To find the right level of comfort, you first need to consider your primary sleep position, as that’s key to making the right decision when you come to choosing a mattress.
While comfort level is subjective, an industry-wide scale between 1 and 10 is used to determine firmness level, with a 1 being extremely soft and a 10 being extremely firm. We've found that most mattresses tend to fall between a 4 and an 8 on the scale.
As a general rule, stomach sleepers and those carrying more weight will find a better level of support with a mattress that errs on the side of the firm – around 7-7.5 on the scale.
Side and back sleepers need some support but of a slightly softer kind, so should opt for a medium or medium-firm 5-7 out of 10. Sleep Advisor estimates that 80 percent of adults prefer mattresses categorized as medium.
Lighter and some side sleepers will be best suited to something a little more cloud-like. However, there are very few mattresses out there with a 1-2 rating simply because they are so soft and don't offer enough in the way of support.
That said if you have particular issues with muscle aches and joint pains, a mattress that is zoned with varying levels of firmness to help different areas of the body may be the better choice.
The good thing is that many brands recognize that sleep styles vary and so many offer 100-night plus trials with free returns to make sure you get the one for you and are often able to offer solutions to help you find your firmness sweet spot.