Like ordering a steak in a restaurant, you can order your mattress to suit your personal taste.
Mattresses are made on a sliding scale of firmness, but there isn’t a standardised way to measure firmness. This makes it subjective; we all experience firmness differently due to the many variables around weight and height.
Medium firm mattresses come in most types of mattress, such as hybrid, spring, and organic mattresses – apart from foam and memory foam, although levels of firmness can vary between manufacturers.
What are firmness levels?
The firmness level usually determines how comfortable a mattress is.
Ever slept on a bed that feels like an ironing board? Or felt like you’ve disappeared into the middle? Support is the other major factor, which is how a mattress helps keep the spine in optimal alignment.
Firmness should not be conflated with support; it is the initial feeling or experience when you first lay down on the mattress. On a scale of one to ten, medium firm would be around five to six.
Which firmness is the best?
In the Goldilocks sense of finding the one that’s ‘just right’, a mattress that is too firm is less able to contour to your body.
This can be more of an issue for side sleepers than back sleepers - as side sleeping uses a smaller surface area. Medium firm is certainly an all-rounder that will suit many people.
What firmness do hotels use?
Because it works for all three sleep positions, hotels typically go with medium firm mattresses. Upscale hotels often allow their guests to specify their preferred mattress topper to tailor the mattress to their requirements.
Who are medium-firm mattresses best for?
Sleep style
Medium firm mattresses cover light, average, and heavier builds and can accommodate a range of sleep styles from side and stomach, to back.
Medium firm is good for back sleepers because they may offer pressure relief without the sinking feeling.
Weight
Heavier builds place more pressure on the mattress, making it sink lower than someone lighter. So a thicker medium firm mattress is a suitable option.
Lighter builds may also find that a medium firm mattress can keep them well supported.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of a medium-firm mattress?
- People who mostly sleep on their back and side may find that medium firm gives them the right support, if they are of average weight
- A medium firm mattress is a good compromise for couples who differ in weight. Men tend to be heavier, thus preferring a firmer mattress, whereas as women tend to be lighter, and find that firm can be too hard
- For smaller or very light people, medium firm may be too hard, and they may require a softer, more cushioning mattress topper
- For very heavy people, medium firm may be too soft and provide inadequate support
How firm are Simba mattresses?
Our Hybrid® mattresses are medium firm. Over the years, we've built 100s of prototypes, and our sleep experts have discovered the mattress design which suits most sleepers is a hybrid model.
A Simba Hybrid® is not just any hybrid. Our signature mattresses are packed with innovative, technical layers of Aerocoil®, fresh Simbatex® foam, edge-to-edge and multi-zoned base support, which when combined offer an optimum level of comfort and support.
We are confident Simba mattresses offer longer, deeper rest to most sleepers, since the Hybrid® mattress range is designed to suit different budgets and to give additional plushness and premium features as you go up the range.
At the wallet-friendly and sleep-friendly end of the range, we have our Comfort mattresses, which are designed with all our core tech at a comfortable price. Then we have our Deluxe range, which is where our popular Hybrid® Pro, Hybrid® Luxe and of course, the Hybrid® Ultra sit. Each of these has more of our advanced innovations, so you get responsive, luxurious support whatever your sleeping style.
Fancy a more responsible sleep? Our Earth range is designed with sumptuous materials like wool, silk and cashmere for your slice of sleep paradise every night. Whichever mattress you go for, you’re guaranteed the Simba signature tech we’re known for – whether you’re after Single, Double, King or Super King mattresses.
