Best Mattress for Heavy People to Rest Without Woes 2023

Buyer’s Guide

To ensure you choose the best mattress for heavy people, you must consider several crucial features. The following guide will cover everything from the types of mattresses available on the market to the recommended weight limit they should have, depending on your needs. Continue reading to understand the characteristics the most comfortable mattress should include.

Type

Heavier sleepers put extra pressure on their mattresses due to the increased body weight. They also need a mattress that offers solutions for problems such as heat-trapping and lack of edge support. All things considered, if you are a heavier person, the best mattress to buy would typically be of a thicker, sturdier build, such as an innerspring or hybrid mattress. However, you might also find a very firm foam bed with a properly designed airflow that fits your needs.

Innerspring

These mattresses are composed of a coil-based support system and a few thin layers of foam or fiberfill. They are extra strong beds that provide high resistance to most pushback, thus making for a great support mattress for heavier sleepers. However, the thin comforting layers on these beds rarely provide enough cushioning for proper pressure relief. Additionally, these mattresses are prone to sagging under the heavier parts of the body, such as the torso, hips, and shoulders.

For the best support and durability in an innerspring bed, we recommend choosing one with thicker and individually wrapped springs or coils.

Hybrid

As the name suggests, hybrid beds combine a pocket spring support system and memory foam layers. They maximise the benefits of both innerspring and memory foam options, and they’re usually the best mattress choice for beds for heavy people.

With hybrid mattresses, you get pocket springs for firmness and support, as well as a top comfort layer for a contouring softness, thus relieving the major pressure points. Additionally, hybrids have durable and supportive high-density base layers.

Memory Foam

Beds with foam mattresses conform closely to the shape of the sleeper’s body; therefore, they are not the most comfortable mattress for heavier sleepers. In essence, they are built from memory foam, polyform, or latex layers. In addition to the top comfort layer, they also include a support core of high-density foam. If the foam layer is too soft, heavier snoozers will sink too much, thus feeling as if the bed is suffocating and trapping their body heat. However, some high-density foam beds don’t compress as quickly and offer better support for larger sleepers.

Edge Support

Reinforced edge support is vital for individuals and couples who sleep near the edge of the bed. If you hover near the bedsides, you wouldn’t want your mattress sagging, so you accidentally roll over to the floor. Strong and stable edges also allow you to sit on the edge of the bed without dipping into it and properly utilise the full bed surface.

Innerspring and hybrid mattresses are typically reinforced around the edges because of their construction and are better for beds for heavy people as a result. On the other hand, while a significant number of foam mattresses offer decent edge support, they are generally better for lighter people. However, thicker foam beds with decent edge support for heavier individuals do exist as well.

Motion Transfer

Heavyweight sleepers and people who share a bed with a partner benefit the most from a good motion-isolation mattress since they greatly reduce the motion transfer on the bed surface.

Memory foam mattresses offer superior motion isolation, so there they prove to be the best mattresses for sleepers that share the bed. Hybrid mattresses, however, differ in this respect depending on their top comfort layer. Compared to memory foam options, hybrids have more bounciness because of the implemented pocket springs. This doesn’t necessarily mean that hybrid mattresses are bad at motion-transfer reduction because they still implement different foams in their construction.

In contrast, innerspring mattresses are the bounciest option on the market and do not really minimise movement transfer. Additionally, these beds tend to make more creaky noises compared to hybrid and memory foam ones. Although, they are great for extra-strong beds.

Temperature Regulation

If you are a heavier person who sleeps hot, you will want a mattress that actively offers proper airflow to cool you down through the night.

Most beds for heavy people need a mattress with cooling properties and natural materials that help maintain low body heat. Make sure to search for a cooling or temperature-neutral mattress or one that has a phase-changing material in the cover. However, some mattress types are inherently cooler as a result of their construction. For example, innerspring mattresses implement coil-springs, which allow air to circulate through them freely. That’s why innerspring products hardly retain any heat and offer excellent airflow.

On the other hand, hybrid and memory foam mattresses tend to run hotter because of the additional foam layers. However, while hybrids still manage to provide enough air circulation for body heat dissipation, full-foal mattresses do not generally offer enough breathability for your heavy-duty bed frame.

Nowadays, manufacturers offer different cooling features for hybrid and foam mattresses, such as gel-infused, open-cell, and cooling foam layers that help lower your body temperature while sleeping.

