Best Mattresses for a Lightweight Person

Finding the best mattress for petite sleepers isn’t always the easiest task. Lighter-weight sleepers have their own set of specific needs: 

• They have to think about pressure relief for their hips and shoulders
• They have to worry about getting enough compression to maintain proper spinal alignment
• They have to consider other factors such as whether they sleep hot

The good news is there are plenty of mattresses for a lightweight person on the market. Below, we’ve listed some of the best ones that could be the right mattress for you. All the mattresses on this list offer superior contouring and support for lightweight sleepers with different sleep styles and needs. 

Lighter-weight side sleepers or those with joint pain should consider this soft mattress from Amerisleep. Soft mattresses offer tons of pressure relief, and the AS5 is the king of soft mattresses. It boasts all the pressure relief and cushioning of a soft memory foam mattress and all the durability and lift of a firmer feel.

How Lying Down Feels

As the softest model in the Amerisleep mattress lineup, the AS5 deftly balances a plush surface with plenty of supportive features. In particular, the variable feel provided by the HIVE technology stand out for how it increases the mattress’s comfort. By creating more flexibility in the shoulders and hips, petite sleepers can have the heavier parts of their bodies cradled throughout the night.

Inside the Mattress

The Bio-Pur® foam comfort layer is perfect for lightweight sleepers with allergies because it can contour just like memory foam, but it’s more breathable. That means it creates a hostile environment for common allergens like dust mites, mold, and mildew.

The HIVE® transition foam increases the pressure relief even further by providing five zones of support to different body areas. That way, your head stays lifted, but your hips and shoulders still get plenty of compression.

Best of all, the Bio-Core® max airflow support foam means the AS5 might be a soft mattress, but it’s got a firm mattress’s lift and edge support. This memory foam mattress can fight sinkage while still providing tons of spinal support and protection for pressure points.

SEE ALSO: Softest Mattress in a Box

Petite sleepers who love their active lifestyles should check out the Zoma Mattress. This is one of the best mattresses for lightweight athletes because every layer is intended to give you a recuperative night’s sleep. It’s also a great mattress for lightweight sleepers shopping in a lower price range.

Inside the Mattress

The Zoma’s comfort layer is made of perforated gel-infused memory foam for extra breathability over that offered by traditional memory foam. The gel memory foam also conducts body heat away from your body to help you sleep even cooler.

The Zoma is also highly responsive, thanks to its Reactiv™ transition layer that helps the gel memory foam layer bounce back. The Support+ layer adds superior edge support and also makes the Zoma a fantastically durable mattress for this price range. It comes with a 100-night sleep trial and 10-year warranty, so you can rest assured it was built to last.

The Support+ layer also makes this among the best mattresses for lightweight stomach sleepers. The high-density foam will help keep their pelvises lifted onto the sleeping surface to prevent back pain.

SEE ALSO: Zoma Mattress Review

The Vaya Mattress is possibly the best foam mattress for lightweight shoppers who need a mattress at a low price point. Thanks to its two foam layers, the Vaya can keep costs low without sacrificing quality. So this affordable mattress is a great value.

How It Feels

Vaya engineered their mattress to feel conforming in any position, yielding to the body while snapping back into shape seconds after movement. A particularly beneficial feature for petite sleepers trying to stretch their dollar and find

The lightweight, airy structure of the top also keeps it feeling cool to the touch throughout the night, letting ai freely flow and carry off heat.

Inside the Mattress

The comfort layer of this mattress is made of highly-contouring open-cell memory foam that helps wick away body heat and moisture. The support layer of the Vaya works with the comfort layer to create a medium feel that offers total balance between support and pressure relief. 

The ultra-dense support layer also means this mattress will last just as long as any product in a much higher price range. It still offers a 100-night sleep trial and a decade-long warranty.  This makes the Vaya a wonderful mattress for lightweight sleepers on a budget.

SEE ALSO: Vaya Mattress Review

Another amazing mattress for lightweight hot sleepers, the medium-soft Nolah Evolution 15 mattress features tons of temperature-regulating technologies. There are two other firmnesses of the Evolution available, but we recommend the plush model for lightweight sleepers.

The Nolah Evolution 15 is backed by a 120-night sleep trial period and a lifetime warranty. Shoppers can remove this sleep trial period for further savings, but we caution only doing this if you’re 100 percent certain you will keep the mattress.

How Lying Down Feels

With three different firmnesses to choose from, how readily the Nolah Evolution conforms to your body will vary. While all three are designed to be luxurious, the firmer ones will feel less yielding than the soft option, which molds to a petite sleeper’s body.

What’s universal across all three models is its cool-to-the-touch feel, though this feature may still be more noticeable with the plush option that hugs the body. The Evolution is one of the popular models in the Nolah mattress line-up, thanks to its luxurious features and choice of firmness.

