Tag: sleep

Best Mattress for Back Pain (2026): Saatva, Bear, Helix

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Compare Our Top Six Favorite Mattresses for Back Pain

Honorable Mentions

Brooklyn Bedding Aurora Luxe Cooling Mattress for $1,699: If you’re looking for something akin to the Plank Natural that’s firm without being too firm, this is another good pick. It has cooling features, too, which is a nice bonus.

DreamCloud Premiere Hybrid for $1,099: This soft mattress was still supportive. I liked sleeping on it, but it didn’t erase my back pain as much as other mattresses we recommend. Still, it was a nice option if you want support without too much firmness as a side sleeper.

Essentia Tatami Organic Mattress for $3,435: This mattress is made of a really comfortable organic latex support core that has holes for breathability (and to help with cooling), and the active organic foam center helps spinal alignment and contouring support for pressure points. It doesn’t have coils or springs, but it’s still surprisingly supportive.

Leesa Sapira Chill for $1,969: If you’re grappling with whether you want a cooling mattress or a pain-relieving mattress, Leesa’s Sapira Chill is a well-priced option that can do it all. The Sapira Chill is our runner-up in the Best Mattresses guide, thanks to its problem-solving capabilities.

Saatva Memory Foam Hybrid for $1,699: The Saatva Memory Foam Hybrid is marketed as firm, and is designed to support your lower back with cushioning in the center. WIRED contributor Nicole Kinning was a little too short at 5’2″ for the lumbar support, but it could be a good fit for more average-sized folks. There are also cooling properties, but they didn’t stand out compared to other cooling mattresses.

Saatva Solaire for $4,199: If you and your partner want different firmness levels, the Saatva Solaire has a fascinating solution: letting you adjust the firmness with inflatable air chambers and a remote for either side of the bed. There are 50 firmness levels, and WIRED reviewer Divya Viswanathan says her husband prefers a lower setting, around 25, to help with his lower back pain and to relieve pressure, while she prefers a firmer feel, around 35 out of 50.

Nectar Premier for $949: WIRED reviewer Martin Cizmar is a side sleeper who suffers from sciatica back pain from time to time, and he says that this hybrid mattress is a great choice for anyone who wants a softer mattress to sink into while getting plenty of pressure relief and excellent contouring while you sleep.

Plank Firm for $999: WIRED reviewer Adrienne So says it takes a few days to reach its full firmness levels—she thought it was too soft after she initially unboxed it, but it became much firmer after a little more time. She describes the Plank Firm as sleeping on a clean wooden floor (which she loves). It’s entirely foam, and flippable with two different firmness levels on each side.

Plank Firm Luxe for $1,199: I really liked the firm support this mattress offered, and it has a better support system with a center layer of individually encased coils instead of just the firm foam the basic Plank has. It’s flippable, but the softer side is still very firm, and the firmest side is the hardest surface I’ve ever slept on. I did prefer the more nuanced support of the firm Bear Elite and a firmer Helix, and both of those models were more comfortable for both myself as a side sleeper and my back sleeper husband.

Purple Restore Cool Touch for $2,699: WIRED contributor Nicole Kinning says this is the absolute best cooling mattress by a long shot. It’s also got a gridlike gel layer, called GelFlex, that adds extra support and makes it easy to get out of bed in the morning.

WinkBeds The WinkBed for $1,799: WIRED reviewer Julian Chokkattu recommends this mattress for his fellow stomach and back sleepers. There are three levels of firmness. He tried the Luxury Firm and liked that the plush pillow-top also adds a luxe, hotel-like feel to a relatively firm bed.

Wolf 12-Inch Memory Foam Hybrid Medium Firm Mattress for $899: WIRED reviewer Molly Higgins found herself surprisingly impressed with this affordable mattress. She says the medium-firm memory foam hybrid mattress feels much more luxe than its price point suggests, and that individually wrapped coils give great support and help with overall structure, while the top gel foams conform to your body’s curves and aid in pressure relief.

