When it comes to sleeping, everyone either sleeps on their back, front, side or a combination of the three. The type of mattress you buy can greatly affect the way you sleep, so it’s important to get the right mattress for your sleeping style. If you’re a person who tends to sleep on their back most of the time, then you will need to consider the following:
- Regardless of sleeping position, heavier people will tend to need a firmer mattress than lighter people. This is because softer mattresses offer less support, and the heavier a person is the more they will need to be supported by their mattress.
- People who sleep on their back will need more support than people who sleep on their side. So if you’re a back sleeper, you will probably be more comfortable with a slightly firmer mattress.
- Despite mattresses being marketed as either soft, medium or firm, there is no industry-wide way of measuring how firm a mattress is. Each manufacturer will have their own idea of what soft, medium and firm are. Therefore it’s important to check the weight capacities of any mattress that you are considering buying.
Here are our top picks of the best mattresses for those who like to sleep on their back.
Emma Mattress
| Mattress type | Memory foam |
| Firmness | Medium |
| Depth | 250mm |
| Price | £499 |
The Emma mattress is a great mattress for people who sleep on their back because it is medium on the firmness scale.
As a memory foam mattress, it consists completely of layers of various different types of foam. It comes highly rated across many thousands of reviews, and has won awards from respected bodies such as Ideal Home and Good Housekeeping.
Another great thing about the Emma mattress is that it comes with a free 200-night trial. So you have plenty of time to get used to it and see if it’s the right mattress for you.
As a back sleeper, if you find that it’s not quite what you’re looking for, then you can get a refund within this 200-night window, subject to terms and conditions. The Emma mattress also comes with a 10-year guarantee. So you can be confident when you buy one that it has been built to last.
Casper Mattress
| Mattress type | Memory foam |
| Firmness | Medium |
| Depth | 280mm |
| Price | £600 |
The Casper mattress (often referred to as the “Casper Original”), is actually very similar to the Emma mattress. Why? Because like the Emma mattress, it is also made entirely of foam, and has a firmness rating of medium.
The construction of the Casper mattress is the same as the Emma mattress, in that the memory foam layer is nestled in between layers of other foam, and is not right at the top of the mattress. The advantage of this is that you won’t get as much of a sinking feeling. Neither will you feel quite so hot on the Emma or Casper mattress, because the top layer of foam is significantly more breathable than the memory foam layer.
Like the Emma Mattress, the Casper mattress is highly rated – especially for back sleepers. Not only does the Casper mattress have an average review rating of 4.3 out of 5, but in 2015 it was also named as one of the inventions of the year by Time Magazine. You only get 60 nights to try the Casper mattress out though, but this should still be plenty of time. It has the same 10-year warranty as the Emma mattress though, so you will still get peace of mind in that respect.
The main difference for the slightly higher price of the Casper mattress over the Emma mattress is largely down to the fact that the Casper mattress is 30mm deeper. When it comes to buying a memory foam mattress, the depth is one of the signs of quality. An extra £100 for 30mm of depth is well worth paying for, although both the Emma and the Casper mattresses represent excellent value for money.
Ergoflex 5G Mattress
| Mattress type | Memory foam |
| Firmness | Medium/firm |
| Depth | 230mm |
| Price | £739 |
The Ergoflex 5G mattress is a great mattress for back sleepers due to the fact that it is slightly firmer than most medium mattresses. Like both the Emma and the Casper mattresses, it’s a memory foam mattress so it doesn’t contain any springs. This is important to bear in mind if you don’t like the sinking feeling of a memory foam mattress, or you tend to get hot when you sleep.
The Ergoflex 5G mattress comes with a 10-year guarantee but comes with quite a short 30-day trial period. That said, that’s still plenty of time to figure out if it’s the right mattress for you – and it certainly beats spending a couple of minutes lying on one in a showroom.
In terms of customer reviews, the Ergoflex 5G is probably one of the highest rated mattresses out there. It has an average review rating of 4.6 out of 5 which is very high for this price point. Usually you would have to spend hundreds more on a mattress to get one that comes this highly rated.
John Lewis and Partners Natural Collection Fleece Wool 8400 mattress
| Mattress type | Pocket sprung |
| Firmness | Firm |
| Depth | 250mm |
| Price | £1,199 |
If you have a larger budget for your next mattress, then the Natural Collections Fleece Wool 8400 by John Lewis and Partners is an excellent choice for back sleepers. The mattress is actually made by a company called Harrison Spinks. Harrison Spinks are known for their quality, and as a result have won various awards including ‘Bed Manufacturer of the Year’ at the National Bed Federation Awards. Harrison Spinks also have a Manufacturing Guild Mark, which is a recognised sign of quality.
The Natural Collections Fleece Wool 8400 is rated as firm, so if you’re a heavier person (weighing 16 stone or more), and sleep on your back, then this mattress would be ideal for you. The mattress also has all of the high quality embellishments that you would expect, such as hand side stitching and a very generous spring count of 8,400.
