Firm vs. Medium Mattress

You can probably guess there’s a big difference between medium and firm mattresses. But do you know why? Or how do these differences impact feel? Most sleepers don’t understand their firmness needs when they go to buy a new mattress. Thankfully, we’re here to help you out.

Below, we’ll go through the differences in feel between medium and firm mattresses. We’ll also talk about which mattress feel is right for you depending on your preferences, body type, and sleeping position.

Firm Mattresses

Firm mattresses are close to the top of the firmness scale (7 of 10). This means the ratio of support to pressure relief is heavily skewed in favor of support. Many people find this feel uncomfortable, which is why most sleepers prefer medium-firm over true firm mattresses. However, there are a few different categories of sleepers for whom a firm bed is best.

Feel

Firm mattresses don’t necessarily feel hard. Depending on the material they’re made of, they may actually contour quite well. This means firm mattresses can still offer some pressure relief, though it will be less than mattresses that fall lower on the firmness scale.

Temperature Regulation

Firm mattresses really shine in this particular area, often doubling as an excellent cooling mattress. Since they don’t hug your body very much, firm beds allow for maximum airflow to wick away moisture and body heat. This means hot sleepers who need a firmer bed have one more reason to like them!

Pressure Relief

Firm mattresses don’t offer tons of pressure relief. They do have comfort layers. And that means they’ll have a little bit of cushioning. It just won’t be much. The thinner comfort layers are a much smaller percentage of the mattress than the thick support layers. However, a firm mattress with a sufficient transition layer might offer the right balance of cushioning to fit your needs.

Lift and Support

The thing firm mattresses really offer is lift. Some sleepers, like stomach sleepers and plus-size sleepers, need lots of lift. This is where firm mattresses come in. Firm beds can keep you lifted onto the sleeping surface and fight all kinds of sinkage.

This is a real help to people who need extra support to keep their spines aligned. However, it does come at the cost of pressure relief.

Ideal Sleepers

Firm mattresses are made for people who don’t need a lot of pressure relief but do need tons of support. They include heavier sleepers and stomach sleepers.

Plus-Size Sleepers

Sleepers who weigh over 230 pounds are considered plus-size. If you fall into this category, you may find you sink too deep into a softer mattress. Firm mattresses fix this problem. They offer plenty of support to keep you on top of the sleeping surface instead of allowing you to sink into it. This means your spine will remain safely aligned.

Just about every heavier stomach and back sleeper needs a firm mattress. Heavier stomach sleepers might need to go up to extra-firm. The only exception for you is if you’re a heavier side sleeper. You might need to go down to a medium-firm or even a medium mattress if you weigh over 230 pounds but sleep on your side.

Stomach Sleepers

Stomach sleepers tend to experience lower back pain because of sinkage. Your pelvis tends to sink down when you sleep on your stomach. This overarches your spine and puts pressure on your lumbar area. This pressure translates to low back pain.

Firm mattresses help counter this problem by keeping your pelvis lifted. This helps to keep your spine in proper alignment and relieve back pain. As an added bonus, most stomach sleepers don’t need a ton of pressure relief. So you may not notice much difference if you upgrade to a firm mattress.

Those looking for a mattress on the firmer side should consider the Amerisleep AS2 because this mattress doesn’t sacrifice contouring for support. That means everyone from stomach sleepers to heavier sleepers to sleepers with a bad back can get the support they need and the pressure point relief they want.

The comfort layer of the AS2 is made of plant-based Bio-Pur® memory foam. This foam is more contouring and more responsive than traditional memory foam. It also has the added benefit of keeping you cooler.

The Bio-Pur® material works with the transition layer to adapt to your shape while keeping you lifted. The middle layer of Affinity foam relies on HIVE® technology to offer specialized support and comfort for the lighter and heavier parts of your body. This keeps your spine aligned no matter what you weigh or what position you adopt in slumber.

The base layer of the AS2 is Bio-Core® and it offers durable, sag-free support for many years. You’re unlikely to feel a soft spot developing with Bio-Core® supporting your body.

SEE ALSO: Amerisleep Mattress Review

Medium Mattresses

Medium mattresses are a 5 on the firmness scale. So they can feel comparatively soft when stacked up against firm mattresses. However, these mattresses aren’t actually all that soft. Rather, they feature an equal balance of pressure relief and spinal support. This makes them not too hard, not too soft, but just right for many different types of sleepers.

