Best Mattress for a Lightweight Person Reviews

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.

SEE ALSO: Softest Mattress in a Box

The Zoma Start is the best mattress at this thickness overall because it has so many different things going for it. It’s a performance mattress designed for physically active people. It’s got tons of cooling technologies. It boasts a highly affordable price. And it’s durable and versatile. This means it has something for just about everyone.

How Lying Down Feels

Lying down on the Zoma Start, the first thing you’ll notice is that it is highly responsive for an all-foam mattress. This is all thanks to the layer of bouncy Reactiv™ transition foam that springs back as soon as you move and offers dynamic support.

This medium mattress also offers tons of versatility for all kinds of sleepers. It is on the more supportive end of a medium feel. So it can accommodate some back sleepers and virtually all combo sleepers at once. This is perfect for combo sleepers who tend to favor their backs. It also is a good fit for those who suffer from back pain.

Some of the thousands surveyed on the Zoma Mattress had this to say:

Parth P: It is a phenomenal mattress especially for the price!

Billy K: Kind of firm waking up with shoulder pain occasionally

Xiao C: It’s of good quality overall. Came with proper packaging and easy to set up. It was a bit too soft for my back the first night, but after that I experience no back pain sleeping on it.

Inside the Mattress

The Zoma Start starts off with a cooling, ventilated cover that breathes all night to wick away heat and sweat. This cover works with the gel memory foam comfort layer to ensure your sleep surface stays cool all night. The gel memory foam also offers a high degree of compression and pressure relief to ensure you get the contouring you need.

Underneath the comfort layer, you’ll find a bouncy transition layer made of Reactiv™ foam. This layer offers buoyancy and dynamic support. It also springs back as soon as you move to ensure that the sleep surface does not have issues with body impressions or slow response time.

Finally, a layer of highly durable base foam ensures there is no sinkage in this mattress. It keeps you lifted onto the sleep surface and provides total spinal alignment. Best of all, this base foam layer increases the durability of the entire mattress.

You can expect it to fight sagging and soft spot development for at least 10 years. That means it will last just as long as many more expensive mattresses.

SEE ALSO: Best Pillow Top Mattress

Read Our Full Review of the Zoma Start Mattress

A hybrid mattress is an excellent for smaller sleepers because they promote a weightless, pressure-reliving feel. And the Zoma Boost goes beyond the basic hybrid mattress design to offer a thicker foam top and underlying support, ensuring lightweight individuals can comfortably stretch out and wake up refreshed.

SEE ALSO: Best Mattress for Seniors

Read Our Full Review of the Zoma Boost Mattress

The Helix Midnight mattress is an excellent choice for lightweight sleepers seeking a balance of comfort and support. The Helix Midnight is specifically designed to provide pressure point relief and support for side sleepers, ensuring a comfortable and restful night’s sleep.

This popular mattress offers a medium feel that appeals to a wide range of sleepers, making it a great option for couples with different preferences.

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.

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.

Reviews of the Nolah are mixed, but very few reviews are overly unhappy:

James M: We’re loving our new mattress, had it for about 2 weeks. It has absolutely reduced my hip, back and shoulder pain. The squish pillows have been great, too. The only issue we’ve had is that I feel like it sleeps hot, I’m much warmer than our old mattress, but it’s a trade off for the decrease in pain.

David R: We had ordered the twin KL in plush, arrived quickly and in good shape. We used the bed during the first 30 days and although the mattress was nice, it was not a good fit for my wife and I due to the width of each mattress and the natural gap. While this was as much my fault as any, I had never used a twin XL split king before, the company was very helpful

Anonymous: I love everything about the mattress, it feels cool and natural. It’s just not firm enough for me.

SEE ALSO: Best Luxury Mattresses

Those who want a medium-firm innerspring mattress should consider the Saatva Classic’s Luxury Firm option. The Saatva Classic doesn’t just offer medium-firm support. It also fixes a lot of the problems inherent to regular innerspring mattresses. This is because the Classic is not a true innerspring mattress. It’s an innerspring hybrid!

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.

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. 

SEE ALSO: Best Purple Mattress Alternatives

If you want a mattress that creates as hostile an environment for allergens as it does a comfortable environment for you, check out the Bear Elite Hybrid. The copper infusions in this mattress provide comfort in more ways than one.

SEE ALSO: Best Mattress for the Money

Best Mattresses for a Lightweight Person Highlights and Comparison

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 cloud 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.

Aside from the firmness level, the type of mattress material is also important to consider when choosing the best mattress for stomach sleepers. Memory foam mattresses can provide excellent support and contour to the body, with their ability to conform to your body shape, a memory foam mattress can offer the best sleeping experience for stomach sleepers who need a supportive and comfortable sleep surface.

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.

SEE ALSO: Best King Size Mattress

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.

SEE ALSO: Best Mattress for Adjustable Beds

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. Even a budget mattress should come with these policies.

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 when it comes to mattresses with sleep trials. 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. 

SEE ALSO: Best Mattress in a Box

Mattress Sizes

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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.