Inside the Mattress

The Nolah Evolution starts with the ArcticTexTM cooling cover and continues down to the cooling quilted Euro-top and the graphite-infused memory foam. Graphite isn’t just cooling. It also has the added benefit of fighting bacteria. 

The AirBreathTM heat escape gusset runs the entire perimeter of the mattress. This gusset lets excess heat dissipate out of the mattress. It also works with the breathable pocketed coils to make this hybrid mattress ultra-cool. 

The pocketed coils also feature Nolah’s patented HDMax™ Tri-Zone™️ coils. This pocketed coil system offer targeted support to different zones of the body. This system offers superior spinal alignment and pressure point relief over traditional coils support cores.

SEE ALSO: Best Luxury Mattresses

The Ghostbed Luxe was designed to be an all-foam mattress that even the hottest sleepers could enjoy. Not only did GhostBed seek to maximize coolness in its design, but they also relied on plant of plush foams to give the bed a cloud-like feel for relaxing rest.

The GhostBed Luxe comes with a 101-night sleep trial and a lengthy 25-year warranty.

How Lying Down Feels

While the GhostBed Luxe has a springy feel to its surface, it’s not due to any coils in the bed. The responsive feel is primarily a result of the Ghost Bounce layer, while the cool and conforming cushion that balances it out comes from the multiple layers of cooling technologies.

Inside the Mattress

The GhostBed Luxe offers five layers of cooling technology, from the Ghost Ice fabric to the Ghost Ice layer and two layers of gel-infused foam. All these technologies mean this memory foam mattress can keep you cool all night long.

The Ghost Bounce layer sits under the gel memory foam comfort layers and is perfect for active sleepers. It springs back into place like latex and still contours like memory foam.

Underneath all the cooling technology and bouncy transition layer rests a layer of ultra-high-density support foam. The durable base layer means this mattress isn’t just cool. It will also last a cool 25 years.

SEE ALSO: Best Cooling Memory Foam Mattress for Hot Sleepers

Another fantastic hybrid mattress, the Purple Hybrid Premier 3 is designed for total versatility. It’s made to accommodate as many body types and sleep styles as possible. It’s also cooling and responsive for those who sleep hot or like to toss and turn. 

How It Feels Lying Down

The Purple Hybrid Premier 3 is soft, but not too soft. The mattress is quick to give way as a lightweight sleeper lies down, offering responsive support that eases tension in the body.

Inside the Mattress

Every Purple mattress features a top layer of GelFlex Grid, also known as Purple Grid.

The Purple GridTM features temperature-neutral hyper-elastic GelFlex material that’s engineered to contour as well as memory foam while allowing for maximum air circulation. And the side panels help pull even more warm air out of the mattress. 

The GridTM combines with the pocketed coil support core to create a bed that’s highly responsive. That makes this the perfect hybrid mattress for petite active sleepers who don’t want to wait for memory foam that can take forever to spring back into place. 

SEE ALSO: Best Purple Mattress Alternatives

How to Shop for a Mattress as a Petite Sleeper

Lighter-weight sleepers have to take their body type into account when looking at possible best mattresses. When you weigh less than 130 pounds, you’re more vulnerable to pain in your pressure points than a heavier person because the mattress exerts more pressure on your body.

That means a highly contouring mattress that is on the softer end of the firmness scale is among the best mattresses for lightweight people.

Firmness Level

Lighter-weight sleepers need softer mattresses, but the exact softness you need is determined more by your sleeping position than anything else.  

Back Sleepers

Those who sleep on their backs need firmer mattresses that offer a balance of support and contouring that slightly favors support. Typically, an average-weight back sleeper would need a medium-firm mattress. However, petite sleepers would likely do better with a medium mattress because for back sleepers it will provide sufficient contouring for the lumbar region.

Side Sleepers

The best mattresses for side sleepers are the softest ones of all. That means petite side sleepers should consider soft or even extra-soft mattresses with lots of comfort layers and cushioning. Softer mattresses will protect their shoulders and hips from pain caused by pressure from their body weight pushing against the mattress. 

Stomach Sleepers

Stomach sleepers need the firmest mattresses of all sleep positions. Average-weight and heavier stomach sleepers need firm or even extra-firm mattresses.

However, it’s advisable for petite stomach sleepers to go down to a medium-firm mattress. This firmness level will offer plenty of lift to prevent sinkage in the pelvis but won’t cause pain in the hips.

Combo Sleepers

Combination sleepers might adopt any sleeping position during the night, so the best mattresses for lightweight combo sleepers need to take into consideration their body weight and sleep style. Combination sleepers of average body weight typically need a medium mattress because this versatile firmness level can accommodate a wider variety of sleep positions. 

