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Best Mattresses For Seniors

Best Mattresses For Senior UK (2023)

Last updated: 31.10.2023 Reading time: 4 Min.

Our sleep requirements change throughout our lives and it’s important to choose a mattress accordingly.

From a certain age onwards, for example, we’ll begin to struggle with joint pain.

This makes it necessary to choose a mattress that can adequately relieve tension and pressure and help us rest properly.

Of course, everyone will have individual needs and requirements but, generally, seniors will need to consider their choice of mattress more carefully.

We’ll go through the best mattresses for seniors in this article.

best mattress for seniors

The best mattresses for seniors in the UK

Sleep Hero Favourite

Simba Hybrid

The Simba Hybrid mattress is a high-quality pocket sprung mattress with multiple layers of foam.

This award-winning and five-star-rated original mattress by Simba Sleep is a unique hybrid mattress that combines polyfoam, memory foam, high-definition foam, and pocket springs.

The Simba Hybrid is an award-winning hybrid pocket sprung foam mattress by Simba Sleep. 🏆

It features four layers, including:

  • A comfort layer of graphite-infused, open-cell Simbatex foam
  • A core of up to 2000 Aerocoil mini pocket springs across 13 zones
  • A CertiPur stability layer
  • A base layer of no roll-off SupportCore with up to 1000 barrel springs

This is a medium-firm mattress that's an excellent choice for a wide range of sleepers, regardless of body size or preferred sleeping position.

Simba Hybrid mattress
The Simba is one of our favourite hybrid mattresses.

The Simba mattress is supportive enough to prevent a build-up of tension, but also soft enough to allow your body to sink in where necessary.

This allows for optimal spinal alignment. 🦴

The Simba Hybrid mattress comes with an antibacterial hypoallergenic cover designed to maximise airflow.

The cover is also removable and machine-washable - but we'd always recommend making use of a mattress protector to safeguard your mattress. 🧼

The Simba comes with free delivery, a 200-day risk-free trial period, and a 10-year guarantee. 

40% OFF SIMBA HYBRID

  Simba Hybrid
Composition: Hybrid mattress with foams, mini pocket springs, and full-size pocket springs.
Firmness level: Medium-firm
Height: 25 cm (10 inches)
Trial period: 200 days
Guarantee: 10 years
What makes this mattress special:  A unique combination of materials; very comfortable for average-weight back and side sleepers; cooling properties
Runner-Up

Nectar Premier Hybrid

The Nectar Premier Hybrid combines deep springs, micro springs, and memory foam for exceptional zoned support for all body shapes.

Enjoy 8 layers of premium comfort with Nectar's Premier Hybrid mattress.

The Nectar Premier Hybrid mattress is one of Nectar's best-selling medium-firm mattresses, designed for superior comfort and support for all body types. 

The mattress is made up of 8 layers:

  • Quilted cooling cover for moisture-wicking comfort
  • Dynamic support layer for enhanced temperature regulation
  • Micro-springs layer for additional air circulation
  • Pressure-relieving memory foam layer for body-hugging comfort
  • Engineered transition layer for optimal spinal alignment
  • Up to 832 full-size pocket springs (12 cm / 4.7 inches) for overall support and enhanced edge support
  • Firmer support base foam for extra support and stability 
  • Positioning base material to keep your mattress in place on the bed

This mattress has been designed with enhanced cooling in mind, wicking away moisture more effectively and allowing for greater air circulation. ❄️

This helps keep the mattress cooler and more comfortable, making it better suited to hot sleepers or those who sweat easily. 

The combination of up to 2,462  micro springs and full-size pocket springs also aids support and gives you a more stable sleeping surface, in contrast to the "sink-into-the-foams" feel you may get from standard memory foam mattresses.

nectar premier hybrid mattress

Like all Nectar mattresses, the Nectar Premier Hybrid comes with quick delivery times and free named-day delivery. 🤩

It also comes with a risk-free 365-day trial, giving you the chance to try the product in the comfort of your own home.

The Nectar Premier Hybrid comes with a lifetime warranty.

