So, what is the best mattress for back sleepers?
The short answer is…it varies depending on your weight and build. I appreciate that’s as helpful as a sieve on a sinking ship.
So, here’s the gist of it:
- Heavier people generally need firmer mattresses than lighter or thinner people (regardless of what position you sleep in). So, a seven-foot rugby player would probably want a firm mattress whilst a four-foot jockey would want a soft mattress. This is to make sure the mattress is sufficiently ‘supportive’.
- However, if you sleep on your back you need a bit more support than a side sleeper, so you should lean towards a firmer mattress than usual. So, a five-foot jockey who sleeps on their back might like to test out a medium firmness mattress instead of a soft mattress.
- Just to confuse you, there’s not a consistent way of measuring firmness in the mattress industry. As a result, our five-foot jockey should probably try out a few ‘medium’ mattresses in a showroom. Alternatively, they could pick one online with a free trial period.
Here’s a very rough way to summarise it:
- soft mattress – side sleeper who is much lighter than average
- soft/medium – side sleeper who is a little lighter than average
- medium mattress – back sleeper who is lighter than average or a side sleeper who is average weight
- medium/firm mattress – back sleeper who is average weight or a side sleeper who is above average weight
- firm mattress – back sleeper who is a little heavier than average weight or a side sleeper who is significantly above average weight
- extra firm mattress – back sleeper who is significantly above average weight
As mentioned earlier, this is only a starting point in your mattress hunt. Every manufacturer measures firmness individually so I would strongly recommend a mattress that has at least some sort of return or trial option if you are buying online and can’t try a mattress in a shop.
What the science says about the best mattress for back sleepers
Some academic research has been carried out into the topic of sleeping positions, notably a study in 2020 in China by Zhang and Hou. It was called ‘The Influence of Mattress Material on Sleeping Comfort of Different Age’.
Amongst the findings was some suggestion of which type of mattress materials are best for people who sleep on their back. Back sleeping is referred to as the supine position in academic papers.
Their research concluded that ‘young and middle-aged subjects’ who slept on their side had ‘high evaluation’ of memory foam and latex mattresses. Meanwhile, ‘young-elder’ back sleepers had ‘higher evaluation on memory foam, and coir mattress’. In case you’re wondering, coir comes from coconuts and is sometimes used as a mattress filling.
Conversely, the ‘elder subjects’ who slept on their back ‘preferred coir and cotton mattress’.
Perhaps surprisingly, Zhang and Hou concluded that ‘The subjects lay on back preferred softer material than subjects lay on side’. This is contrary to the usual advice that side sleepers prefer softer mattresses because of the increased pressure on their shoulders and hips.
Our top five
Here’s our pick of five mattresses worth considering if you sleep on your back. Prices and review scores are correct at the time of writing in 2024 and are based on a double mattress.
1. Emma NextGen Premium Plus Mattress – £475 – good for lighter weight people who sleep on their back
Emma launched into the mattress world with the predictably named Emma Mattress.
They’ve since revamped the range, which includes the medium firmness Emma NextGen Premium Plus Mattress.
All of the mattresses in the Emma range are the bed in a box sort that come squashed into a roll and then expand to full size with a lot of hissing.
Emma mattresses also offer a 10-year warranty and 200-night home trial. That means you can return it and get a refund if you find it isn’t right for you.
Earlier Emma mattresses were made entirely from layers of foam, but they’ve now switched to making ‘hybrid’ mattresses. This means they have a layer of springs on the bottom and then layers of foam on top.
In the case of the Emma NextGen Premium Plus Mattress, you get three layers of foam, including a memory foam layer. The idea is that they work together to achieve different things and keep you comfortable whilst you sleep on your back.
TrustPilot scores average 3/5 for the Emma brand. They make other mattresses and other products so it’s a combined score.
2. Ergoflex 5G Mattress – £483 – good for average weight people who sleep on their back
The Ergoflex 5G is a medium/firm mattress which comes with outstanding reviews and the option to send it back if you don’t like it. It comes with a 10-year guarantee and has won a best buy award from expert testers.
It’s one of the highest rated mattress brands we can find on TrustPilot with an average score of 4.7/5.
