Best Mattress for Stomach Sleepers

Posted on by Emma

Are you one to sleep flat on your belly? If so, you’ll want to read this article. In it, we show you the best mattress for side sleepers.

Just as importantly, we go into detail about sleeping on your stomach and how it affects your health. This lets you understand what kind of mattress and pillows you should get to help you sleep soundly.

In addition, we explain what you should avoid. This way, you’ll be able to stay away from those nasty aches and pains some people wake up in the morning to.

 

Our Choices: Quick Look at Our Recommendations for Stomach Sleepers

 

Sleeping on Your Stomach

Among the 3 main sleeping positions, sleeping on your stomach is considered to be the worst. The main reason for this is it flattens the natural curve of our spine.

When we lie flat on our belly, it forces our lower backs to overarch. This places stress on the spine as well as the muscles and joints there. As a result, you’re more prone to lower back pain, numbness and tingling.

In addition to leaving your spine unsupported, it also elevates your neck. Stomach sleepers have their necks pushed back and rotated to the right or left. This places pressure on your cervical spine and neck region which can result in neck pain. Lying on your tummy also narrows your airways making breathing and circulation harder.

The good news is, there are ways to neutralize these negative effects. By choosing the right kind of mattress and pillows you’ll be able to provide your body with the proper support for a good night’s sleep. It will also prevent aches and pains from happening.

 

Pros & Cons of Sleeping on Your Stomach

Widely considered by sleep experts are the worse sleeping position, here are the advantages and disadvantages of sleeping on your stomach.

Pros

  • Reduces snoring
  • Improves sleep apnea
  • If you have lower back pain, it can relieve stress on your discs. But, sleeping flat on your belly can lead to other back issues. Please refer to the cons section below.

Cons

  • Flattens your spine’s natural curvature. This can cause back pain.
  • Your head is pushed back and turned on one side. This causes neck pain and misalignment with the spine.

 

Choosing the Best Mattress for Stomach Sleepers

Here are the most important things to consider when buying a mattress for stomach sleepers.

1. Choose the Right Firmness

In general, stomach sleepers do best with medium to medium firm mattresses. This gives you enough comfort without allowing your belly to sink in.

A mattress that’s too soft will give in too. This results in excessive curving of your spine. Too soft a surface also forces your neck to beck farther back. Additionally, it reduces any breathing benefits you get from the position.

A firm mattress on the other hand can be uncomfortable. It also places more pressure on the areas where weight is concentrated. In addition, a very firm mattress also becomes bothersome to your knees.

2. Ample Support

In combination to getting it medium to medium firm mattress, buying one with good support is key. Majority of our weight will be in our core. This means our stomach and hips will need to be well supported through the night.

Latex and foam mattresses are good choices for stomach sleepers. They offer good support and come with pressure relief properties.

Other options you can go with are hybrid or innerspring mattress. Both offer ample support.

3. Choose the Right Pillow

With pillows, flatter is better for stomach sleepers. You’ll notice that your sleeping position not only affects the type of mattress but also the kind of pillow you’ll choose.

  • Back sleepers can get a regular loft pillow.
  • Side sleepers do better with thicker, high loft pillows.
  • Stomach sleepers need flatter pillows.

A flat pillow allows your neck and head to stay as level to your spine as possible. The higher the loft the more your neck is forced to bend backwards.

The tricky part about this is finding one that’s on the flat side, yet fluffy enough to be comfortable. Other issues to consider when choosing a pillow for stomach sleepers is its huggability (you’ll be hugging it, right?) and cooling (you don’t want it to get hot).

If you can sleep without a pillow, that’s another option.

 

Best Mattress for Stomach Sleepers Reviews

Brentwood Home Bamboo Mattress, Gel Memory Foam, 13-Inch

This is a thick mattress that sleeps high. That gives you a lot of loft and foam underneath for support.

But more importantly, if you’re a stomach sleeper, you get its comfortable medium feel.

We like this product for the quality it offers. It comes with a bamboo cover top that’s soft to the touch. Plus, using bamboo helps it ward off microorganisms and odors. We also appreciate that the manufacturer uses materials that don’t contain harmful chemicals or toxins.

This lets you lie face down on the cover without breathing in anything harmful for your health.

Below the bamboo cover is natural wool from New Zealand. This works to regular temperature. And, it wicks moisture as well. We like that it helps cool you when the weather is warm and the opposite when it gets cold.

The foam layers are made of 3 distinct levels:

  • A 3.5 inch gel memory foam. We like that they use a gel upper foam. This helps eliminate the warmth memory foam often has. Plus, it distributes weight across the surfaces. This softer texture gives you that medium feel so it isn’t too firm to lie face down on.
  • A 2 inch ventilated airflow foam. In addition to the cooling gel later, we you a breathable foam layer. This further helps you stay cool through the night.
  • A 7.5 inch support foam. This serves as the base layer. It supports your body keeping it straight. This prevents sagging down which makes it comfortable if you sleep on your stomach.

Sleep Innovations Shiloh 12-inch Memory Foam Mattress

This is another excellent memory foam mattress for stomach sleepers. It offers comfort as well as support. We also like that it has a smooth cover. And, its 20 year warranty.

