Side-sleeping is the most common and healthiest sleep position for sleepers, therefore you may have the question what is the best mattress topper for side sleepers? But it is not an easy task to find out the right mattresses for the side sleepers. Mattresses are unable to provide them require support and cover all the pressure points. That’s why mattress toppers are so important for side sleepers.
Read also: Best Mattress for Side Sleepers.
Too firm or too soft mattresses are not appropriate for the side sleepers. Side sleepers need extra cushioning beneath the hips and shoulders to align the spine, head, and pelvis. They require to find out the exact level of firmness, thickness, and density toppers for their mattresses to get the expected comfort level.
In this article, we will help you to find out the best mattress toppers for side sleepers. So, before purchasing the best mattress topper for the sleepers you should know the ideal firmness, thickness, and density level for your mattress topper. Let’s discuss these briefly:
Mattress Firmness
Firmness is very important for side sleepers’ mattress toppers. The right level of topper’s firmness helps the side sleepers to sleep on their mattress comfortably without creating any sinking or sagging problems. It aligns their bodies’ parts properly too. The proper firmness level of a mattress topper also effective to alleviate back or other body pain-related issues. Lack of proper firmness creates problems like sinking and sagging for side sleepers. In that situation, it is not possible to get sound sleep at night. At the same time. it increases the risk of affected by the different types of body pains. Though the mattress toppers’ firmness for side sleepers depends on their body’s weight ranges. Generally, less than 130 pounds weight people need softer mattress toppers. For those whose weight range is 130 to 230 pounds medium toppers are good for them and for more than 230 pounds, people can choose firm toppers for their mattresses.
Mattress Thickness
Nowadays, different thickness level of toppers is available for different types of mattresses. Usually, the thickness level of mattress toppers tends to falls between the range of 2-8 inches. You can easily get both thicker and thinner models of toppers for your mattress. A proper level of topper thickness is very important to ensure a comfortable sleep. The right level of toppers’ thickness helps to reach your expected level of comfort while sleeping on the mattress. For choosing the right thickness level you should need to consider various factors including your body weights, sleeping position, mattress firmness, etc. Side sleepers also need to select their toppers’ thickness according to their body weights and mattress firmness. In our finding, a minimum of 4- inches thicker mattress toppers are perfect for the lighter side sleepers. 3- inches or less thick mattress toppers are appropriate for the medium and heavy weighted side sleeper.
Mattress Density
Dividing the topper’s mass by its volume you can simply calculate its density. Like the firmness and thickness, density is also equally necessary for a mattress topper. A denser mattress topper able to provide you better conform closer, cushioning than a low-density mattress topper. For these reasons, denser mattress toppers are more capable to tolerate heavy-weight. It prevents sagging problem when a heavy person sleeps on the mattress. You should consider your body weights, sleeping position, mattress firmness, thickness, and other factors to select the density level of your mattress topper. Pounds Per Cubic Foot (PCF) system is used to measure the density of memory foam, polyfoam, and other common materials made by mattress toppers. If you are a light side sleeper then lower than 2.5 PCF density is ideal for you. In this way, lower and upper of 4 PCF density is recommended for the medium and heavy side sleepers ‘.
We already mentioned that the firmness, thickness, and density level of mattress toppers for side-sleepers depends on their body weights. All of these levels can vary with the body weights of side-sleepers. Below we make a table with the ideal firmness, thickness, and density level of a mattress topper for the side sleepers according to their body weights:
Sleep Position | Weight Group | Ideal Topper Firmness | Ideal Topper Thickness (Inches) | Ideal Topper Density (Pounds Per Cubic Foot; PCF) |
Side |
Less than 130 lbs. | Soft to medium-soft | 3 1/2″ or higher | 2.5 PCF or lower |
130 to 230 lbs. | Medium-soft to medium | 2 to 3 1/2″ | 2.5 to 4 PCF | |
More than 230 lbs. | Medium-firm to firm | 2 1/2″ or lower | 4 PCF or higher |
As a side sleeper, you need a mattress topper that can conform to your body without feeling too firm or sagging and provide you balance support with proper spine and body parts alignment. Before purchasing a mattress topper for side sleepers, you can follow our above-mentioned table. Many well-known brands are severally making mattress toppers for side sleepers.
Many features like temperature neutrality, dust & insect prevent, etc. are available in modern mattress toppers for the side sleeper. We hope our provided information will be helpful for the side sleepers to choose the best mattress toppers for them.