Best Mattress for Stomach Sleepers: Reviews and Buyer’s Guide

If breaking the stomach sleeping habit proves impossible, you can mitigate aches and pains by sleeping on Amerisleep’s AS2. We like Amerisleep because they design five memory foam mattresses and three hybrid beds all tailored to different sleep needs, so almost anybody can surely find a comfortable mattress from their lineup—including stomach sleepers.

The AS2 is a medium-firm mattress and originally designed for sleepers with back pain. Amerisleep’s AS2 is so pain-relieving, in fact, it’s been named by Business Insider as the best mattress for back pain.

Let’s talk about how this mattress is designed and why it’s ideal for people who must sleep on their stomachs. To start, the top layer of this bed is 2 inches of Amerisleep’s Bio-Pur® foam. Bio-Pur® is a plant-based memory foam that is more responsive and breathable than traditional memory foam.

Stomach sleepers are less likely to “sink” into Bio-Pur®, due to it’s increased responsiveness. Because this layer is only 2 inches thick, it provides just enough contouring stomach sleepers need to reduce tension.

Below the layer of Bio-Pur® is Amerisleep’s HIVE® technology, a zoned support layer. HIVE® includes five distinct comfort and support zones strategically placed to maintain a healthy spine while you sleep. In your feet, torso, and neck, the zones are firmer to offer more support and prevent sinking.

In your shoulders and hips, this foam is softer, easing pressure points. This technology is essential in helping you get healthy sleep because it helps maintain natural sleep positions, which reduces your chances of waking up in the morning plagued with aches and pains.

The last layer of this bed is Bio-Core® foam, a sturdy poly-foam in place to support the sleeper resting on the surface of the bed. This is important for stomach sleepers because it helps prevent the above layers from sinking too far in the mattress, which can create an arch in your spine.

Amerisleep also offers the AS1 mattress for stomach sleepers who desire an extra-firm mattress, although its hard surface may not be for everyone. We generally recommend the AS2 over the AS1 because the AS2’s feel suits more sleeping styles.

We are fans of the Amerisleep brand because they sell their top-rated mattresses at competitive prices. Plus, that price comes with free shipping and a 20-year warranty.

Amerisleep also offers a risk-free 100-night sleep trial, so you can buy the bed online and try it in your home. If you decide against it, Amerisleep will pick it up for free and issue you a full refund, which makes shopping with them virtually risk-free. If it’s time to upgrade your mattress, we encourage you to consider the Amerisleep brand.

We like the Avocado Green mattress not only because it’s one of the top-rated hybrids on the market, but because it’s also an eco-friendly mattress. The Avocado mattress features 100% natural Dunlop latex, 100% GOTS Organic certified wool & cotton, and a pocketed coil system made with recycled steel.

The design of this eco-friendly mattress is relatively simple; the top layer is 2 inches of latex, followed by an 8-inch pocketed coil layer.

Latex mattresses differ from memory foam in how it responds to weight. While a memory foam mattress cradles your body, latex offers a more lifting feeling, which helps maintain proper spinal alignment.

The pocketed coil system in this bed also provides zoned support this layer offers targeted spinal support and pressure relief for your joints. Additionally, because these coils are pocketed, they help limit motion transfer, too.

Shoppers can also consider the Vegan mattress from Avocado if they want an organic mattress without any wool. Like the Green mattress, the Vegan mattress relies on a coil layer for support.

An Avocado Green mattress comes with free shipping, a 365-night sleep trial, and a 25-year warranty. Like Amerisleep, Avocado also frequently runs promotions on their mattresses; sometimes these promotions include free accessory items such as pillows.

To get the best deal, keep tabs on their website and wait for a sale to purchase.

The Layla Hybrid is a flippable mattress with a soft and firm side. When it comes to stomach sleeping, we recommend the firm side to limit sinkage and spinal misalignment. The soft side is better suited for side sleepers, making it a good choice for people who want to experiment with sleep styles.

There are five layers wrapped inside a breathable fabric cover that possesses a zipper for easy removability. We will look at each layer, from the firm side down.

The top layer is an inch of copper-gel memory foam. The memory foam layer is just thick enough to relieve pressure across the body without promoting a too-soft feel. The copper infusion wicks heat away from the sleeper, limiting heat build-up and sleep disturbances. Another benefit to the copper infusion is it naturally repels harmful microbes that can make a sleeper sick.

The second layer is 2 inches of Max Airflow Support foam. The foam is divided into different support zones through Surface Modification Technology. The channels along the foam’s surface increase airflow throughout the mattress.

The mattress’s support core is 6 inches layer of pocketed coils, with individual wrappings to control motion transfer.

The soft side consists of 2 inches of Max Airflow Support foam and a 2.5-inch top layer of copper-gel memory foam.