45% OFF NECTAR PREMIER HYBRID

  Nectar Premier Hybrid mattress
Composition: Memory foam, micro springs, full-size pocket springs
Firmness level: Medium-firm
Height: 28 cm (11 inches)
Trial period: 365 days
Guarantee: Lifetime warranty
What makes this mattress special: Designed for exceptional support and enhanced cooling.
Great For Hot Sleepers

Otty Hybrid

The Otty Hybrid is a four-layer hybrid mattress that combines the unique qualities of a pure spring mattress with a top layer of memory foam.

Designed in Yorkshire and made in the UK, this is a proudly British mattress.

The Otty Hybrid is a four-layer hybrid mattress and one of the most affordable hybrids in the UK.

Otty Hybrid mattress

It combines 16 cm pocket springs with Cool Blue Gel memory foam, a unique combination to allow for superior comfort, body-hugging support, and stability. 

It's classified as a medium-firm mattress, but rates much firmer than many other hybrid models.

This is great for anyone looking for extra support and back pain relief. 

The mattress's unique airflow system also allows for excellent breathability to keep you cool and comfortable all night long. ❄️

The Otty Hybrid features firm side support panels for superior edge support, making this a great choice for couples or anyone who enjoys sitting on the side of the bed. 

This mattress is available in a wide range of European and British mattress sizes and is one of the very few bed-in-a-box mattresses available in the emperor bed size. 👑

Otty mattresses come with free delivery & returns, a 100-night trial period, and a 10-year guarantee.

 45% OFF OTTY HYBRID£ 439.99

  Otty Hybrid
Composition: Temperature-regulating memory foam & pocket springs
Firmness level: Medium-firm
Height: 25 cm (10 inches)
Trial period: 100 days
Guarantee: 10 years
What makes this mattress special? Best budget hybrid, excellent back support; only bed-in-a-box available in the emperor size.
Best For Side Sleepers

Emma Original Plus

The Emma Original is an award-winning memory foam mattress and one of the UK's most popular choices.

This bestselling mattress by Emma Sleep offers 3 layers of premium foam and soft comfort with sufficient support and stability.

The Emma Original is a best-selling memory foam mattress and one of the UK's number-one mattresses. 🏆

It is made up of three different layers of foam, including pressure-relieving memory foam.

Emma original mattress

Memory foam offers great orthopaedic support, making it a good choice for people prone to back pain.

The Emma Original is rated as a medium-firm mattress, though we think it falls on the softer end of the scale.

This makes it an excellent choice for lighter-weight people and side sleepers, but we wouldn't necessarily recommend it to people looking for a firmer feel. 🧱

Conveniently, the mattress comes with a removable mattress cover that can be machine-washed at up to 60℃.

You can upgrade the Emma Original to the Emma Original Plus, which includes an advanced temperature-regulating Diamond Hybrid cover. 

The Emma Original is delivered free of charge and comes with a risk-free 200-night trial period. 

20% OFF EMMA ORIGINAL PLUS + 5% OFF W/ "SLEEPHEROUK5"

  Emma Original
Composition: Memory foam with a base layer of HRX cold foam
Firmness level: Soft
Height: 25 cm (9.8 inches)
Trial period: 200 nights
Guarantee: 10 years
What makes this mattress special? One of the UK's bestselling mattresses with excellent body contouring and a soft feel.

How we test products

Our mission is to take the guesswork out of finding the perfect sleep products.

We've dedicated hundreds of hours to testing mattresses and sleep accessories, and rely on a team of testers of differing weights, temperature preferences, and sleeping positions to evaluate each product. 

Tested products are granted the Sleep Hero tested stamp of approval, a mark of our review's reliability.

To learn more about our testing process, check out our methodology page.

If we haven't personally tested a product, please be assured that we invest significant time and energy into scouring the UK market and researching the best recommendations, and we work with a team of sleep experts who review our articles, ensuring that the insights we provide are not only relatable but also reliable.

