$300 off a mattress in any size + a free sleep bundle (mattress protector, 100% cotton sheets, 2 pillows) valued at $399 with your mattress purchase
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One study after another has demonstrated that while sleep is necessary for everyone, it has even heightened importance for teenagers. Consistent and high-quality sleep promotes brain function, school performance, physical health, mood, and effective decision-making. As teens’ brains and bodies are rapidly developing, the negative impacts of sleep deprivation can be amplified.
Having the right mattress can help teens more easily get the sleep that they need. A bed that fits a teenager’s needs equates to more comfort, better support for the body, and one less barrier to a healthy sleep routine. Figuring out which mattress is the right one, though, can be difficult, especially since many teens may not be excited to spend their free time going mattress shopping with their parents.
Thankfully, there are numerous excellent options online that are well-built, affordable, and come with a flexible return policy that lets teenagers try out a mattress over a period of months to be sure it’s a good fit. Our guide introduces the best mattresses for teenagers and explains the essential things to know about and look for when shopping for a teenager’s new bed.
Best Overall
$300 off a mattress in any size + a free sleep bundle (mattress protector, 100% cotton sheets, 2 pillows) valued at $399 with your mattress purchase
The WinkBed is a dependable hybrid mattress that can meet the needs of most teenagers. Its fusion of different materials offers a balanced feel and edge-to-edge stability that can pave the way for years of quality sleep.
The WinkBed’s sturdy interior construction starts with its bottom layer, a support core made of pocketed innerspring coils. Those coils are zoned to grant more support to heavier regions of the body like the midsection and shoulders.
Above the support core are micro-coils that are also individually-wrapped. The coil-on-coil design generates noticeable bounce and significant edge support that is reassuring to people who like to sleep or sit near the perimeter of their bed.
The sections of the comfort system above the micro-coils are layers of specialty polyfoam that help the mattress feel comfortable and relieve pressure. The top layer of polyfoam is quilted into the WinkBed’s euro-style pillow-top that provides a compact yet elegant look to the bed as a whole.
By offering models that are medium soft (4), medium firm (6), and firm (7), there are options available so that teens can pick the comfort level that best meets their needs. The medium soft and medium firm options are the most popular among teenagers.
To try out the mattress, WinkBeds offers a 120-night sleep trial, and the company also backs every mattress with a lifetime warranty.
Best Value
The Allswell Mattress is a foam-based hybrid bed that offers a nice balance of features to suit many teenagers. The price-point is easy on the wallet compared to other hybrid mattresses, making this an ideal bed for teens who may quickly outgrow it.
Measuring 10 inches high, the Allswell is built with a 2-inch comfort layer of memory foam, followed by a .5-inch transition layer of polyfoam. The support core contains 7-inch pocketed coils, and the cover is quilted with .5-inch polyfoam. The comfort layer is thin compared to other hybrid mattresses, which gives the mattress a firmer feel. The firm surface will suit teens who enjoy sleeping on top of mattresses rather than sinking into them, while still offering some of the cradling support that people expect from memory foam.
The Allswell rates 7 on our 10-point firmness scale. This firmness rating makes the bed a good fit for teens who sleep on their back and stomach, since these sleeping positions require firmness to ensure proper spinal alignment. However, stomach sleepers who weigh more than 230 pounds may sink too deep into the mattress to benefit from the firmness. Side sleepers who weigh over 130 pounds will find adequate relief for pressure points in the shoulders and hips, but those under 130 pounds may not sink in enough to experience pressure relief.
The memory foam is infused with graphite and copper gel that is meant to draw heat away from the body, making the Allswell an appealing option for teens who sleep hot. The motion isolation performance is average, but teens may not require excellent motion isolation since they typically sleep alone.
Allswell provides free shipping within the contiguous United States, except for California. The company offers a 100-night trial and 10-year warranty.
Best Memory Foam
The all-foam Nectar Mattress is a great fit for teens who enjoy close body-contouring from their mattress. A thick memory foam comfort layer gives the surface a cloud-like feel that can be likened to sleeping “in” – as opposed to sleeping “on” – the mattress. The Nectar Mattress excels at pressure relief, making it particularly well suited to physically active young people.
The medium firm (6) feel of this mattress is also ideal for teens who weigh up to 230 pounds, especially those in the range of 130-230 pounds. The memory foam provides enough cushioning to improve alignment for side sleepers, but the bed’s polyfoam support layers prevent back and stomach sleepers in this weight group from sinking too much – a common issue with softer mattresses.
The Nectar Mattress is quite affordable for a memory foam model, but still performs at the same level as many higher-cost competitors. If your teen undergoes a growth spurt or changes their mind about their desired firmness level, choosing Nectar over a more expensive model means you’ll save some money in the long run.
