Top Mattresses for Athletes in 2021 – Complete Buyer’s Guide

Being an athlete doesn’t necessarily mean that you built a career out of your physical skills; it’s a word that defines most of the people who generally like to stay in shape and test their limits. So, if you’re a runner, jogger, or simply like to do a spinning session every few days, you can be considered an athlete or at least someone with athletic inclinations.

Now, the worst mistake an active person can make is to skip the recovery time. This time allows the body to rebuild the damaged muscles, heal the tissue that got ripped during training, and overall grow and get stronger. If you skip this, you’ll get more tired with every session and your performance will start to slowly decrease.

The second worse mistake, is not getting the right type of bed – given that most of the recovery happens when we sleep, there is no wonder that the mattress is of such importance, right? So why not get the top-grade design, one created for athletes and engineered with materials that speed up recovery?

Have a look at the reviews we did on the best mattresses for athletes on the market and make sure to follow the guidelines when you choose a new bed for your needs as an active person.

Tips for Active People

Why You Need Sleep

First, it’s important to highlight that athletes or people who are more physically active than the average person, need more sleep. Also, the sleep must be of quality, so the body will have a good chance to recover from the effort.

When you test your physical limits on a regular basis, the muscles become more active and the ligaments and tendons get stronger, but to get there, these tissues have to rebuild themselves after every session.

For instance, to get bigger, the muscle fiber breaks and creates new fibers, but for this to happen, it takes time. This is why recovery and rest are more important for active people, but also shouldn’t be ignored by regular people.

During sleep, the body and brain work hard to heal damaged tissue (to an extent) and rebuild affected muscles. Still, these activities don’t happen if you don’t get to those deep and restful stages of sleep that make you feel energetic and ready to conquer the world in the morning.

Firm or Soft – Which is Better?

The debate between which level of firmness is ideal goes on for a very long time, but when it comes to active people, specialists always recommend firm. Actually, they recommend medium-firm towards firm because this type of mattress provides optimal spinal alignment and back support.

Of course, it helps if the bed provides some level of contouring, to keep the sleeper comfortable and the surface without any pressure points. In this case, a latex mattress may be the top-grade choice, but so are some gel memory foam designs.

The idea is to keep the sleeper from sinking into the surface. If this happens, it means the body is not supported by the mattress and the heavier parts (hips and shoulders) will sink deeper than the rest. This keeps the spine in tension and the sleeper will not be able to rest properly.

Also see: Best Soft Mattress Reviews & Ultimate Guide

How Many Hours Should You Sleep?

The National Sleep Foundation recommends adults who are physically active, should sleep a minimum of 8 to 9 hours per night. But, keep in mind, these are minimums and each person is different, so if you feel you need more, feel free to do it.

An active person who doesn’t get enough sleep risks lower performance and they are more prone to injury. Also, the recovery time will be longer, and you will end up feeling exhausted, which will have a huge impact on your life in general.

When we sleep enough, the body has time to get to that non-REM sleep stage that is so beneficial for both the mind and the physical body. This is the deep stage of sleep during which the tissue gets repaired, and muscles are growing, but it’s not just about recovery. The immune system and bones also have a lot to gain from the non-REM stage of sleep.

Athletes with Pain Problems

High Quality Options

Lower Back

The lower back is extremely worked up during the day, even when you’re not an athlete. The current lifestyle where we sit most of the day, the heavy things we lift without preparation, the way we move, everything is supported starting with the hips and lower back.

Are you side sleeping and have a lower pain?

See: Best Mattress for Side Sleeper With Lower Back Pain – Guide & Reviews

So, it’s no wonder that most active people have, at least once, injured their lower back! However, if the pain is muscular and doesn’t go down the leg or keep you paralyzed, it will probably go away in a few days. But it will go away only if you allow the muscle to get repaired, and this means lots of rest and no physical activity that could make the injury worse.

Furthermore, a lower back injury can be alleviated with the help of a good mattress that supports the back and keeps the spine well-aligned.

Read more here: Best Mattress for Back Pain – Relieve Chronic Discomfort (Lower & Upper)

Upper Back and Neck

These areas are commonly hurt by players who use their hands and upper body a lot. So, if you play handball, basket, or even tennis, you may have suffered some injury to the neck and upper back. However, other active people may suffer from pain in this area too so it’s best to be careful.

The recovery is usually rest and a healthy diet, which is why you will need the best mattress to help out in your efforts. The products we reviewed at the beginning of the article are of great help in these situations since they were specially designed to promote fast recovery.

Given that the neck and upper back are a bit more sensitive than the lower back, it’s highly recommended to consider some accessories such as pillows. These can help make the position more comfortable, and can speed up the recovery since you won’t be losing any sleep because of the pain.