But medium-soft mattresses are typically recommended for petite combo sleepers so that these sleepers can get sufficient contouring and cushioning for their pressure points like hips and shoulders. This is especially true when seeking a mattress for combo sleepers who favor their sides.

Mattress Material

Lightweight sleepers have more choice in mattress material because all mattress types come in multiple firmness levels. However, there are mattress constructions that are better for petite sleepers than others.

Memory Foam 

Memory foam makes for one of the best mattresses for a lightweight side sleeper. Memory foam contours better than any other mattress material, establishing a bed for pressure point relief. It can follow the curve of your body to keep your spine aligned and your pressure points cradled. 

That means memory foam mattresses offer some of the best pressure relief on the market. Since petite side sleepers need lots of pressure relief, memory foam mattresses might just be the best mattress material on the market. 

Latex Foam 

Natural or organic latex mattresses want to retain their shape more than flexible polyurethane foam. That means a latex foam mattress can’t contour as well as a memory foam one can. Thus, it won’t offer the same level of pressure relief that memory foam does, meaning it might not be as accommodating for lightweight sleepers.  

However, there are certain subsets of lightweight sleepers who might prefer a latex mattress. Those who sleep hot will appreciate the fact that latex foam is much more breathable and cooling than memory foam. And active sleepers will enjoy latex’s lightning-fast response time much more than they like waiting around for memory foam to spring back into place. 

Innerspring

Innerspring mattresses don’t make the best beds for petite sleepers. An traditional innerspring bed just can’t contour the way lighter-weight sleepers need them to, as their open-coil support cores exert lots of pressure that their typically thin comfort layer doesn’t alleviate. 

If you absolutely have to have an innerspring mattress, look for one with a thick pillow top. A pillow top is an extra layer of padding that can add contouring and cushioning to your bed. This cushioning can be made of foam, cotton, or other plush material. So if your heart is set on an innerspring mattress, look for an innerspring with a pillow top that’s several inches thick. 

Hybrid

Hybrid mattresses are a much better option for petite sleepers than innerspring mattresses. They have at least two inches of foam in their comfort layers. This increases contouring over what an innerspring bed can do. However, the real contouring comes in the support layer. Hybrids have a support core made of individually wrapped coils.

Pocketed coils can all move independently of one another, meaning hybrid mattresses are much more adaptable than innerspring mattresses. But they’re just as responsive and cooling.

That makes the hybrid mattress a more comfortable and accommodating mattress for lightweight sleepers than innerspring or foam mattresses. This is why we similarly recommend hybrid mattresses for side sleepers over more traditional innerspring mattresses.

Other Considerations

There are several considerations besides construction and firmness that all sleepers, not just petite sleepers, should consider when shopping for their best mattress. 

Warranty and Sleep Trial

A mattress’s warranty and sleep trial are prime indicators of its quality. Mattress manufacturers who offer a generous warranty and sleep trial are “putting their money where their mouth is,” as it were. They’re willing to back their products financially because they’ve built them to last and to offer you prime comfort to fit your needs. 

A sleep trial period offers you the option to return your mattress for a full refund for any reason within a certain number of days after your purchase. Look for the words “risk-free,” “moneyback guarantee,” or something similar. You’ll also want a 100-night sleep trial or more because this is the time it takes for you to “break-in” your mattress and decide whether you like it. 

A warranty is a guarantee that a mattress is free of defects and other manufacturer errors. Warranties cover premature aging, sagging to specified depths, and damage not caused by you. Warranties should last at least 10 years, and mattress warranties that last longer are a good indication of a mattress built for durability. 

You’ll want to read the fine print in the warranty for any mattress you consider to ensure it doesn’t have a bunch of loopholes that allow the manufacturer to deny coverage. Generally speaking, warranties are void if you cause damage to your mattress by doing things like mistreating it or putting it on the wrong base. 

Shipping and Delivery

Shipping is a cost that not a lot of people consider when they’re shopping for the right mattress. Companies with online mattresses typically roll the cost of shipping and delivery into the price of their mattresses.

However, if they don’t, you could be on the hook for potentially triple-digit costs to get your new mattress to your door. That’s why you should look for “free shipping” when considering mattresses. 

SEE ALSO: How to Ship a Mattress

Material Certifications

You want to ensure you’re sleeping on healthy and safe products. That’s why material certifications are vital for any new mattress you consider. Certifications attest to the safety and purity of the specific materials they certify. They assure the buyer that the mattress they’re purchasing is free of dangerous compounds like heavy metals and chemical dyes. 