To further sweeten the deal for customers, Nectar includes a sleep trial with each purchase that allows your teen to test out the mattress for up to one year before deciding to keep it. You’ll also receive a lifetime warranty that covers structural defects for as long as you own the mattress. Additionally, shipping is free for all orders in the contiguous U.S.
Best for Side Sleepers
Many teens have firmness preferences that evolve over time as their height and weight change, while others continually fluctuate between wanting a firm feel one night and a soft feel the next. The Layla Mattress is a great option for these young people because of its reversible design. One side is constructed for a medium soft (4) feel that provides a deep contour, while the other side is firm (7) and delivers sturdy support.
Teens will likely favor one side of the mattress over the other due to their body type and sleep position. The medium soft side can be beneficial to side sleepers because of its ample cushioning around the shoulders and hips, which can improve spinal alignment and eliminate pressure points associated with this sleep position. Back and stomach sleepers may prefer the firm side instead, since these positions promote even alignment and generally require more support.
Both sides of the mattress feature comfort layers made of memory foam that conforms around the body to evenly distribute weight. The foam is infused with copper, which has natural cooling to ensure the material won’t absorb too much heat. Copper is also antimicrobial, which assists with odor control.
The Layla Mattress has a sticker price that’s on par with other memory foam models and shipping is free of charge anywhere in the contiguous U.S. Your purchase will include a 120-night sleep trial and a lifetime warranty against structural defects.
Most Comfortable
The Signature is Brooklyn Bedding’s best-selling mattress, and for good reason. This hybrid model is constructed with high-quality foams and sturdy pocketed coils, ensuring a design that’s comfortable and supportive in equal measure. The approachable price-point also makes this mattress a great option for teenagers – especially those undergoing growth spurts who may need a new bed within the next few years.
The comfort layer is composed of gel-infused TitanFlex, a proprietary polyfoam that contours evenly to the body but is also fairly responsive. A second foam layer reinforces the TitanFlex to keep teens on an even plane and reduce sinkage around the midsection. The support core is zoned with thicker coils along the perimeter, which minimizes sinkage when someone sleeps near the edges or gets in and out of bed.
Three firmness levels are available for the Signature. The medium soft (4) feel is best suited to side sleepers, since this position often requires more cushioning to promote even alignment and alleviate pressure points along the spine. Teens who weigh at least 130 pounds may find the medium firm (6) feel more comfortable, while those who weigh more than 230 pounds will likely prefer the firm (8) option instead – especially if they sleep on their back or stomach.
The top layer is infused with cooling gel and the coils promote steady air circulation, so the Signature sleeps exceptionally cool and should be ideal for anyone who runs hot while they sleep. You can choose from 14 different sizes, including hard-to-find options like short queen and king, Olympic queen, and three RV options.
In addition to its affordable price-point, the Signature qualifies for free ground shipping throughout the contiguous U.S. Your purchase also includes a 120-night sleep trial, as well as a 10-year warranty if you keep the mattress after the return period expires.
Best for Athletes
A good night’s rest is crucial for athletes and other young people with physically active lifestyles. Sleep promotes muscle recovery, allowing teens to wake up feeling refreshed after a strenuous day – and an uncomfortable mattress can interfere with this important process. As its name implies, the Zoma Sports Mattress is well suited to athletic people because of its zoned design.
The top memory foam layer is divided into three different firmness levels to deliver soft cushioning for the head and shoulders, enhanced reinforcement for the midsection, and moderate contouring below the waist.
The mattress also features a transitional polyfoam layer that prevents sleepers from sinking too deeply into the mattress, as well as a high-density foam base to provide sturdy support. Due to its medium (5) feel, the Zoma Sports Mattress will be most comfortable for teens who weigh 230 pounds or less and sleep on their side.
Another important trait of the Zoma Sports Mattress temperature regulation. While many competing all-foam beds can sleep uncomfortably warm, this model’s memory foam layer is infused with cooling gel intended to draw heat away from the body and maintain a comfortable surface any time of year.
Ground shipping is free of charge for all orders within the contiguous U.S. Your Zoma Sports Mattress comes with a sleep trial that allows you to test it out for up to 100 nights, as well as a 10-year warranty against excessive sagging and other structural defects.
Best Cooling
The Bear Mattress stands out thanks to its notable contouring, advanced cover material, and its competitive price-point. While it falls as a 7 on the firmness scale, it nevertheless offers plenty of pressure relief because of the cloud-like cushioning of the comfort layer.