The Layla Hybrid comes with a 120-night home trial and a 10-year limited warranty.

Many stomach sleepers want a firm, bouncy mattress that feels luxurious and minimizes sinkage. If you’re looking for a such a mattress, you might want to consider the Helix Dawn LUXE, an upgraded version of the original Helix Dawn.

Helix offers six mattresses in firm, medium, and soft feels, with each of the three firmnesses tailored to back/stomach sleepers or side sleepers. The Helix Dawn is the firm option made to support back and stomach sleepers. The Helix Twilight model is the equivalent firm model for side sleepers, for anyone curious.

The mattress cover is a quilted pillow top with Tencel™, a cool fabric that promotes heat dispersion. Under the mattress cover is gel visco foam, a high-density material that establishes a firm feel. The second layer is Helix Dynamic Foam, a material that contours to your body for full support.

The transition layer is poly-foam for ergonomic support, helping the mattress take on your body weight. The main support comes from pocketed coils and a DuraDense foam base. The coils are arranged to provide a softer feel under the shoulders and firmer under the hips.

What separates the LUXE model from the basic Dawn model is the zoned support, the pillow top, and the Tencel™ fabric.

The Helix Dawn LUXE includes a 100-night sleep trial and a 15-year warranty.

Many stomach sleepers question how firm a mattress they need to sleep well. If you’re unsure how firm a bed you need, the Plank Mattress from Brooklyn Bedding is an excellent way to experiment. One side feels firm while another side feels extra-firm.

The Plank Mattress has four layers. From the firm side down, the first layer is a 1.5-inch quilted layer that ensures a minimal loft for an unyielding feel. The flat, firm surface promotes a neutral spine alignment.

The next layer is 2 inches of TitanFlex™ comfort foam, a transition layer to increase the mattress’s compression and contouring. This foam ensures responsive pressure relief while still delivering a firm feel.

The third layer is the main support core, 7 inches of high-density base foam. The final layer is 0.75 inches of a quilted top, establishing the reverse side’s extra-firm feel.

Shoppers can add on a cooling panel top on each side of the mattress. This top includes premium phase change molecule fabric to promote a cool-to-the-touch surface throughout the night.

The Plank Mattress comes with a 120-night risk-free trial and a 10-year warranty.

How to Find the Right Mattress for Stomach Sleeping

Though stomach sleeping alone is unhealthy for your spine, your mattress can actually contribute to the aches and pains that stomach sleeping may cause. Before buying a new mattress, there are a few critical things stomach sleepers need to consider to find the right mattress for their specific sleep needs, including the materials inside of the mattress, the bed’s firmness, its spine support features, and their own body type.

Body Type

The trick to choosing the best mattress for stomach sleepers is finding the right balance of comfort and support. Stomach sleepers need a bed that will be supportive enough to hold their spine in a neutral position, but it also needs to be soft enough to reduce pressure on the rib cage and chest.

The “best” or most comfortable mattress is going to be different for each person, as body weight is the biggest factor in the perception of firmness. For example, a heavier sleeper is going to need a firmer mattress to attain the right balance of comfort and support.

On the other hand, people that weigh anywhere between 130 to 230 pounds can likely achieve that balance on a soft mattress.

Ideal Firmness

For the most part, an ideal firmness for a mattress for stomach sleepers is between 6-8 on a scale to 10, with 10 being the firmest. Meaning, medium-firm mattresses are likely your safest bet.

Mattress Types

Generally, the best type of mattress for stomach sleepers is memory foam because of its unmatched ability to relieve pressure. As we’ve mentioned a few times, pressure relief is critical for stomach sleepers to reduce the strain on their spine. Besides memory foam, latex, hybrid, and innerspring mattresses are excellent for fostering a healthy spine, especially innerspring mattresses with a coil-on-coil design.

Spine Support

Maintaining a neutral spine alignment is a crucial consideration for stomach sleepers. There are two main reasons why stomach sleeper tend to misalign their spines—their abdomens dip too far into the mattress, dragging their spines out of alignment, or the angle they need to hold their head at to breath shifts their neck’s spine out of alignment.

Many mattresses do include features to decrease spine misalignment. Some include targeted support for the back, hips, shoulders, and head/neck areas. Other mattresses contain responsive transition foams and buoyant coils to minimize sinkage.

Mattress Types for Stomach Sleepers

When browsing mattresses, stomach sleepers are likely to choose a mattress that falls into one of the four main mattress types—memory foam, latex foam, innerspring, and hybrid mattresses. Each of these types comes in a variety of firmnesses, including the harder feels that a stomach sleeper needs.

