Foam: These mattresses are often made of latex or memory foam and have no coils for support. Oftentimes, they begin with a cooling or super-soft contouring foam on top and move to a super-dense bottom foam for support. They contour to the body, providing pressure relief and good motion absorption. They are usually best for side sleepers and combination sleepers without back pain. Although not always, you can find many cheap mattresses primarily made of foam, but these can be heavy, not provide enough support for back sleepers or those with pain, and can be a hot sleep since there isn’t much airflow with the dense foams.
Spring or coil: Often thought of as an old-school mattress style, this bed has a coil-based support system and is generally on the budget side. Springs often lack pressure relief, and aren’t recommended for sleepers with pain. Because of the coils, the bed is bouncier than other options and lacks motion isolation.
Latex: All of the layers of this mattress are made with latex rubber, and because of that it’s bouncy and durable. Like memory foam, latex contours to the body, but because of its density, it isn’t the coolest option and they tend to be heavier. Natural and/or organic latex beds are generally more eco-conscious. The only all-latex organic mattress I’ve tested is the pricey Essentia Tatami Organic Mattress, which was comfortable and not too hot because of drilled air holes (which isn’t always the case), but it was super unstructured (floppy and couldn’t stand on its side without buckling), dense, and heavy (nearly 100 pounds).
Hybrid: We at WIRED tend to think that, in general, hybrid beds are the best for most people. They combine the best elements of different beds—an innerspring support beneath a top foam for comfort (and often cooling). The top layers are super-comfy foam or latex, with coils (often individually wrapped) underneath for structure. All of my favorite mattresses have been hybrid—I find that the combination of top gel memory foams and wrapped coils beneath also help with airflow and have a cooler sleep. Plus, they can vastly vary on firmness to comfortably contour sleepers in most positions, and have a huge range in price (mid-$300s to thousands).
Understand What Type of Sleeper You Are
What type of sleeper you are affects what type of mattress you should buy. This may seem obvious, but it’s important to take into consideration sleeping type, budget, and what’s going to fit in your house and be easiest to move. I tend to go for more plush mattresses, but I’ve learned that beds get much softer over time. It’s easier to add memory foam toppers to a firmer mattress than to be stuck with a soft mattress that turns saggy and causes lower back pain (been there).
Side sleeper: The stats vary, but most people are side sleepers. Along with stomach sleepers, side sleepers need a little more give to their mattresses, with enough give to let your shoulder and hips sink to give spinal alignment, but not too much so that your spine (and limbs) are unsupported. If the bed is too firm or uses springs only, the less-distributed side weight can become a really painful position on a harder surface, even leading to limbs falling asleep (any side sleeper who has camped knows the feeling). Softer memory foam might seem like a good solution, but it can slowly but surely compress under you and become compacted and flat. Most often a hybrid mattress, using a combination of several layers of foam followed by coils or springs that let pressure points like hips and shoulders sink into the bed, work best. That’s why figuring out the best mattress for side sleepers is a bit like the Goldilocks parable—not too firm or too soft, but just right.
