With comfort being subjective and based on a variety of factors including personal preferences, physical needs, mattress materials, and mattress type, it can be difficult to decide which mattress firmness is right for you. In this guide, we will help you understand the concept of firmness, the pros and cons of different mattress firmnesses, and who they might be best suited for.
The firmness of a mattress will depend on a variety of factors including the person sleeping on it, the materials used, and the type of mattress that it is. Check out MATRESS MATERIALS page to learn more about mattress materials and MATTRESS TYPES page to learn more about mattress types.
“Plushness” is used interchangeably with firmness and describes how much you sink into the mattress. In other words, “plush” will also mean “soft”. A mattress that is considered “plush” will be soft all the way through, however, you may also see “plush” used to describe specific parts of the mattress including the pillow top which means the top layer of the mattress is soft while there may be firmer materials below.
Although firmness and support are related, they are not the same thing. Support describes how well a mattress supports your spine while firmness describes how much you sink into a mattress. Support will differ depending on the materials and features of your mattress. For example, you can have a hybrid mattress that features pocket coils for high support with a soft pillow top for comfort. Similarly, you can have a foam mattress that features a high-density foam base for support with softer memory foam on top for comfort.
Extra Soft (1-2/10) → uncommon firmness, very plush mattress that cushions and cradles allowing you to “sink in” while laying down, offers the highest amount of cushion with very minimal support
Best For: lighter people, joint pain, arthritis, elderly people, side sleepers.
Soft (3-4/10) → plush mattress that cushions and cradles allowing you to “sink in” while laying down, offers a high amount of cushion with minimal support
Best For: lighter people, joint pain, arthritis, elderly people, side sleepers
Medium Firm (5-6/10) → most popular firmness, equally soft and supportive, offers a good amount of support with a good amount of cushion
Best For: people unsure of their preferences, people with no preference either way, guest rooms, couples who don’t agree on firmness, side/stomach/back sleepers
Firm (7-8/10) → hard mattress that supports your body while laying down, offers a higher amount of support with a small amount of cushion
Best For: heavier people, back pain, herniated discs, stomach/back sleepers
Extra Firm (9-10/10) → uncommon firmness, very hard mattress that feels similar to laying on a carpet floor, offers the highest amount of support with almost no cushion
Best For: heavier people, back pain, herniated discs, stomach/back sleepers
Firmness is directly related to comfort and because comfort is subjective, firmness is also highly variable. However, everyone has a threshold for comfort; anything within that threshold is considered comfortable whereas anything outside that threshold, whether too soft or too firm, will be considered uncomfortable. Because a mattress does nothing but get softer with time, we recommend purchasing your mattress at the top of your threshold (more firm than your ideal) so that at 5 years the mattress is still within that comfort threshold rather than purchasing a mattress that is perfect right from the first night as by year 5 this mattress will no longer be within that threshold and will end up causing you discomfort.
TIP: Check out MATTRESS FIRMNESS VIDEO (DOZY) or the visual graphic below for more insight on the comfort threshold. Moreover, in order to discover your comfort threshold, we always recommend trying a mattress in person.
NOTE: At Dozy, we show all our mattresses in-store for our customers to try for themselves.
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