine.
For average people between 130 and 230 pounds, a firmness of 5-6.5 on a 1-through-10 scale provides sufficient support. Lightweight stomach sleepers can still get adequate spinal support from a softer mattress (even a memory foam), but can certainly opt for a firmer mattress if they enjoy the feeling of a very supportive bed. Heavy stomach sleepers (over 230 pounds) get the best spinal support from a very firm mattress with a 6.5+ level of firmness.