Mattresses to Avoid

While the horrible futon mattress that started my hunt doesn’t exist anymore—hallelujah for that!—there are plenty of other mattresses that have flared up my or other WIRED reviewers’ back pain.

Tempur-Pedic Tempur-Adapt for $2,199: This mattress was super soft and conforming, but it wasn’t supportive whatsoever and had more of a sinking sensation when you laid on it. My right side’s muscle pain was worse after nights on this mattress, and my damaged spine felt distinctly unhappy. My sister also tried sleeping on it, and she described it as “sleeping on an air mattress that is losing air throughout the night.”

Magniflex Magnistretch 12 for $3,699: This Italian-made mattress advertises itself as stretching the spine. It’s endorsed by retired Italian soccer player Giorgio Chiellini and current pro basketballer Stefano Tonut, who plays for the Italian equivalent of the Boston Celtics. Well, the Magniflex definitely does something to the spine, though WIRED reviewer Martin Cizmar found it very unwelcome. He lasted only two nights on the Magnistretch before crying uncle and limping over to the next test mattress. He describes the morning-after sensation as similar to sleeping on a hammock made of chainlink fence.

FAQs

How Does a Mattress Help With Back Pain?

What makes a mattress ideal for solving back pain? A common rule of thumb is to aim for a medium-firm mattress. “A mattress that is medium-firm may be better for people with back pain instead of one that’s soft or firm,” but these are based on low-quality studies, says Sean Mackey. Harvard Health also recommends avoiding both very soft and very hard mattresses if you have back pain.

You’re looking for something that can provide spinal support if your pain originates in your spine, or pressure relief if your pain comes from pressure points you’re sleeping on. Mattress firmness plays a big role, but so does the overall design of the coils, foam layers, and any additional support measures added.

During my testing, I was impressed to find that a firmer mattress really did lead to big improvements in my back pain. I expected a harder surface to cause flare-ups of pain or to even throw my back out of place, which has happened on cheap, hard mattresses before. However, I slept well and woke up without any aches or soreness. While a softer sleep surface was my go-to since I’m a side sleeper, choosing a firmer style of mattress immediately supported my spine better and kept pain away, rather than flaring it up like I assumed.

Mackey also recommends checking in with your own doctor or an occupational therapist. “With chronic conditions, we don’t have a ‘This is the best thing for you,’” he says. He also recommends trialing out a few things while you sleep, whether that’s different pillows or mattresses of different firmnesses. You might also try physical therapy or stretching before bed: Mattress maker Charles P. Rogers has an entire area of its site dedicated to sleeping pain-free. It’s not just about what you’re sleeping on, but how well you’re taking care of yourself before you go to bed too.

I will probably always live with my spine conditions, and there are things that help, like stretching before bed and staying super active during the day. But sleeping on a better mattress is a good first step to staying active and pain-free—at least for the morning.

If you’re hesitant about investing in a new mattress, there’s an easy place to start: a knee pillow. It was one of the first recommendations that Sean Mackey, doctor of neurology, chief of the Division of Stanford Pain Medicine, and past president of the American Academy of Pain Medicine (AAPM), gave me when I asked him about how to reduce pain while you sleep. He explained that one of the sources of pain can be a lack of rachis alignment, or the alignment of your spine. “Generally, you should either be sleeping on your back or putting a pillow or support underneath your knees for spinal alignment,” says Mackey.

As a side sleeper, I went out and tried a few knee pillows designed for side sleepers with my original, crappy foam mattress I’ve been sleeping on for the past five years. Mackey wasn’t kidding—it did help. I was more comfortable and fell asleep faster. I liked both the Pillow Cube Knee Cube (which is discontinued) and the Everlasting Comfort Knee Pillow ($34) for different reasons. The Everlasting has a strap to keep it in place, but it’s nice and small if you don’t want something as bulky as the Pillow Cube in your bed. I did find that the smaller Everlasting was more likely to end up on the floor, though, versus the Pillow Cube’s being easier to relocate and tuck back into my knees in the middle of the night. Both helped with my spinal alignment and reduced my back pain a bit, but I still found switching to a more supportive mattress to be a bigger improvement.