Sleepers interested in a softer bed may want to read our soft vs. medium mattress guide to better compare the two.

Feel

Medium mattresses compress well but still offer enough pushback to keep you lifted onto the sleeping surface. This is why medium mattresses are among the most popular firmness levels. Most sleepers need a mix of support and pressure relief, and medium mattresses are versatile enough to fit the needs of many sleepers.

Temperature Regulation

Medium mattresses are not as good at keeping you cool as firm mattresses, but they’re better at it than soft mattresses. This is because they tend to hug your body more, which doesn’t let as much air circulate around your body. You might consider a mattress made of cooling materials like gel memory foam or latex to counter this. These materials can help offset the extra contouring of medium mattresses.

SEE ALSO: Best Latex Mattresses

Pressure Relief

Medium mattresses offer enough pressure relief for most sleepers. Some petite sleepers and side sleepers might experience pressure point pain from a medium mattress, but most people find this feel has more than enough cushioning.

Lift and Support

Medium mattresses don’t sacrifice support for all their cradling comfort. These mattresses still offer enough lift that many sleepers find they still get the spinal alignment they need to sleep comfortably and avoid back pain. Some heavier sleepers and most stomach sleepers will find a medium mattress too soft, but most people will not.

Ideal Sleepers

Medium mattresses are incredibly versatile. That means they can accommodate a whole range of different sleep styles and body types.

Average-Weight Sleepers

People who weigh between 130 and 230 pounds will often need either medium or medium-firm mattresses.

Combination Sleepers

Combination sleepers like to shift between positions, sometimes multiple times throughout the night. That means they need a versatile mattress that can accommodate every position for some of the time. Medium mattresses fit that bill for most people.

Couples

Because they’re so versatile, medium mattresses often offer the best compromise for couples who might have slightly divergent firmness needs.

Some Back Sleepers

Most of the time, back sleepers need medium-firm mattresses. However, back sleepers who weigh less than 130 pounds may find that they don’t get enough compression out of a medium-firm bed. So petite back sleepers might want to go down to a medium.

Some Side Sleepers

In contrast, heavier side sleepers might need a medium mattress to get enough lift to avoid sinking into the bed. This can be especially true for those who weigh well over 230 pounds.

Though this mattress was designed by and for athletes, the Zoma Mattress a great choice for anyone looking for an amazing night’s rest. The TriangulexTM gel memory foam provides targeted pressure relief to different body areas. This makes it able to provide versatile support to virtually all combination sleepers while still offering enough pressure relief for some side sleepers.

Below the gel foam comfort layer, the ReactivTM transition layer enhances responsiveness so even the most active sleepers won’t have to wait for the bed to regain its shape when they change positions.

The support core of this mattress is made of ultra-firm Support+ foam. This foam helps increase the Zoma’s durability and helps it fight sagging for a full decade. That’s not too shabby for a mattress under $1,000!

SEE ALSO: Zoma Mattress Review

The Firmness Scale

The firmness scale is a way for manufacturers to let consumers know how soft or hard a given mattress is. It runs from 1 to 10, with 1 being the softest. However, it’s unlikely you’ll ever find a 1 or a 10. There isn’t really a market for extremely hard or extremely soft mattresses. So the softest mattress you’re likely to run across is a 3, while the firmest is around an 8.

Soft

Soft mattresses are a 3 on the firmness scale. They are basically the opposite of firm mattresses because they have much more cushioning than support. Soft mattresses can feel like sleeping on a cloud for some people. But they can feel like sleeping in quicksand for others because they’re prone to sinkage.

SEE ALSO: Firm vs. Soft Mattresses

Medium-Soft

Medium-soft mattresses (4) still have more cushion than support, but they do up the support level over what you’d get with a soft mattress. Medium-soft mattresses are almost as cradling as soft mattresses but have fewer issues with sinkage. This makes them a good alternative for people who need a soft mattress but want something a little firmer.

Medium-Firm

Medium-firm mattresses (6) have a balance of cushion and support that slightly favors support. This makes them great choices for back sleepers and those with back pain because they offer lots of spine-aligning lift, but they can still follow the curves of your spine to keep you in alignment.