This 12 inch mattress comes in standard sizes plus California King. That lets you fit taller individuals.

It sleeps well for those who lie on their stomachs thanks to its medium feel and cradling design.

This Sleep Innovations mattress comes with what the manufacturer calls DuoComfort. That basically means you get 2 comfortable foam layers that are thick.

  • The upper layer is a 2.5 inch SureTemp memory foam layer. This top layer, along with the design of the base layer make the mattress ideal for stomach sleepers. It also works well if you roll or turn a lot.
  • The bottom layer is a thicker 9.5 inch support layer. In this case it’s called a Support-Plus foam. It is made from high density foam that’s thick and supportive. This keeps your body aligned properly as you sleep.

The mattress is proudly made in the USA.

Classic Brands Mercer 12 Inch Hybrid Cool Gel Memory Foam and Innerspring Mattress

If you like memory foam but aren’t a fan of the heat it can cause, this is a good choice. Its top layer comes with gel infused in the memory foam. This way you get a cooler surface to sleep on that doesn’t retain heat.

This Classic Brands offering is a hybrid mattress. It combines an innerspring lower layer along with a gel-infused memory foam on to the top.

This is a nice, thick 12 inch bed that offers medium firmness. The 4 inches of comfort foam layer on top gives you a mattress that sleeps just right. Not too firm, not too soft.

We also like that the 8 inch solid steel coils at the bottom are strong and supportive. This helps prevent aches and pains in the morning. The reason being they don’t sag down on any part of the bed. This lets you sleep on your belly straight and not in an unhealthy curved position.

Signature Sleep Contour 10 Inch Independently Encased Coil Mattress

This is our best for the money mattress for stomach sleepers. It is affordable and offers you a comfortable night’s rest.

As with the Brentwood Home mattress above, you can choose from different sizes and thickness. This Signature Sleep mattress is offered in 8 and 10 inches. Plus, you can pick from twin all the way up to king size depending on what your bedroom needs.

We like being able to choose from different thickness because we each have our preferences.

As with the others in our best mattress for stomach sleepers review here, this produce offers a medium firmness. This makes it just right. Not too firm so it’s tough on your neck or knees. And not too soft that it sinks down in your stomach and hip area where weight is the heaviest.

Unlike the Brentwood Home above, this is an innerspring mattress. This is the reason why it’s much cheaper than the others in the reviews. The good news is, if offers anyone who likes sleeping on their tummy something that isn’t too soft nor too hard.

The 10 inch version is made from:

  • A upper layer of 2.5 inches of high density foam. This comfort layer is what gives the mattress its medium firmness.
  • A base layer of 7.5 inch spring coils. These are supportive independently encased coils. This means that they work to distribute weight evenly as you sleep. This allows it to adjust to your body’s contours.

The soft jacquard cover makes the surface softer to the touch and comfortable to rest on.

 

How to Stop Sleeping on Your Stomach

If you’re thinking about changing your sleeping position, we recommend transitioning to sleeping on your side first. Later on, you can work towards sleeping on your back. Or, you may stay a side sleeper.

That said, here are three ways you can stop sleeping on your back.

1. Use Pillows

This is probably the easiest way to try. You will need a few pillows to do this method.

Here you’ll be sleeping in a side position. And, to keep you in that position, you’ll position pillows in front and behind you.

The pillows work to block you from rolling on your stomach. You will need a few pillows to make a high enough “wall”.

2. The Pea Method

This is a popular method that makes use of a pea taped to your chest.

Essentially, the pea prevents you from lying flat on your belly because it’s uncomfortable. When you do so, the pea will remind you to roll back up to your side.

3. Sleep on a Narrow Sofa

A narrow sofa won’t give you enough space to lie flat on your stomach. This forces you to sleep on your side.

 

What If You Don’t Want to Stop Sleeping on Your Stomach?

The thing with sleep is, we get the best of it when we’re most comfortable. If sleeping on your belly is what lets you get quality rest, then there’s no reason to stop doing so.

There are a few things you can do to negate the negative effects caused by this position. This way you get your good night’s rest and without its bad effects.

1. Neutralize the Overarching of the Lower Back

We mentioned that sleeping on your front forces your lower back to arch excessively. This causes your hips to sit low putting pressure on the nerves, discs and muscles in the back. To reduce this effect, you can place a pillow under your hips and lower abdomen.

This lifts the bottom of the spine from the mattress. Doing so gets rid of the excessive bending of the lower back. The key is to test different loft heights to get one that places your lower spine level with your chest. Having a pillow under your waist will feel weird. But you’ll get used to it after a short while.

2. Stretch in the Morning to Elongate the Spine

Stretching the opposite way helps negate some of the extra arching your back experiences through the night. A great stretch is the Child’s Pose. This yoga pose lets you relax and bend forward, which is the opposite direction your back does when lying face down.

To do the Child’s Pose:

1. Kneel on the floor and sit on your heels. Spread your knees to hip width. Then place your big toes together.
2. Bend forward with both hands and touch the floor in front of you. When doing this, elongate your spine away from your tailbone.
3. Stay in the lengthened position for 30 seconds to 3 minutes. Start with a few seconds and slowly work your way up.

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