Our sleep experts have been testing mattresses, bedding and sleep technology for years, dedicating thousands of hours to honing our craft of honestly and thoroughly reviewing beds and sleep-related products. We’ve tested well over 300 beds from dozens of brands like Casper, Helix, Nectar, Purple, Leesa and many more.
Our bed testers have varying body weights and types, heights, genders and sleep preferences, allowing us to provide an overarching assessment of each mattress from multiple viewpoints. We take pride in our mattress testing methodology, which includes analyzing characteristics such as firmness, feel, temperature regulation, motion isolation, edge support and special features.
Firmness
One of the primary characteristics we look for when selecting the best mattresses for side sleepers is firmness, which implies the amount of pressure relief the bed offers. During our testing process, our experts of varying weights and body types take turns lying on the bed in each sleeping position to determine how well they’ll cradle our primary pressure points — mainly shoulders, hips and knees. When lying on your side, the mattress must offer some “give” around these areas. If a mattress is too firm, it can push back on these pressure points too much and cause soreness, pain and even numbness.
As I mentioned, firmness is subjective and varies from person to person — the driving force behind the creation of our Mattress Smasher 9000. With the mattress placed on the platform, we activate the device, which presses its arm into the middle of the bed. Our corresponding software then provides the objective firmness level on a scale of 1 to 10, with being the softest and 10 the firmest.
We never recommend a mattress with a high firmness score for side sleepers. The sweet spot for side sleepers is typically around medium-soft, give or take some, depending on your weight, body type and personal preferences.
Feel
The feel of a mattress is another important element we analyze and review. Influenced by the types of foams and coils used in its construction, the feel of a bed is exactly how it sounds — what does it feel like when you lie on it? Is it bouncy and responsive? Is it easy to switch positions? Or does the dense memory foam conform around your body and hold your shape for a while? Does the mattress have a soft, plush pillow top feel, or is it more neutral? Are the coils or zoned support noticeable? We do our best to describe precisely what it feels like to lie on each bed to help you determine if it’s right for you without having to test them all yourself.
When possible, we remove the mattress cover and cut open the fire sock to examine the layers inside.
In determining the best feel for side sleepers, we look for beds with a softer and more plush sensation that cradles your curves and offers plenty of pressure relief for your hips and shoulders.
Read more: Why The Foam in Your Mattress Matters
Temperature regulation
Each individual’s preferences, body type and even health conditions can influence how hot or cold a mattress feels. We’ve also found that mattress brands exaggerate the cooling capabilities of their beds. This is why we detail how hot or cool the mattress sleeps during our testing process so that you have a more accurate understanding of how it feels to lie on it. Does the mattress sincerely feel cool to the touch and give a satisfying chilling sensation for hot sleepers? Or will it sleep more temperature-natural? Do the materials retain body heat and keep you warmer?
Other external factors affect what the temperature of a bed feels like to you, such as bedroom environment, the bedding you use and the pajamas you sleep in. At our mattress facility, we test beds in temperature-controlled rooms without sheets or bedding to analyze their construction and materials and explain how they affect the overall temperature of the bed.
Motion isolation
Motion isolation is a simple term for how well the mattress deadens movement across its surface. A bed with good motion isolation is essential for light sleepers or those sharing the mattress with a partner or pets. We test a bed’s motion isolation capabilities by having one expert lie on the bed while another flops around and switches positions. Does the person lying feel the movement through the mattress, or is it subtle and less noticeable?
For the second method, we set a glass of water on the edges, rolling toward and away to see if the glass falls or the liquid sloshes over. Typically, beds with dense memory foam perform the best in this category. More responsive mattresses tend to have worse motion isolation.
Edge support
CNET’s Dillon Payne tests edge support by lying and pressing down on the edges.
Edge support refers to the strength of the bed’s perimeter, another important factor to keep in mind if you sleep with a partner or pets or tend to sleep on the edge. Testing the edge support involves analyzing how well the mattress holds its shape and structure when we sit and lie on the perimeter. Does it cave in and give the sensation we’ll roll off, or is it super sturdy and supportive?
We also push down on the edges with our fists to observe how much it compresses under pressure. Many mattress brands add reinforcements around the edges — whether coils or firmer foams — to enhance the edge support. Having solid edge supports helps to create a stable and consistent sleeping surface across the entirety of the mattress.
Special features
Mattress brands often offer beds with special features, such as covers with cooling technology for hot sleepers or zoned support specifically for people with back issues like sciatica. We always test and review these additional characteristics to determine if they live up to the brands’ claims and to let you know which sleeper type would benefit most.
Learn more: How We Test Mattresses