Firm mattresses have been a legit and go-to choice for decades. Many firm mattress styles supply a substantial feeling of support, which promotes a reliable and durable sleeping surface, leaving you comfortable and sleeping more "on the mattress," versus in it.

Adequate support from your mattress can help improve proper sleep posture and spinal alignment, enhancing comfort and relieving muscle tension. For many people, a firm mattress is the go-to choice due to their unique comfort preferences, which typically involve a preference for only slight body contouring or minimal sinking into the mattress itself. Firm mattresses often deliver on consistent, ample support.

Next, sleep specialists at Mattress Express will give you an inside scoop on our expert picks for the best firm mattress around. Here, we will highlight everything savvy to consider when shopping for a new mattress.

Best Case Firm Mattress Scenario For Better Sleep

The best-case scenario for a mattress with an ideal level of support value and firmness is one that effectively supports spinal curvature, especially if you sleep on your back or stomach. Heavy, muscular, or disproportionate body types, and those who favor sleeping "on the mattress," versus in it, often prefer a firm mattress for ease of movement, like getting in or out of bed. 

Ideally, a firm mattress encourages proper spinal alignment, resulting in the desired outcome of reduced aches, pains, and discomfort, which in turn can help improve sleep quality as well. Still, an appropriate level of firmness will vary from person to person, and a variety of firm mattresses and levels of firmness are available today. You'll want to select one that is ideal for your physique and unique situation, based primarily on your needs, ailments, body type, sleep habits, and personal comfort preferences.

Considerable Factors of the Best Firm Mattress For You

• Your Personal Ideal Level of Firmness
• Your Body Type
• Your Favorable Sleeping Position
• Mattress Comfort Materials
• Mattress Support System Design
• High-Performance vs. Value Options

Structural Priorities of a Good-Quality Firm Mattress

Not all mattresses today are designed, developed, or manufactured to the same standard. So, if you're looking for a new mattress and prefer to find one of the best around, you want to make sure that it has:

• Heavy-Duty Support System: The best firm mattresses feel hefty and substantial beneath you, regardless of your body type or weight. They keep your hips and back evenly aligned once you lie down, and provide comfort whether you decide to rest or sleep on your side, back, or stomach. A mattress with ample support for your specific body type will allow it to gently contour to your body without your whole frame sinking too deeply.
• A Resilient Mattress Edge: A firm mattress that is ideal for you should resist the weight of your body as you sit on the bed. You should not feel like you're sunken in, rolling, or sliding off; instead, you should feel stable while sitting on the mattress or near the edge.
• High-quality Mattress Comfort Layers: Some of the best and most reliable firm mattresses provide a sensation that is fast-responsive and lively, with some describing this "on the mattress" feeling as a little more bouncy. Unlike some mattresses with ultra-dense materials that recover slowly when you get up or change positions, this can make it more difficult to move. For a best-case scenario firm mattress, it isn't challenging or causing strain to move, change positions, or get in or out of the bed. You should feel buoyantly supported without that somewhat awkward sense of feeling stuck in the mattress as you try to turn over.

Extremely Firm: The Best Mattress Choices

With the requirements of a reliably supportive firm mattress mentioned above, you can confidently reach for these specific and extremely firm mattresses. These high-performance mattresses can help you achieve deep, rejuvenating sleep on a minimally contouring, easy-to-move-on, ultra-firm mattress surface that provides exceptional support.

Beautyrest Black Series Three Extra Firm

Chosen for its advanced structure, Beautyrest Black utilizes an independently wrapped and incredibly durable "triple-braided" coil support system. The T3 coil by Beautyrest is ultra-strong and highly recommended for a durable, long-lasting, and firm mattress that retains its responsiveness and support for years to come.

Stearns & Foster Estate Firm

Featuring Intellicoil for personalized support and comfort, it is designed with co-sleeping and couples in mind. This mattress is chosen, however, for its upgraded, sturdy edge support design. Stearns & Foster mattresses utilize the PrecisionEdge System: tightly wound and highly responsive edge coils along the outside perimeter.

In comparison, many other brands integrate high-density foams surrounding the mattress coils for edge support. Ultimately, edge coils react and withstand wear and tear exceptionally well compared to other mattress edge support systems.