The comfort layer in the Bear Mattress is made with stacked layers of graphite-gel memory foam and a responsive polyfoam. The memory foam layer provides an excellent “hug” sensation to relieve pressure points, providing a soft and welcoming feel to the mattress. The graphite-infused foam works to reduce heat retention and to prevent motion transfer across the sleeping surface. Beneath these layers is a support core made with high-density polyfoam.
A key feature of the Bear Mattress is the cover that is a blend of polyester and Celliant, a specialty textile. Celliant helps to capture heat from the body and convert it into infrared energy. The FDA has certified Celliant as a medical device because of its ability to boost blood flow, and this may help with muscle and tissue recovery during the night. For this reason, the Bear Mattress is especially popular among athletes of all ages.
The Bear Mattress is available at a competitive price-point – especially for a product with an innovative textile material like Celliant – and free shipping is included in the purchase price. Bear provides a 100-night sleep trial to test out the mattress in your own home, and a 10-year warranty covers the mattress should any defects arise in materials or workmanship.
Best Organic
Drawing on an uncomplicated design and durable natural materials, the Awara mattress is an excellent option for most teens, especially those who are back or stomach sleepers.
Proving the old adage that less is more, the Awara is a latex hybrid with just two interior layers. The top layer is four inches of Dunlop latex that is all-natural and certified to meet the environmental stewardship standards of the Rainforest Alliance. This comfort system is durable, dependable, and effective at providing both meaningful pressure point relief and significant bounce.
The support core is nine inches of innerspring coils that are individually wrapped and made of thick steel, providing stout support across the mattress, including at the edge. The responsiveness of the coils works in conjunction with the comfort system to make it easy for people to adjust their sleeping position during the night.
The Awara’s cover is a blend of organic cotton and wool that naturally controls temperature, teaming up with the interior layers to keep the mattress cool year-round.
The Awara’s feel is Medium Firm (6), giving the bed wide appeal, including to most teens of any sleeping position, especially those over 130 pounds. Because of how easy it is to change positions, the mattress is popular with combination sleepers as well.
The Awara has a competitive price point for a latex hybrid, along with a 365-night sleep trial and a lifetime warranty.
When shopping for a mattress, you’ll probably come across an abundance of mattress terminology and marketing promotions. While it’s easy to be drawn in, you’re most likely to be happy with your purchase if you focus on the nuts-and-bolts of the mattress.
These factors are the most essential to look for, and thinking about which matter the most to you lets you shrink your options and clarify which brand and model is the best match for you.
Mattress types are a way of sorting different beds based on how their interior layers are constructed. There are five main types of mattresses, each of which has a typical profile with certain benefits and downsides.
Knowing these profiles can be a handy step in selecting a mattress, but at the same time, not all mattresses of one type will be the same. Depending on their specific construction, some may closely fit the profile while others may diverge in meaningful ways.
Definition: A hybrid’s two interior components are a coil-based support core and a well-developed comfort system. The comfort system frequently includes more than one layer and can include micro-coils, latex, polyfoam, memory foam, cotton, and/or wool.
Dependable and Balanced: The driving concept behind a hybrid is to capitalize on the benefits of different materials being used together. The innerspring core provides a degree of reliability and edge support for teens while the comfort layers can amp up pressure relief and spinal support.
Definition: The coil-based core of an innerspring is its primary and in many cases only layer. There is very little or no comfort system above the coils in a true innerspring. In most cases, there is just a cover of cotton or polyester and perhaps a thin layer of fabric batting or polyfoam.
Low-Cost With Upgrade Options: Some people shopping for a mattress for a teenager may be on a limited budget or hesitant to invest in a bed when a teen’s preferences or needs may change. While innersprings lack in pressure relief, they tend to be the most affordable, and mattress toppers provide a low-cost, low-commitment way to change up their feel.
Definition: When all of the interior construction is with latex, the bed is known as a latex or all-latex mattress. Latex layers of different types or firmness levels are often used to help separate the comfort system and support core. Latex can be synthetic or natural, but natural formulations are more common in mattresses.
Winning Combination of Bounce and Contouring: Latex is well-known for having a bouncy feel that keeps sleepers from feeling stuck or trapped in one position. In addition, it has light conforming abilities, creating a compelling mix of performance features that can bring support and comfort to teenage sleepers.
Definition: In an airbed, the central support system is one or more air chambers. As air is added or removed from the chamber(s), the bed gets harder or softer. Layers above this air-based support core can include foam, latex, and/or soft fabrics like cotton and wool.
Precision Firmness Control: For people who want to perfectly dial-in the firmness feel of their mattress, there’s no better option than an airbed. That said, these tend to be expensive and are less commonly purchased for teens.
Definition: A popular type of bed, foam mattresses have a polyfoam support core and a comfort system made with one or more layers of memory foam, polyfoam, latex, and/or soft fabrics.