You’ll want to look for: 

• CertiPUR-US® certification for memory foam
• GOLS certification for latex
• GOTS certification for organic textiles like a cotton cover or wool layer
• GREENGUARD certification mattresses that claim to be ultra-low in emissions
• OEKO-TEX certification for non-organic textiles like nylon or polyester

These certifications indicate that a mattress manufacturer has followed the guidelines to the certifying body’s satisfaction. They’re good indications a mattress is safe to sleep on every night.

Bed Size

You’ll also need to consider mattress size when looking to purchase. There are a few considerations to think about when choosing a bed size, like your height, your room size, and the number of sleepers using the bed. 

Those under six feet tall can sleep on any adult mattress size they want. Sleepers over six feet tall probably need an 80-inch mattress like a queen or twin XL.

Shoppers should also consider how many sleepers the mattress will accommodate. Single adults can also sleep on whatever mattress size works best for them. Couples, however, will need a queen size mattress or larger. 

When it comes to room size, the general rule is you need about two feet of space around three sides of your bed to have enough clearance to walk around your bed. If you want a dresser or other bedroom furniture, you’ll likely need to have four feet at the foot of the bed or on one side of it. 

Base Compatibility

You’ll also want to think about the kind of base or bed frame you have when shopping for a new mattress. This is especially true if you have an existing bed base you’d like to keep.

For instance, if you already have box springs that are still in usable condition, you’re pretty much limited to innerspring mattresses because other mattress types are too heavy for box springs. In particular, memory foam mattresses should not be placed on a box spring.

Owning an adjustable bed also limits your mattress choices to only mattresses that are flexible enough to move with the bed. Memory foam mattresses, latex mattresses, and hybrid mattresses all fit this bill. That means you only have to eliminate innerspring mattresses if you’re looking for a mattress compatible with an adjustable bed. 

FAQs

What should couples do if they have different body types?

Couples who have different body types will definitely have different mattress firmness needs. They may also have divergent material needs as well. If your body weights and sleeping positions are not that incompatible, you may be able to find a compromise on firmness level and material. If you can’t, you’ll have to do a split king mattress to sleep in the same bed. 

A split king size mattress will allow you to put two separate twin XL mattresses in the same standard king size bed frame. These beds let you choose your own construction and foam firmness level. You can also pick your own adjustable base settings and even mattress thickness, all while sleeping in the same bed. 

Can lightweight sleepers use a mattress topper on a firmer mattress?

A mattress topper is a layer of extra padding that isn’t sewn to the mattress at all. It just sits on the mattress surface. Toppers are typically made of memory foam or latex foam. Some have covers, while others are just the foam itself with nothing on top of it. 

A topper can help you soften up an overly firm mattress without replacing the whole thing. Mattress toppers come in a variety of firmness levels. Choose a plush topper that’s between two and four inches thick to help increase the cushioning and contouring power of your existing mattress. 

Which mattress material is best for petite sleepers?

All mattress materials come in a variety of firmness levels, so you could theoretically have any mattress material you want because you can get it in the mattress firmness that’s right for you. However, if you want the best material for the average lightweight sleeper, we’d suggest memory foam. 

Memory foam offers petite sleepers the most pressure relief because it’s the most contouring material. It will compress underneath your pressure points to both align your spine and relieve your shoulders and hips at the same time. That makes memory foam a step above other materials for petite sleepers. 

Do all lightweight sleepers need a softer mattress?

Mattresses are manufactured with a certain body weight range in mind (130 to 230 pounds). That means people above or below this range may need to consider an alternate firmness level. Most lightweight sleepers need a softer mattress than the one that an average-weight sleeper would use. Exactly how soft your mattress should be depends on your sleeping position. 

Typically, lighter-weight sleepers need to go down at least one firmness level from the one that corresponds to their sleeping position. For example, petite back sleepers would want to shop for a medium-feel mattress rather than a medium-firm feel one. This will allow them to get the best compression and cushioning out of their mattresses. 

What’s the best firmness level for a lightweight sleeper?

That depends on their sleep style. Lighter-weight sleepers generally should go for mattresses that are at least one firmness level softer than the recommended firmness for their preferred sleeping position. 

Petite side sleepers usually need a soft mattress (3 of 10 on the firmness scale). Petite combo sleepers should consider a medium-soft mattress (4 of 10). Petite back sleepers will likely do best on a medium mattress (5). And petite stomach sleepers may find a medium-firm mattress best suits their needs. 

Bottom Line

There are lots of amazing mattresses out there that could be perfect for petite sleepers. Just remember, there’s no single “best mattress for a lightweight person.” There’s just the best mattress for you.

As a petite person, you should go for a mattress that’s a little softer than the one recommended for your sleep style. And try to get a material that’s highly contouring, such as a memory foam mattress or a memory foam hybrid mattress.