Memory Foam

Memory foam is one of the best mattress types for stomach sleepers because of the way the material strikes a balance between comfort, support, and affordability. The typical firm memory foam mattress relieves pressure across the body while keeping the sleeper from bowing too far into the mattress. Helpful, since a sleeper can misalign their spine if they sink too far into bed.

Memory foam mattresses usually cost around $1000 for a quality queen bed, and a few hidden gems cost even less. They’re well-suited for stomach sleepers shopping for comfort on a budget.

Latex

Latex contours to the sleeper much like memory foam does. When sleepers compare the two materials, many find that latex feels slightly firmer and springier than traditional memory foam. Some hot sleepers also discover that latex foam stays cooler throughout the night.

Stomach sleepers interested in all-natural products might want to try an organic latex mattress, which usually includes similar materials such as wool, cotton, and recycled steel coils. However, a natural latex mattress typically has a high price tag due to its production costs.

Innerspring

The traditional innerspring mattress has a minimal design. The bed’s support comes from a thick layer of coils, sandwiched between thin layers of foam and fabric for comfy cushion. Although, many modern innerspring mattresses include two coil layers. There’s a traditional base layer of thick, tall coils, and a layer on top with microcoils for a more conforming feel.

Because the comfort layers are so thin, innerspring mattresses tend to have a firmer feel suitable for stomach sleeping. Innerspring mattresses are also an inexpensive choice, although many sleepers find that the beds lose their support sooner than expected as the coils wear out. The average innerspring mattress lasts about 5 to 6 years.

Hybrid

Hybrid mattresses blend elements of a traditional innerspring mattress with the newer foam bed. The base layer is a layer of pocketed coils for excellent motion isolation and responsiveness. The top layer is at least 2 to 3 inches of foam.

Many hybrid mattresses contain a third transition layer for added support, responsiveness, and airflow. Some firmer hybrids forgo this layer for a more buoyant feel, however.

Hybrids have a longer life expectancy than traditional innerspring mattresses and offer more pressure-relieving cushion. When it comes to foam beds and hybrids, the hybrid usually has the advantage when it comes to staying cool, thanks to its airy coil support.

Best Bed Accessories for Stomach Sleepers

The right mattress shouldn’t be a stomach sleeper’s only consideration. Bed accessories such as pillows and mattress toppers should also be considered for a good night’s rest.

Pillows

Stomach sleepers usually find a low-loft pillow pairs best with their sleeping style. Thin pillows ensure the neck isn’t lifted out of its neutral alignment. Some stomach sleepers even find it comfortable to skip the head pillow entirely.

A secondary pillow under the abdomen can also increase a stomach sleeper’s comfort. Placing a pillow here limits the sinkage that can cause a stomach sleeper to wake up with back pain.

Mattress Toppers

Is your mattress no longer providing the comfort it did when brand new? Are you living on a restricted budget and aren’t ready to replace your mattress? A mattress topper can help you revive a declining mattress and make it feel supportive and comfortable again.

A stomach sleeper will likely want to look for a firm mattress topper under 3 inches thick. Firm toppers ensure a person’s torso won’t sink too far into their sleeping surface.

Now that we’ve touched on the best beds and accessories for stomach sleepers, let’s talk about why you shouldn’t be sleeping face down in the first place.

Why Is Stomach Sleeping Bad for You?

If you sleep on your stomach, chances are it’s because you find it the most comfortable way to snooze. Now, we don’t want to be the bearers of bad news; however, stomach sleeping can lead to a myriad of problems later on down the road.

In fact, chiropractor Dr. John Schubbe stated in a peer-reviewed article, “Sleeping on the stomach is the most stressful position for the back and neck. Patients may be advised by their doctors to avoid sleeping on the stomach if they have certain spine conditions, or following spine surgery.”

The Risks of Stomach Sleeping

If you’ve been sleeping comfortably on your stomach for years, it may have never occurred to you that your sleeping position can lead to issues later on down the line. Chronic lower back pain, as we talked about, is one of the biggest ailments those who sleep on their stomachs face, but that’s not the only risk at hand.

Sleeping on your stomach can result in poor posture, decreased muscle tone, weight gain, and daytime fatigue as the years go on. If your pain becomes severe enough, it can lead to repeated doctors visits and chiropractic appointments, which can add up, and subtract from your quality of life.

To avoid the risks that come with stomach sleeping, make an active effort to change up your sleep style and buy the most compatible mattress for your sleep needs.

The most significant concern with stomach sleeping is the stress it puts on your spine. When you lay on your stomach, your center of gravity shifts to your torso, which can cause your stomach to sink downwards. When your midsection sinks into the mattress, it creates an unhealthy arch in your spine. Sleeping with an arch in your back puts unnecessary pressure on your spinal column and back muscles, and over time, this can lead to chronic lower back pain.