You don’t get the mammoth 200-day trial period that you get with Emma’s mattresses (see above), but you do get 30 days. That should be plenty of time to try it out. It’s certainly better than lying on a mattress for 10 seconds in a showroom. On the other hand, a showroom allows helpful comparison between models.
Unlike Emma’s more recent mattresses, the Ergoflex 5G doesn’t use any springs. Instead, it uses layers of different foams throughout – including memory foam. Most of us still go for the more familiar feel of a pocket spring mattress rather than memory foam. However, a lot of people find that a memory foam mattress ‘provides more support‘ according to the John Lewis & Partners buying guide. There’s some evidence that memory foam doesn’t gather dust in the same way as natural fibres.
As mentioned earlier, research by Zhang and Hou in China found that memory foam was a popular material amongst back sleepers who were ‘young and middle aged’ or ‘young elder’. However, it was less popular amongst ‘elder subjects’. You can read the summary of their research here.
3. John Lewis British Natural Collection Hemp 2750 Mattress – £749 – good for slightly above average build/weight people who sleep on their back
If you can afford them, take a look at the John Lewis Natural Collection of mattresses. They’re made by a company called Harrison Spinks, which is a posh mattress maker based in Yorkshire.
The company has won awards such as ‘Bed Manufacturer of the Year’ at the National Bed Federation Awards in 2018 and 2022. The type of springs used in this one won a prize at the same Awards in 2019. The company is also one of the few mattress brands with a Manufacturing Guild Mark. That’s a sign of good quality.
We’ve picked out this firm mattress which is a lower-priced option in the range. A double mattress ranges from about £750 – £1600 (and there’s also an even posher range called the John Lewis Ultimate Natural Mattress Collection that has £10,000+ mattresses).
John Lewis & Partners say that their Natural Collection firm mattresses are about right for someone who is more than 16 stone. They are one of the few companies which actually offer such clear guidance on the recommended weight for their mattresses.
Why are some John Lewis mattresses four times the price of others?
In all there are 6 firm mattresses in the John Lewis & Partners Natural Collection. So what’s the difference between a £750 mattress and a £1600 mattress?
Cheaper mattresses within a range tend to be thinner, as they don’t use as many materials. Also, some cheaper mattresses (such as this 2750 model) can’t be turned over, which means they might develop sags and dips quicker.
There are other boring technical things such as whether it has ‘hand side stitching’ which gives it more strength when you sit on the edge.
Mattresses with a higher spring count usually cost more. However, be aware that mattresses with thousands of springs are actually ones with several layers of small springs.
This John Lewis & Partners Natural Collection Fleece Wool 2750 has a good specification for the brand and price but it doesn’t have hand side stitching or the option to turn it over. If you want those luxuries, go for the more expensive John Lewis Ultimate Natural Mattress Collection.
The John Lewis British Natural Collection Hemp 2750 Mattress comes with a 7-year guarantee. Overall, Harrison Spinks scores 4/5 on TrustPilot.
What about the trial period?
Trial periods used to be very rare with pocket sprung mattresses like this one. That all changed when trendy brands like Emma, Nectar and Simba came along and said you could send it back for a full refund. Big brands like John Lewis decided they needed to compete with these new brands.
You do get a trial period with this John Lewis mattress, but it’s not quite as generous as some. You only two 60 days rather than 100, 200 or 365 nights that some brands offer.
You also need to buy and use a mattress protector during the trial period. If you don’t like a mattress, you’ll pay to return it (currently £30) and then you’ll be given the chance to exchange it. The good news is that you the difference back if you swap for a cheaper one. Some trial periods don’t offer this.
Read more about the John Lewis Comfort Trial.
4. Sleepeezee Ultrafirm 1600 Pocket Spring Mattress – £849 – good for heavier people who sleep on their back
Do you prefer the feel of a ‘traditional’ mattress with pocket springs rather than a foam or memory foam mattress? If so, I’d consider something like this ‘extra firm’ Sleepeezee Ultrafirm 1600.
However, I’d only go for a very firm mattress like this if you are a heavier than average person who sleeps on their back.
Is a firm mattress the best mattress for back sleepers?
There’s an old myth that a firm mattress is good for your back. However, actual experts like the Sleep Council say that it isn’t that simple. What you need is a mattress which is supportive enough to give your spine the ‘correct alignment’.
