Best Mattresses for Acid Reflux in 2019
Acid reflux can cause troubles falling asleep and getting good night’s rest. Luckily, the right mattress can soothe the symptoms of GERD by providing optimal levels of comfort.
Acid reflux can cause troubles falling asleep and getting good night’s rest. Luckily, the right mattress can soothe the symptoms of GERD by providing optimal levels of comfort.
Acid reflux and acid reflux disease can present a large hurdle when it comes to comfortably falling asleep and getting good night’s rest. Let’s briefly go over how it works in case you have a family member or loved one who suffers from this problem. Basically, there is a muscle at the entrance to your stomach, called the lower esophageal sphincter (or LES, for short). The LES opens and closes to let food pass through to your stomach, and it normally closes very quickly after the food comes through.
However, if the LES opens too often or doesn’t close properly, the acid from your stomach can move up to your esophagus. If this happens, you can experience severe heartburn or other types of discomfort. If you experience these symptoms three or more times per week, that means you have acid reflux disease. This disease is also widely known as gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD for short.
Naturally, this level of discomfort can cause serious sleeping problems, especially for people who sleep on their back or stomach. Sleep experts claim that sleeping on your back can cause GERD to re-ignite and create more heartburn. Sleeping on your stomach with this disease often creates a painful feeling in your neck or back, preventing proper relaxation. For this reason, sleeping on your side is the most advisable, and acid reflux sufferers tend to prefer mattresses that offer especially high levels of comfort and support to people who sleep on their side.
It can be hard to find a good mattress, however. We’ve assembled this article to help potential shoppers find a mattress that soothes the symptoms of GERD by providing optimal levels of comfort to the patient. We’ve selected only the finest mattresses available on the market in 2019, so you can easily narrow down your choices and make an informed and confident purchasing decision. Let’s look at the products:
Hybrid models, for all their benefits, often come at a price that is difficult to justify when planning your finances. This mattress breaks that tradition by hovering around the $500-600 range, making it way more affordable. It comes with a confident lifetime warranty, as its construction is good enough to last decades upon decades in normal conditions. The 100-night sleep trial allows you to experience the softness of the Helix Moonlight and return the mattress if it doesn’t match your preferences.
The support core of this hybrid mattress is composed of thick, high-density foam that offers optimal levels of reinforcement to keep the mattress in shape throughout the years without creating excessive sagging. The comfort layer is made out of soft polyfoam, cushioning the entire body and providing superior motion isolation and noise reduction. Both of those benefits are crucial for couples sharing a bed, since it lets one of the sleepers move around, enter and leave the bed without easily disturbing their partner. At around 3.5/10 on the firmness scale, this mattress lands safely in the “Soft” category and is exceptionally cozy for sleepers under 130 pounds.
The Helix Moonlight mattress offers the most support to side sleepers, and since that position is highly recommended to acid reflux sufferers, this mattress stands out as a solid pick. Still, the level of support and comfort provided for sleepers who prefer different sleep positions is more than adequate, which helps couples even more if the person without acid reflux disease prefers sleeping on their back or stomach. The support core retains a lot of breathability despite its thickness, which helps the mattress stay cool throughout the night and provides a nice counterbalance to the heartburn commonly associated with GERD.
The Nectar mattress is a popular choice for several reasons, not the least of which is the affordable price. The King-sized version of this mattress costs around $900, which is less than half of most luxury mattress options on the market. It’s commonly classified as a Medium in terms of firmness, and mattresses of that firmness level are the most popular overall since they offer great support and cushioning for sleepers of many body types and preferences.
The Nectar Memory Foam Mattress comes with two layers of memory foam for the comfort system, one of which features a special gel memory foam for extra cushioning. It makes the mattress excellent at relieving pain in the neck (the strain from GERD-induced coughing can add up to a stiff and painful neck without proper support), without excessive sagging. The very dense double-layer of polyfoam provides excellent support for side sleepers, including people who suffer from GERD. The cotton and lyocell cover offers exceptional breathability, helping you sleep cool when you need it. The motion isolation is good for couples or if you have a playful pet that likes to jump onto the bed without warning.
This mattress comes with a lifetime warranty, but the benefits don’t stop there. The sleep trial you’d normally get from manufacturers lasts an impressive 365 nights, giving you more than enough time to get to know the mattress and test it with your potential sleeping partner.
Eco-conscious sleepers might be worried about the materials used in a lot of mattresses on the market. The Avocado Green Mattress is made exclusively out of natural and organic materials without sacrificing the performance of more synthetic options. There are two firmness options to choose from – Medium and Firm. Their level of firmness and support are perfect for sleepers at or above 130 pounds. There are three main layers to look at when it comes to how this mattress is constructed.