Mattress Firmness

Comfort is subjective. However, two crucial factors play a huge role when choosing your ideal firmness level: your body weight and your preferred sleeping position.

Generally, people weighing over 15 stone may experience 3 to 5 cm more sinkage than a person with average weight, and the larger you are, the softer the mattress will feel to you. Moreover, larger individuals soften a mattress quicker. 

Therefore, we definitely recommend medium-firm to extra-firm beds for heavy people. On the firmness scale (10 is the firmest), the most comfortable mattress for larger individuals would be between a 6 and a 10. This mattress should have a top foam layer firm enough to prevent sinking but soft enough for adequate pressure relief, especially on the shoulders and hips.

Mattress Firmness and Sleeping Positions

The best type of mattress for heavyweight sleepers will also vary to a degree depending on their sleeping position. For instance, heavier side sleepers should always opt for a medium-firm (6 or 7) mattress. Such a mattress is firm and supportive enough for your body weight and soft enough to ensure proper pressure relief on your shoulders and hips. If your mattress is too firm, it can generate an uncomfortable impact on your key pressure points, thus leading to numbness and long-term pain.

On the other hand, the best mattress to buy for heavier back sleepers is the medium-firm (7 or 8), offering adequate back support and slightly cushioning the hips. Besides, the midsection of a firm mattress won’t sag into a U-shape and strain your lower back. However, stomach sleepers will require a tad firmer mattress (8 to 10) since it won’t let the stomach sink and overextend the spine. Having said that, health and sleep professionals do not recommend sleeping on your stomach because it often leads to spine-related aches, pains, and injuries.

Lastly, heavier sleepers who move between positions during the night will require a highly responsive mattress. In such cases, innerspring beds are an adequate choice since they adjust quickly to your movements, thus making it easier to switch positions.

Thickness

Although the best-rated mattress in the UK might employ extra-thick comfort layers and advanced foams to provide enough support at a depth of 25 cm, we suggest going above that. In general, larger individuals need more support to relieve their pressure points and keep their spines in proper alignment. Thicker mattresses—between 25 cm to 30 cm—with a sufficient comfort layer will provide enough deep compression support and prevent sinking.

Weight Limit

In general, mattresses are made to support a sleeper weighing up to 18 stone (114 kg), but some manufacturers design products that support individuals weighing around 21 stone (133 kg). Though these provide support for heavy people, you can even find some special mattresses with a load limit as high as 35 stone (222 kg) per person. Note that the weight limit is typically doubled if a mattress fits two sleepers.

However, even if you and your partner weigh up to 71 stone (450 kg) combined, you can still find the right fit by searching for a bariatric mattress in the UK. When shopping for a specialty mattress, look up its weight limit first and foremost since you should never buy a mattress with a lower load limit than your weight, single or combined. No matter how firm and comfortable such a mattress might feel at the beginning, it will tear and collapse over time.

Mattresses for Heavier Couples

When shopping for the best mattress for an overweight couple in the UK, be mindful of the following product aspects:

• Support and durability—since obese couples put extra pressure on the mattress, the chance of tearing increases; the more supportive the mattress, the longer it will last.
• Size—to have a good night’s sleep, both partners need their own space while sleeping, which is why obese couples should always opt for king-sized or super king-sized beds.
• Firmness—overweight partners should always choose firmer mattresses; however, they can also get a split-tension mattress if they prefer different bed firmness.
• Thickness—the best mattresses for heavier couples should be as thick as possible to provide the proper support in the event of mattress sagging.
• Motion isolation—mattresses that eliminate the motion of heavier individuals or couples provide fewer sleep disturbances, thus facilitating restful sleep.
• Edge support—solid edge support increases the mattress’s sleeping surface and makes it more durable and less prone to sagging near the mattress borders.
• Temperature regulation—the combined body heat of heavier sleepers calls for exceptional cooling properties that allow sufficient air circulation.

Putting It All to Bed

Finding the best mattress for larger individuals can be an overwhelming prospect since such a bed must include features necessary for heavier sleepers. On top of that, the market is flooded with possibilities, and you might be indecisive about which product to choose under your current circumstances. With all this in mind, we made our “Top 10 Mattresses in the UK” list designed for heavier sleepers. Hopefully, it will help you find the mattress of your dreams.

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