Other symptoms of a strained spine include numbness and stiffness in your back muscles, as well as pressure points in your joints. Considering how many people suffer from frequent back pain, it’s best to avoid putting any extra stress on your spine.

Sleeping on your stomach can also result in disturbed sleep, even if you’re not conscious of it. When your body is sleeping in an unnatural or uncomfortable position, you’re likely to toss and turn— frequently shifting positions due to discomfort can prevent you from entering deep sleep cycles, or spending enough time in them, causing you not to get enough sleep.

How to Stop Sleeping on Your Stomach

To get the best, most restorative sleep, the Editors at Sleep Junkie recommend trying to break the habit and stop stomach sleeping. Though easier said than done, there are things you can do to transition to back or side sleeping.

For starters, we recommend sleeping with a body pillow on either side of you to help you transition to side sleeping. Alternatively, you can try the tennis ball trick, which includes taping a tennis ball to your stomach. Having a tennis ball attached to your stomach can prevent you from rolling over into the supine position and help reinforce other sleep positions.

If neither one of these options seems viable, we recommend investing in an adjustable bed.

Adjustable Beds Can Help You Sleep in a Healthier Position

Adjustable beds are helpful to use when trying to switch up your sleep style. These allow you to customize your head and foot articulation to find the most comfortable position for sleep.

A big perk to using an adjustable base is that it allows you to sleep in the zero-gravity position, which has been regarded as one of the best ways to sleep. In this position, your feet are raised slightly above your head; this angle boosts your overall quality of sleep by allowing your body to relax, improving circulation, and relieving lower back pain.

Frequently Asked Questions

What mattress type is best for stomach sleepers?

Stomach sleepers often benefit from sleeping on a firm spring or foam mattress; the style is usually considered unhealthy because it puts excess stress on your lower back. A firmer mattress can better support your torso to prevent this discomfort. However, it’s best to just switch to another sleeping position to avoid long-term pain.

What mattress is best for stomach and side sleepers?

People who switch between stomach and side sleeping often benefit from a mattress with targeted support. A bed with added lumbar support can limit the misalignment caused by stomach sleeping, while added cushion in the hips and shoulder area can decrease the pressure points caused by side sleeping.  Spring mattresses can feel more responsive than foam beds,  making it easier for a person to change position.

What mattress is best for stomach sleepers with back pain?

Firm mattresses for stomach sleeping keep the hips and abdomen from sinking too far into the bed, which can cause back pain. Many firm spring mattresses feature responsive coils that buoy a sleeper’s torso, while foam mattresses may have stiff transition and support layers to keep a person’s spine from bowing too far into the bed. Still, back pain is a known risk of stomach sleeping; often, the best way to prevent it is by switching positions.

What mattress is best for stomach and back sleepers?

Medium-firm to firm mattresses usually provide the spine support needed by stomach and back sleepers. Hybrid and traditional innerspring mattresses also keep a person on top of the mattress’s surface, ensuring sleepers can switch positions without sinking too far into their bed. We also recommend beds with targeted back support to maintain a healthy spine alignment.

How can I stop stomach sleeping?

Side sleeping with a body pillow or taping tennis balls to the front of your shirt are two ways to trick your body into sleeping on your side. Body pillows are useful because they promote better alignment while side sleeping, so side sleeping is comfier. Plus, they prevent you from rolling on your belly. The sole purpose of taping tennis balls to your shirt is to prevent you from rolling on your stomach, as well. You can’t get comfortable sleep on your stomach if you have a tennis ball in the way.

What is the healthiest sleeping position?

The healthiest sleeping positions are side and back sleeping. Side sleeping is better for people who snore as well as those with sleep apnea because it keeps your airways open, whereas back sleeping is usually better for people with aches and pains because it allows the spine in rest in a neutral position. Choosing between stomach and back sleeping comes down to considering your specific sleeping habits and needs.

Why does my back hurt after waking up?

If your back hurts upon waking, it’s probably due to your sleeping position. If your spine falls out of alignment or is arched throughout the night, you’ll wake up with aches, stiffness, and soreness. Try side sleeping with a body pillow to remain in alignment all night. Over time, you should begin to wake up feeling pain-free.

Did You Find Your Next Bed?

If you’ve long identified as a stomach sleeper, it may be time to start making efforts towards changing your sleep style to prevent health issues later on down the road. Though stomach sleeping may be comfortable, or your preferred way to sleep, it comes with its risks.

If you must sleep on your stomach, take the proper measures to help reduce your chances of pain over the long-term, which includes buying the best mattress to nurture a healthy spine and ease pressure points. We hope this guide has helped break down the cons of stomach sleeping and pointed you in the direction of a better mattress to improve your night’s sleep.