More on neck pain here: Top Mattresses for Neck Pain – Our Ultimate Guide

Hip and Legs

Runners, football players, sprinters, and lots of other people with athletic inclinations will have to endure pain in the legs and hips, because of their favorite sportive activity. Even more, the ligaments and joints may get worn off prematurely, which leads to early onsets of arthritis.

But all these can be prevented by following a good diet and reducing the strain put on the muscles. While it may be difficult to workout less or be less active in your chosen field, the pain is a way the body asks you to cool down, at least for a while.

To speed up the recovery, we recommend either a hybrid design or a latex one. These are bouncy and firm but also provide some contouring which reduces the pressure points that show up in between the body and the bed. They’re also less likely to overheat, which is important if the tissue is inflamed.

Go to our: Buyer’s Guide for Hip (Pelvis) Suffering Patient

Shoulders

The area we call shoulder is a complex structure, made up of tiny bones, ligaments, joints, and protected by muscles. While the shoulder is engineered to be strong, prolonged use of its parts can lead to injury and this is when pain and stiffness show up.

Considering that the shoulder controls the movement of the arm, it is of paramount importance to not ignore any signs of problems. It’s also important to analyze the way you sleep, because many people tend to sleep on the same side years in a row. This leads to a wide range of shoulder-related problems and if you add strenuous activity to the mix, your future may be less bright.

However, if you find yourself lying on top of the same shoulder every night, you can reduce the pressure by getting a memory foam mattress with good support at the base. This bed allows you to sink into the layers, but doesn’t create any extra pressure for the body parts with which it gets in direct contact.

See more: Buying a Bed When Suffering from Shoulder Pain

Our Highest Rated Mattress for Athletic Individuals

Nectar – Athletes’ Favorite

Features:

  • Foam support and inner build
  • Impressive contouring
  • Special foam that promotes recovery

Our Ratings: 9.6/10

The most important thing for an athletic person is the recovery period, when the muscle is rebuilding itself and the tissue that supports the bones, ligaments, and joints heal. If this time is not respected and treated right, the person’s performance may suffer in time.

Now, given that most of the recovery happens during sleep, it makes sense to find a mattress that promotes recovery and the Nectar is the best-rated choice from this aspect. The Adaptive Hi Core memory foam layer provides crucial rebound and has a bouncy structure that brings it closer to recovery foam than any other designs on the market.

Finally, a cool surface is of paramount importance for a tired muscle, which is why the Nectar is among the top ventilated surfaces on the market. There is an entire layer of cooling gel right under the cotton cover to work on this aspect!

Want to learn more about this model? See a complete Nectar Sleep review.

Bear – On a Budget

Features:

  • Faster recovery due to Celliant Tech
  • Good heat dissipation due to cooling gel particles
  • Optimal spine alignment

Our Ratings: 9.5/10

Even athletes can be on a budget; especially when you’re just starting. However, you will have the same recovery needs regardless of your financial situation, and this is where the Bear mattress is the perfect fit.

The surface is designed to provide optimal spinal support and boasts an inner-build with five different layers of foam. Furthermore, the cover is engineered with Celliant technology that makes it breathable and encouraging towards muscle and tissue recovery.

Right underneath the cover, you will find a layer of cooling graphite foam which has the main purpose of keeping the sleeper cool and dry during the night. As we already mentioned, being cool is also helpful for muscle recovery.

During our review, we had different types of sleepers test the Bear and it proved to be just as contouring and supporting for side sleepers as it was for back and stomach sleepers. Overall, the Bear is the top-rated surface to get as an active person when the budget is not that generous.

For more info, go to our full Bear overview and review here.

Helix – Customize Your Feel

Features:

  • A mattress personalized for your needs
  • Created to fit your needs
  • One of the best mattresses for recovery

Our Ratings: 9.4/10

The level of firmness is another factor of importance when you get a bed as someone who enjoys being physically active. Too soft and you won’t be able to sleep right; too firm and you’ll continue to feel sore throughout the days following a powerful training session.

The bed must support your needs for a restful, restorative sleep; otherwise you won’t be able to perform at optimum standards. However, considering that most of today’s surfaces implement a one-size-for-all system, it can be difficult to identify a product that’s just right for you.

Here is where the Helix steps in. They first ask you to fill in a short survey, to understand the type of sleeper you are and if you share the bed with a partner or not. If you do, they will ask about their preferences as well. The mattress you receive will be customized to your needs alone, which is absolutely incredible (we went through all these steps for the review, and the experience is quite fun).

Check out our complete Helix Sleep review.

Conclusion

As you can see (and probably already know) athletes do need more quality sleep than the regular folks. But they also need a bit more from the surface they use for the nightly rest. They need a design to promote fast recovery with cooling materials and amazing back support. This can be done by choosing the best rated mattress for an athlete that we have listed above.

Of course, such a bed is not specially designed for athletes; these will do just fine in the bedroom of a regular person. But as an athlete, you can’t go with just any bed! So make sure to check out our reviews and follow our guidelines when you go bed hunting!

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