Characteristics of sleep in seniors

Sleep can be broken down into different stages or phases. To begin with, there is the falling asleep stage, which places us into an in-between where we’re not quite awake and not quite asleep. Gradually, we’ll plunge into light sleep and then into deep sleep. Thereafter, we go into a phase called REM sleep, where brain activity is very intense. This is also the phase where we experience dreams. This cycle is repeated 4 to 6 times throughout the night.

Many seniors struggle with sleep. They either fail to reach REM sleep or wake up more frequently throughout the night. This may be due to a disruption of the sleep cycle or due to pain that’s felt at night, likely to be caused by joint problems or aches and pains.

Seniors also often sleep for fewer hours every night. With a shortened night rest, they’re likely to have to compensate for this lack of sleep with one or more shorter naps during the day.

The ideal mattress for seniors, then, will need to help relieve tension and pressure to ease aches and pains and it will also need to be suitable for napping throughout the day.

Criteria for choosing a good mattress for seniors

You’ll need to take special consideration when selecting a good mattress for seniors. The primary objective is to improve the quality of sleep by limiting night-time awakenings. To do this, you need to focus on comfort, firmness, size, and mattress materials. The overall aim is to find a mattress that relieves aches and pains and can provide sufficient support and comfort for a good night’s sleep.

Of course, we highly recommend choosing a high-quality mattress as these offer the best support for the longest possible time. You wouldn’t want to have to change your mattress frequently, so investing in a quality mattress that lasts 10 - 15 years is definitely worth it.

Comfort is a matter of preference and largely affected by mattress materials. Some will opt for a memory foam mattress, which hugs the body, but others won’t enjoy this support and prefer the sensation of a spring or a latex mattress. Latex and memory foam are particularly good in terms of adapting to the body but pocket-sprung mattresses are more advisable for people of a larger stature as they are more resistant.

The best brands on the market make sure that their products are comfortable, breathable, and hypoallergenic, ensuring that they regulate body temperature and provide for a neutral and comfortable sleeping environment. You’re more likely to wake up at night if you’re feeling too hot or too cold, so finding a temperature neutral mattress is vitally important for seniors.

The desired level of firmness will largely depend on the build of the sleeper. If you’re slender or light-weight, a softer mattress may be adequate but if you’re of a larger build, then you might require a firmer mattress. Overall though, you’d need a mattress that’s soft enough to be comfortable but one that’s stable and supportive enough to keep the spine in a healthy alignment and relieve pressure points, thereby eliminating unnecessary aches and pains.

A larger mattress will provide more space to sleep and thus be more comfortable but mattress size really is a matter of preference. You can sleep just as well on a high-quality 90 x 190 cm single mattress as you can on a 200 x 200 cm emperor bed. That said, see our note on couples and bed choices below.

Many seniors may also want to invest in an electric box spring or medical bed, which can be adjusted for lying down and sitting up for sleeping, naps, reading, or watching television.

Choosing a mattress for senior couples

Senior couples need to choose a mattress to meet their needs just like any other couple would. Even though the above-listed criteria in terms of comfort, firmness, and support still apply, senior couples also need to ensure that they have a mattress with low or no motion transfer.

A mattress with low motion transfer does not carry movement across the mattress, meaning that you won’t be disturbed by your partner’s movements at night. This ensures that both you and your partner get a good night’s sleep.

Couples will also need a mattress with more bounce and that supports movements well, making it suitable for sexual activity.

Finally, couples will need to decide if they prefer a larger size mattress or if they’d prefer to join two single mattresses. Much discomfort is caused by not having enough space to sleep, which can easily be solved by choosing a mattress that’s large enough. But seniors will often benefit from choosing individual mattresses to suit their specific needs. These can then be joined through a bed bridge to form one large bed.

Conclusion

Although firmness and the composition of a mattress is a matter of preference, we’ll always advise seniors to prioritise comfort and quality to improve their sleep.

We recommend that seniors invest in a large-size mattress or two individual mattresses that can be joined together to ensure that both partners have adequate space and that all individual needs and preferences are met.

Nicky

Nicky

Content Director & Partner Relations

My mum calls me "bear" because I like to sleep so much. I never thought that, one day, I'd be a certified sleep coach and apply my skills more widely. Can you tell that I've found my calling? 

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