Whenever possible, before buying a mattress, it should be tested. You should first lie down to check that the overall comfort is satisfactory. Then, lying on your back, try to pass your hand between the mattress and your kidneys. If you succeed, the mattress is too firm for you. If you have difficulty turning on your side or if your elbow sinks when you press down on the mattress, it means that the mattress is too soft. It has long been a popular belief that very firm mattresses should be preferred.

However, a mattress that is too hard is just as bad to use as one that is too soft. The most important thing is that when you lie down, both on your back and on your side, your spine remains straight. There are morphology tables available to help you choose the firmness of your mattress. Check them out now.

Mattress firmness

Absolutely not recommended for people suffering from scoliosis, the firm mattress is intended primarily for people who are rather light, not exceeding 80 kg, this rule being nuanced by the morphology of the sleeper. For example, people who are 1.50 m tall and weigh 80 kg will not be comfortable on a firm mattress, whereas 1.80 m sleepers who only weigh 80 kg will be comfortable on a firm mattress.

The advantage of a firm mattress is that it is fairly soft, but care must be taken to ensure that the spine remains upright when lying down, on the back or on the side. Firm mattresses are usually made of foam or latex with 3 contact zones.
Small children under 1.50 m and weighing less than 50 kg will be comfortable on a firm mattress.
When people under 1.50 m exceed 50 kg, they should choose another type of mattress.

People between 1.50 m and 1.60 m can turn to a firm mattress as long as they weigh less than 50 kg.
The firm mattress is suitable for sleepers up to 1.70 m tall and weighing less than 60 kg.
People over 1.80 m tall and weighing up to 70 kg will be comfortable on a firm mattress.

The semi-firm mattress

The semi-firm mattress is a preferred choice for people with deformed or even asymmetrical (scoliosis, kyphosis…) and arthritic spinal columns.

Those who do not have back problems can of course turn to the semi-firm mattress, which is particularly well suited for medium or large sizes, up to 100 kilos. Here again, the height/weight ratio is important: if the person is 1.50 m tall but weighs more than 80 kg, he or she will not sleep well on a medium-soft mattress, whereas sleepers who are 1.90 m tall and weigh 80 kg will sleep well on a medium-soft mattress.

The semi-firm mattress has the advantage that it is suitable for a large section of the population, but here too, care must be taken to ensure that the spine follows the correct alignment. If it curves, the medium-soft mattress is not suitable. The cores of semi-firm mattresses are most often made of memory foam or multi-coil springs.

Sleepers under 1.50 m and weighing 50 to 70 kg will not experience back pain after their nights on a semi-firm mattress. When they weigh more than 70 kg, they will have to turn to very firm mattresses.
People up to 1.60 m tall will opt for a medium-soft mattress only if they weigh less than 80 kg.
The medium-soft mattress is ideal for sleepers who are 1.70 m tall and weigh less than 90 kg.
People over 1.80 m tall and weighing up to 100 kg will be comfortable on a medium-soft firm mattress for athletes.

The very firm mattress

The very firm mattress is not recommended for people with chronic back pain. Larger people will be comfortable on this type of mattress, in any case, the very firm mattress is not suitable for people under 1.50 m if they do not weigh at least 70 or 80 kg.

The very firm mattress is most often made with biconical spring technology.
People up to 1.60 m tall and weighing at least 80 kg can opt for the very firm mattress. Similarly, people who are over 1.70 m tall and weigh more than 90 kg will have a good night’s sleep.