The Best Luxury Firm Mattress for Side Sleepers

Sometimes, the firmest mattress isn't the best choice for everyone. There are numerous options for mattresses that fall between the firm and soft mattress varieties. Some of these mattress firmnesses are classified as luxury firm, medium, medium-firm, or cushion-firm; specialists refer to these as specific levels that describe the comfort of a mattress, known as the mattress comfort level.

If you're a side sleeper, have a petite body type, or experience back pain, circulatory issues, or sensitive areas along your body, you will likely sleep better on a medium or slightly more cushioned yet firm mattress, such as:

Avocado Luxury Organic Medium

Avocado mattresses still feature a supportive and responsive independent coil system to keep your hips and spine aligned. Instead of utilizing foams that tend to allow for continued sinking in and deep conformability with the body, Avocado uses latex rubber material instead. This material naturally creates an "on the bed" sensation that is easier to move on compared to memory foam, while also providing beneficial support and optimal pressure point relief.

As mentioned earlier, sleeping "on the mattress," rather than in it—that's a feeling that many people who prefer a firm mattress appreciate. A medium-firm with natural latex rubber, such as the Avocado Luxury Organic Mattress, offers a boost of buoyancy and ease of movement that many people enjoy compared to beds with memory foam. Some even describe the feeling of lying on natural rubber inside a mattress as a "floating sensation," which comes from experiencing balanced spinal alignment and maximum pressure relief that you've likely not felt before.

The Best Affordable Firm Mattress

One of the above sections lists several considerable factors for a firm mattress, including the choice between a high-performance, luxury mattress design and one with an affordable price and notable value.

Keep in mind that your choice, although it may be based on budget, still reflects on how valuable it is for you to get good sleep consistently. That said, there are several personal decisions, such as financing options, you must make when choosing a mattress, including the initial investment, mattress delivery, and the potential rewards that come with it.

If you have a pretty strict budget in place, reach for the luxuriously affordable options available today, such as:

• Serta Perfect Sleeper X Hybrid Mattress
• Avocado Green Mattress
• Beautyrest Harmony Level Three Medium Firm
• Sealy Posturepedic Elite Hybrid Firm

The Best Firm Mattress Around for Back + Stomach Sleeping

If you sleep on your back or your stomach, or a combination of both, make sure to try these two substantially firm mattress choices, both on display to try at locally owned and operated Mattress Express Locations:

TEMPUR-Pedic LuxeBreeze Firm

TEMPUR-Pedic mattresses utilize advanced pressure-relieving material (APR). This proprietary formulation is arguably the best "slow-responding" mattress material on the market today. The LuxeBreeze Firm Mattress is chosen for its ability to deliver balanced support and pressure relief through ample support and even body weight distribution, all without the use of coils.

APR material by TEMPUR-Pedic is well-known among sleep specialists as a fantastic shock absorber, an excellent concept for eliminating motion transfer from sleepers moving on one side of the bed to the other. Advanced pressure relieving materials also decrease pressure points more effectively than many different types of mattress materials.

Purple Restore Hybrid Mattress

If you're intrigued by the idea of getting a firm mattress but aren't sure which exact firmness level will work best, you can start by trying the GelFlex Grid comfort layer inside the Purple Restore Hybrid mattress. This unique, gel-like grid layer provides a "firm where you need it, and soft where you don't" soothing, cool, and comfortable sleeping surface.

The Purple GelFlex Grid Technology is exceptionally "forgiving" by relieving uncomfortable pressure points, yet cushions the curves of the body, so all at the same time, it feels satisfyingly firm and supportive, yet soft and supple. Purple Hybrid mattresses, all around, are savvy choices for back and stomach sleepers who prefer a firm, "on-the-mattress" feel, as well as for those who want a balanced combination of support and comfort from their mattress to sleep better. 

EXPRESS News Flash: Locate the Best Firm Mattresses Around Upstate New York

The best news is in! Mattress Express, with numerous locations throughout Syracuse and Watertown, showcases only the best mattress brands and a wide variety of professionally vetted quality mattresses, automatically eliminating many other subpar mattress options and allowing you to pinpoint the precise firmness, brand, and particular firm mattress that works best for you.

So, don't hesitate to dive right in to find the perfect firm mattress that suits your needs for better sleep. Begin by mattress shopping with the fun, professional, and knowledgeable associates at Mattress Express, a top mattress company in upstate New York. With expert guidance every step of the way, if you choose, you'll even find it's a breeze to discover, finance, or outright buy your perfect mattress here, too!