Cushioning at Value Prices: One reason why foam beds are popular is their deep contouring and ability to cushion pressure points. Another reason is that they are often affordably priced, making excellent values available among foam mattress models sold online.
It’s hard to overstate the importance of sleep for teenagers. Even though sleep is vital at any age, it becomes even more impactful for teens because of their dynamic brain and body development.
Numerous research studies have linked quality sleep in teens to better brain function including attention, memory, and mental processing. Not surprisingly, good sleep has been directly tied to better grades, test scores, and academic performance. Sleep also helps empower the parts of the brain involved in sound decision-making, which means sleep-deprived teens may be more likely to make risky decisions. That can be especially dangerous given that many teens are just starting to spend significant time driving.
Sleep is central to the body’s mechanisms for physical growth and recovery. It supports the immune system, muscle development, tissue recovery, and helps maintain a healthy weight. For teens involved in athletics, sleeping well may help improve sports performance and reduce injury risks.
Mood and emotional health are also directly impacted by sleep. Sleeping problems can contribute to or exacerbate issues like depression and anxiety, or they may lead to irritability that creates problems at home or in school.
Unfortunately, many teens fail to get enough sleep. During the teenage years, the body’s circadian rhythm, which helps control when we feel alert or tired, gets pushed back, which is why teens usually have more of a “night owl” schedule. At the same time, schools in many places still start early in the morning, making it harder for teens to get a full night’s sleep.
Pressures to meet demands for school, extracurricular activities, or social life can cause teens to sacrifice sleep. Increased use of mobile phones, tablets, laptops, and video games can stimulate the brain and suppress melatonin, the natural hormone that encourages timely sleep.
All of these factors work against teens who want to sleep well. While some of these factors, such as school start times, may be hard to change, teenagers can benefit by controlling their bedroom environment to make the most of the hours they have available each night to sleep.
Picking a mattress that is comfortable and supports the body can be a major contributor to consistent sleep. A great mattress eliminates a potential barrier to resting well and makes the idea of bedtime more inviting and appealing.
Although we’ve covered the foundational information about shopping for finding the top mattresses for teenagers, there are a few remaining items to cover that are worth examining as part of your buying process.
The most popular mattress firmness levels for teenagers is a range from medium soft (4) to medium firm (6). That said, any teen’s ideal firmness will depend primarily on three factors:
A full mattress frequently is ideal for teens because it offers plenty of space to stretch out but doesn’t feel overly spacious for one person. If a bedroom is smaller and can’t fit a full, most teens can sleep comfortably on a twin mattress or a twin XL if they are taller. It’s rare that a teenager needs a mattress larger than a full.
Finding relief for sleeping problems or morning aches and pains doesn’t have to bust your budget. When shopping for a new mattress online, there are great values to be found and plenty of coupons and promotions to help score a discounted price.
If buying a whole new mattress isn’t in the budget, it may be possible to get temporary relief from a mattress topper that can adjust the comfort feel, contouring, and/or bounce relative to your existing mattress.
To get a quality mattress, you’ll usually need to spend at least a few hundred dollars. No-frills models don’t offer fancy features, but they can provide teens with a reliable and usable sleeping surface. Spending a bit more, though, can mean getting a mattress that will last longer and provide a step up in performance, which, given the importance of sleep, is frequently a worthwhile investment.
The mattress is the biggest part of the bed, but that doesn’t mean it’s the only one that matters. Finding pillows, sheets, and blankets that have the right fit, feel, and look can contribute significantly to comfort and make your bed feel more inviting when bedtime rolls around.
A warranty offers a level of purchase protection when you buy a mattress. These warranties cover unforeseen defects in materials or manufacturing, but they don’t cover accidental damage from things like spills or jumping on the bed. They also don’t cover expected damage from wear-and-tear such as minor sagging over time.
If a mattress is truly defective, the warranty provides for repair or replacement. In a non-prorated warranty, you get the same coverage regardless of how long you’ve had the bed. In a prorated warranty, you pay an increasing share of the repair or replacement costs based on the amount of time you’ve owned it.
For the best coverage, look for a warranty that is non-prorated, lasts for at least ten years, and does not require the customer to pay for shipping fees.
Picking out a quality mattress can be a big step for teens who want to get better sleep. To get the biggest benefits, though, teens should also focus on sleep hygiene.
Sleep hygiene includes all the routines that influence sleep and all of the components of the bedroom environment. Taking steps to improve sleep hygiene, such as limiting the use of electronics before bed, setting a consistent sleep schedule, and avoiding caffeine, can go a long way to sleeping well, night in and night out.
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