Best Mattresses for Petite Sleepers
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Mattresses are typically designed to accommodate all body types—but that doesn't mean they actually deliver. That's why in CR’s mattress tests, we evaluate how well each mattress supports three distinct groups of people: petite, average, and big or large/tall. If you're about 5 feet, 1 inch and weigh 120 pounds or less, you fall into CR’s petite support ratings category.
“Don't assume the mattress that your linebacker brother finds comfortable will also work for your petite frame,” says Christopher Regan, who oversees CR’s mattress tests. “Try to test out a mattress for at least 15 minutes before making a final decision to see if it is comfortable to you—you’ll likely notice whether the firmness or the mattress’ stability is to your liking."
At CR, we buy and test queen-size mattresses because that’s the most widely sold size. Using lab equipment and human subjects, we evaluate how well a mattress supports the body for both back and side sleepers of various sizes, how easily sleepers can shift their weight without disturbing their partner, and how well the mattress keeps its shape over time.
To mimic the typical eight- to 10-year useful life span of a mattress, we conduct a mechanical test in which a 308-pound roller is passed over each model 30,000 times. For firmness, rather than take a manufacturer’s word for it, we apply a load of up to 1,000 newtons (4.4 newtons equal a pound) to each mattress, then plot the results on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the firmest.
And though our scientific ratings for support are a good proxy for how well you might sleep on a mattress, we also provide ratings for comfort and satisfaction that come from people who’ve actually lived with these mattresses—for up to 10 years in some cases. Our comfort and owner satisfaction ratings are based on data from recent surveys on CR members’ experiences with more than 74,000 mattresses purchased within the past decade. We asked them to rate the comfort of their mattress, and used the data to generate ratings by brand and type of mattress. Owner satisfaction is based on a member’s overall judgment of factors such as firmness/softness, value, quality of sleep, and more.
CR members with digital access can read on for ratings and reviews of seven mattresses from Avocado, Casper, Charles P. Rogers, Ethan Allen, Sealy, and Sleep on Latex that are great for petite people. The list is organized to show our overall top performer, followed by mattresses that are great for back sleepers, and then by beds that are best for side sleepers.
Check our mattress ratings to dive into the details on all the mattresses we test.