If you’re too light, you’ll just lie on the top and won’t sink in at all. Some firms use the phrase ‘orthopedic’ but that usually just means it’s a very firm mattress. It is no guarantee that it is good for your back.
Why this Sleepeezee mattress is worth your money
We’ve picked out a mattress from the Sleepeezee range for a number of reasons.
The company has been going for many years and even has a Royal Warrant, which isn’t given out lightly. If you’re a republican, you might be more impressed with the TrustPilot reviews. They are a very commendable 4.2/5.
Alongside all that, you get a 60-night sleep trial. That means you can ‘exchange your mattress for a different Sleepeezee model if you’re not 100% happy’.
With all those credentials, you might assume Sleepeezee are expensive, but they aren’t really. I’d put them as mid-priced.
The Sleepeezee Ultrafirm 1600 scores 4.6/5 from 170+ customers. It comes with a 5-year guarantee, which is a bit shorter than some. Most modern foam mattresses come with a 10-year guarantee (OTTY, Eve Sleep and Simba Sleep etc), whilst posh brand Vispring offer 30 years and Nectar Sleep offers a ‘Forever’ guarantee. Obviously, you should have a read of the small print with a guarantee as there’s variation in what is covered.
Sleepeezee has a Royal Warrant, but their mattresses aren’t as expensive as you might think
5. Silentnight Pocket 1400 Eco Comfort Ortho Mattress – £343 – good for heavier people who sleep on their back
This firm Silentnight mattress is an excellent option at the cheaper end of the market. Consider this one if you are trying to find something for your spare bedroom but don’t want to spend too much money on relatives you don’t like very much.
You’re getting a solidly made mattress from the UK’s biggest brand for half the price of some mattresses in this guide.
How is it made? Why is it cheap?
In some ways this mattress is just as good mattresses that cost twice as much. Silentnight is a good, solid mid-market brand but it doesn’t have quite the bragging power of a John Lewis delivery van turning up outside your house.
The Silentnight Pocket 1400 Eco Comfort Ortho Mattress uses pocket springs. Some cheap mattresses use open coil springs, which are significantly inferior and should be avoided like cheap ketchup (Ed: I actually quite like cheap ketchup…).
As you’ll have guessed, there are 1400 springs. That’s a very respectable number, although it’s worth noting that the number refers to the number on a king size mattress. Doubles and singles contain less.
Silentnight refer to their version of pocket springs as Mirapocket. It is essentially the same thing with a fancy name, but the design has been tweaked a bit so that some areas are firmer than others to reflect the fact that your body has lumps and bumps. I am not sure that I have the exact same body shape as an Olympian or a ballerina, but it’s a good principal nonetheless.
One way that the Silentnight Pocket 1400 Eco Comfort Ortho Mattress could be better is that it is single sided. That’s relatively common in mattresses but I prefer a turnable mattress. Some mattresses are single sided because it is a necessity of a complex design with multiple layers with pretentious names. Other mattresses have a simple design but are single sided because it is cheaper to manufacture. I suspect that it is the latter with this mattress.
The layer on top of the springs is ‘sustainable fibres’. As far as I can tell, this is a manmade material that is quite similar to the stuffing in a hollowfibre duvet. That is a perfectly decent material for a mattress but posher and more expensive mattresses tend to use natural materials such as wool and latex (see the John Lewis Ultimate Natural Mattress Collection mentioned earlier).
What about the warranty and trial?
The warranty on this mattress is also a little underwhelming. It is listed as five years but further digging suggests that the warranty gradually tapers off so you would only get a free replacement in the first year. That compares poorly with the many bed-in-a-box mattresses that offer warranties of 10 years, 15 years or even ‘forever’ in the case of the Nectar Sleep mattress. Admittedly, all of these have terms and conditions but they are not usually as limited as this Silentnight mattress.
The trial period is similarly less generous than some rivals. The retailer that we found selling this model (MattressMan) offers 60 nights and requires that you buy a mattress protector from them. You also don’t get to keep the difference if you swap it for a cheaper model. On the plus side, they will pay for return postage.
All the same, any trial period is better than none so it should be seen as a positive.