Although it only comes with a 7-year guarantee, the fact that it is sold by John Lewis and Partners should give you peace of mind on its own that you are buying a top-quality mattress.
Sleepeezee Ultrafirm 1600 Mattress
| Mattress type | Pocket sprung |
| Firmness | Firm |
| Depth | 240mm |
| Price | £499 |
Another firm mattress that is ideal for heavier people who prefer to sleep on their back. The Sleepeezee Ultrafirm 1600 is a pocket sprung mattress, which may be more beneficial to heavier people. There are several different characteristics between memory foam and pocket sprung mattresses. This is because pocket springs don’t provide the sinking feeling that memory foam does. Not only that, but mattresses with pocket springs have a more breathable layer and therefore you won’t feel as hot either. With 1,600 springs inside the mattress, the Ultrafirm 1600 should provide sufficient support to people who are heavier than average.
Sleepeezee is one of the few mattress brands out there that have a royal warrant. These are not easy to get, so you can be sure that you are buying quality when you purchase a Sleepeezee product. They also have a very impressive review rating of 4.4 out of 5 across many thousands of reviews.
When you purchase a Sleepeezee Ultrafirm 1600 pocket sprung mattress you will get a 60-night sleep trial so that you can be sure that the mattress is right for you. If you’re not happy with it, then within this period you will be able to exchange the mattress for another Sleepeezee mattress of a different firmness. This trial is in addition to the usual 10-year warranty that Sleepeezee offer on all of their products.
Brook and Wilde Lux
| Mattress type | Hybrid |
| Firmness | Soft, medium or firm |
| Depth | 280mm |
| Price | £749 |
Unlike the other mattresses that we recommend for back sleepers, the Brook and Wilde Lux is neither a memory foam nor a pocket sprung mattress. Instead it is known as a ‘hybrid’ mattress and is a combination for the two. The idea of a hybrid mattress is to provide all the benefits of a memory foam and a pocket sprung mattress, but without the drawbacks of either of them.
Typically, memory foam mattresses can cause people to feel hot during the night, because memory foam is not very breathable and therefore restricts airflow. This problem is eliminated with a hybrid mattress, as the layer of springs allows plenty of air to flow through and cool things down.
People often complain about the sinking feeling that memory foam mattresses provide. The springs in a hybrid mattress eliminate this feeing. However, the fact that the mattress contains memory foam means that you still get the all-over support from the mattress. This is vital if you’re someone who likes to sleep on their back.
Soft, Medium or Firm – Which is best?
The Brook and Wilde Lux mattress comes in three different firmness levels: soft, medium and firm. They offer a 100-night trial of the mattress, so you can choose the mattress that you think is right for you and then swap it for one of a different firmness if it doesn’t suit. It also comes with a 10-year guarantee to give you the peace of mind that you need when spending this much on a mattress that you cannot try out in the shops.
The Brook and Wilde Lux mattress is one of many ‘Bed in a box’ mattress providers out there. It literally arrives in a box so is easy to move upstairs and into position before unpacking.
The Brooke and Wilde Lux mattress is not best suited to heavier people. If you’re of an average weight then the medium version of this mattress should be fine for you. However, as a back sleeper you will get a lot more support in the right places if you opt for the firm version.
Across the many thousands of reviews of the Brook and Wilde Lux mattress online, the average review rating is 4.1 out of 5, which is slightly lower than some of the cheaper options available to back sleepers.
Sleeping on your back is generally considered the best way to sleep. If you’d like to learn how to train yourself to sleep on your back then you may find the following video useful:
Frequently Asked Questions
What if I buy a mattress and it’s not comfortable?
The majority of online mattress retailers offer a free home trial period. This means that you can swap your mattress or get a full refund (depending on the retailer) if you buy one that’s not quite right for you.
Do I need a firm mattress if I sleep on my back?
Back sleepers require a little more support from their mattress due to the fact that more of their body is in contact with it. It is for this reason that firmer mattresses are recommended for people who like to sleep on their backs.
What mattress does a larger person need?
Generally speaking, the more a person weighs, the firmer they will need their mattress to be in order to get the proper support from it.
Don’t talk to me about Casper – it’s basically daylight robbery.
We’ve had our mattress for over 12 months now and it still reeks. And from what I’ve read this is very common with Casper. I contacted them directly and they said that unfortunately scent isn’t covered by the warranty because all foam mattresses contain some degree of scent. For this kind of issue, the mattress would have needed to be returned or exchanged within the trial period – which is well over now. They just suggested that I washed the cover and the bedding or to use Febreeze!
I’m absolutely livid and am in two minds whether to contact Mary Portas about the issue.
I suffered from rosacea for many many years, and when I saw an alternative therapist, believe it or not they told me to sleep on my back. It took a few weeks for me to train myself to do that as I was a stomach sleeper for more than 20 years. But once I did my rosacea all but disappeared in a matter of months. So sleeping on your back is definately more healthy than other positions