Extra-Firm

Extra-firm mattresses (8) can feel a little like sleeping on a table instead of a bed. They offer very little cushioning. So they typically only work for those who need the most lift (like heavier stomach sleepers).

Choosing a Firmness

Figuring out what firmness level you need doesn’t have to be a ridiculous hassle. All you have to keep in mind is your sleep position and your body type.

Sleeping Position

Your preferred sleep position is the primary factor that decides your firmness level needs. This means you’ll need to choose a firmness based on what position you adopt during sleep, and then you’ll go up or down from there, depending on your body weight.

Back Sleepers

Back sleepers need a healthy balance of cushion and lift to align their spines. They need a mattress for back sleeping that can keep their weight on top of the sleeping surface while still compressing under the buttocks and rising to meet the curve in the lumbar. This is why medium-firm mattresses are typically best for this sleep style.

Combo Sleepers

Like back sleepers, combo sleepers also need a balance of firmness and softness. Combo sleepers need a versatile feel that can accommodate them no matter what the sleep position of the night is. A mattress for combination sleeping has to be soft enough for side sleeping and firm enough for stomach or back sleeping. That’s why most combination sleepers should choose a medium mattress.

Side Sleepers

Side sleepers need the softest mattresses. When you sleep on your side, the parts of your body that contact the bed experience a lot of pressure from your body weight. This can cause your hips and shoulders to experience pressure-related pain unless. A proper mattress for side sleeping relieves this pressure.

That’s why side sleepers should choose softer feels. Lots of cushioning protects your pressure points.

Stomach Sleepers

Stomach sleepers need firmer mattresses because their pelvises tend to sink into the bed, causing lower back pain. A firm mattress for stomach sleeping can help keep the heavier portions of your body lifted and your spine in a neutral position if you sleep on your belly.

Body Weight

Another important consideration to think about when deciding the right mattress firmness is your body weight.

Average

Average sleepers weigh between 130 and 230 pounds. Generally speaking, they can stick to the firmness level that goes along with their sleep style and personal preferences without much regard to their body weight.

Petite

Petite sleepers are under 130 pounds. Those on the lighter end of the spectrum may need to look at softer mattresses than the ones that match their sleep styles. A bit more cushion can give petite sleepers the contouring they need.

Plus-Size

On the other hand, those who weigh 230 pounds or more may need to increase the firmness to keep them lifted. Firmer mattresses can fight sinkage and help you avoid feeling stuck in the mattress if you’re plus-size.

SEE ALSO: Best Mattresses for Heavy People

Mattress Sizes

FAQs

Is a firm mattress best for back pain?

If you suffer from back pain, you should consider a medium-firm mattress. This firmness level can keep you lifted while offering enough cushioning and contouring to keep your spine in proper alignment. This is why most back pain sufferers do best with this firmness level.

Which mattress firmness is best for couples?

Unless they both have the same body type and sleep position, most couples need a compromise. Typically, either medium or medium-firm mattresses offer the best mix of cradling and support to keep most couples comfortable.

Are memory foam mattresses firm?

Memory foam mattresses can be whatever firmness level you want because firmness has almost nothing to do with the material. All mattress types come in a range of firmnesses. Whether you get memory foam, latex, or a hybrid, you can choose the right firmness level to fit your needs.

Can stomach sleepers use softer mattresses?

This is typically not a great idea. Stomach sleepers need lots of lift to avoid lower back pain. If they don’t get it, they could be waking up sore and miserable every morning. Stomach sleepers who prefer softer mattresses should consider medium-firm beds rather than going for softer mattress feels.

What is the best firmness level for side sleepers?

Most side sleepers do best with either soft or medium-soft beds. If you’re a petite or average sleeper, a soft mattress is a good choice. Heavier side sleepers might consider going up to a medium-soft. If you’re well over 230 pounds, you might even think about a medium mattress to get sufficient support.

Bottom Line

There’s a big difference between medium and firm mattresses. Medium mattresses have a balance between cushion and support, while firm beds are almost all support. But as long as you go shopping for your new mattress, knowing your sleep style and body type, you’ll have the knowledge you need to choose the best mattress for you.