The comfort layer is comprised of organic wool from New Zealand and natural Dunlop latex. This combination brings the ability for the mattress to conform to the sleeper’s body very closely, without getting too hot due to body heat absorption. There is a transition layer between the support core and the comfort layer that is composed entirely of natural latex. This layer alleviates some of the pressure applied to the core support springs, which adds durability. The support core consists of pocketed springs that promote increased airflow and help keep the spine aligned properly, which is a crucial part of healthy sleeping – especially for people suffering from acid reflux, who already have health issues to worry about. Motion isolation and noise reduction help couples sleep without disturbances.
Shipping is entirely free if you’re in the US. You get 20 years of warranty coverage, which is above average for mattresses of any quality. A special White Glove option lets you arrange in-home mattress replacement, so you don’t have to exhaust yourself if you’re already experiencing heartburn or heavy coughing. This option comes with additional charges, however. The sleep trial lasts for 100 nights, perfect for testing purposes.
The most common problem for stomach and side sleepers is often spine alignment. Improper support can result in feeling tired, with an aching spine and reduced flexibility. It’s crucial for side sleepers to find a mattress that supports them and helps create healthy spine alignment, even more so if they have to always sleep on their side because of a condition like GERD. The two firmness options of Medium and Firm cover sleepers that range anywhere above 130 pounds, which is the typical cut-off point for “mediumweight” bodies.
The combination of standard and gel-infused memory foam in the comfort layer help the mattress conform closely to the body without absorbing massive amounts of body heat and disturbing your sleep. The cotton cover is completely organic and provides additional cooling and breathability, making this an excellent mattress even during the hottest summer nights. Couples get the most benefit out of the reduced motion transfer and noise reduction, as both people get to sleep undisturbed and cozy.
Unlike a lot of competing brands (who usually charge triple-digit fees for this), White Glove delivery is free for the Loom & Leaf mattress for US citizens. It means you get to have your mattress assembled and replaced within your home, saving yourself a lot of effort. If you’re suffering from acid reflux disease, the symptoms may demand an option like this. The mattress comes with 15 years of warranty, and you can test it out for 120 nights, or four months.
If you’re looking for flexibility and options, this is the model to look at. You have the choice of three height profiles – nine, ten or twelve inches. Along with that, you can choose between Medium or Firm options in terms of firmness. These rank at around 5 and 8 on the firmness scale respectively, so they provide optimal support for sleepers at or above 130 pounds. The combination of these options lets you pick the perfect mattress without having to look at a ton of different brands and models. The materials used for this mattress are all-natural and eco-friendly.
The comfort layer of this mattress is composed of organic wool and Dunlop latex. When combined, these materials provide exceptional breathability, with the latex component offering ideal levels of pressure relief. The cushioning provided by this mattress prevents the forming of common pressure points and, combined with the natural latex support layer, helps side sleepers achieve the ideal spine alignment. The latex used in the construction of the mattress also adds years to its lifespan, thanks to the material’s above-average durability.
Quality has to come at a price, so this mattress will demand a bigger budget than some of the other mattress choices on this list. However, the PlushBeds Botanical Bliss mattress comes with a 100-night sleep trial and a 25-year warranty, so every penny spent is worth it. The amount of support this model provides for side sleepers, especially ones dealing with acid reflux, is nothing short of amazing.
Purple are top-level mattress scientists. The biggest selling point of the New Purple mattress is the patented “Smart Grid” comfort system. The Smart Grid system combines the benefits of an elastic polymer and a special buckling-column gel to achieve optimal comfort. This material closely conforms to the body and alleviates most if not all pain and pressure points, perfect for people with back issues – or acid reflux disease. Memory foam is relatively durable, but this polymer combination surpasses it to a significant extent, adding a lot of much-needed durability to the New Purple mattress. As a result, the 10-year warranty the mattress comes with is a very humble underestimation of how long this mattress will last in practice.
An additional benefit of the Smart Grid is just how breathable and cool the mattress is. This breathability is enhanced by the support core, formed of special pocketed coils that provide exceptional spine support for side sleepers. Much like the Botanical Bliss Collection, the New Purple comes in a range of height profiles and firmness options so you can tailor the mattress to your (and your partner’s) specific preferences. The thicker you go, the softer the mattress gets, and while the prices may vary, the New Purple is largely for customers with above-average budgets.
Still, the money spent on this mattress is rewarded with extreme comfort and support, and this mattress is more than cozy enough to help you get restorative sleep while dealing with acid reflux. The shipping is thankfully free, and the 10-year warranty and 100-night sleep trial let you take that risk without worry since you can refund the mattress for its full price if you somehow find it underwhelming in any way. Let’s just say that we don’t expect any problems to arise, as this is a top-notch product if you’re in the market for comfort.
Co-founder of Counting Sheep and Sleepaholic