How Does WIRED Test Mattresses for Back Pain?

For mattress testing in general, we sleep on all mattresses for at least a week, if not longer (many of my picks I slept on for closer to a month) depending on how they perform. I previously tested all of my mattresses on an old Article bed frame, and now am testing mattresses on an IKEA Tonstad bed frame. For back pain, I pay attention to my back pain spots the night before and see if they’re better or worse in the morning after a night on this mattress. I also look for pressure relief as a side sleeper (and another pain source) and I ask my back-sleeper husband about his experience and if it created any issues or pain for him that I wouldn’t discover as a side sleeper.

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What Type of Mattress Is Right for You? (2026)

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Fun fact: You do not need a box spring with a hybrid mattress. This is a recurring question I see, and pocketed coils in hybrids eliminate the need for one. Box springs were designed to give more support and elevate performance to traditional coil beds, which would align certain sections of coils to yield more support. Nowadays, you may actually void your warranty if you use a box spring with a hybrid mattress—be sure to check that fine print.

Our favorite hybrid we’ve tested is the Helix Midnight Luxe, which happens to be our top overall pick in our best mattresses guide. It also utilizes pressure-relieving foams and pocketed coils to provide targeted lumbar support.

Helix Sleep

Midnight Luxe with ErgoAlign

Another awesome hybrid mattress, the Nolah Evolution, seamlessly puts together some superb memory foam and pocketed coils, both of which counteract tension buildup for pressure points. I love it as an option for side sleepers for this reason, but it also works for back and stomach sleepers. The coils also make it easy to move around on, which is helpful for co-sleepers.

Innerspring

This is more of a history lesson than a type of mattress you want to shop for (unless you really love this kind of mattress; to each their own). “Traditional” innerspring mattresses are the firm-feeling beds you probably have early memories of, given that the makeup is just innerspring coils wrapped in a cover. It’s just as squeaky as you probably remember, too, as the coil type used involves connecting every coil to work as one unit.

These are Bonnell coils, and they connect both laterally and vertically. All to say, when you lie down and your weight is pressed into the mattress, all those coils act as “one for all and all for one” and simultaneously compress down. It’s not going to work wonders for pressure relief like modern hybrids will, but it is highly responsive, which means it’ll pop back into its original shape as you move around. So if you’re a sleeper who moves around between sleeping positions, coils are a good feature to have, so you’re getting near-instantaneous support.

Why aren’t traditional coils in the works with mattresses nowadays? According to Merwin, upgraded pocketed coils far outperform traditional ones. “Unlike traditional coils that are wired together and move as a unit, pocketed coils are encased individually, which allows each coil to respond independently to movement and pressure,” he said. “This design minimizes motion transfer, so when one person moves or gets out of bed, their partner feels far less disruption. It also provides more targeted support, contouring to the body in a way that improves spinal alignment and overall comfort.” While you can still find innerspring mattresses with traditional coils out there, they’re typically getting phased out in favor of hybrids. Truth be told, I’ve only tested less than a handful of them over the years. If you’re dead set on this mattress type, all power to you, and have fun on your personal mattress treasure hunt.

The Saatva Classic is one of those modern, rarer beds that rely on traditional coils in the secondary coil layer on the very bottom of the bed. This is to help with overall durability and support, which WIRED tester Nena Farrell has mentioned could be beneficial for those with back pain.

Memory Foam

We actually have NASA to thank for this one. If you google images of those early space missions, it’s no wonder that something was needed to keep astronauts from being jostled around inside rockets; hence, memory foam was born. It’s evolved quite a bit from those initial iterations, especially when Tempur-Pedic came onto the scene in the ’80s with a vision for it to become the basis of sleep products. Today, memory foam stands in a league of its own when it comes to the unique, compressive feel.

Memory foam is more of an umbrella term for all the iterations mattress brands have come up with today, but let’s refer to the mattress manufacturing expert for this one.

“Memory foam is produced by combining liquid polyurethane with various chemicals, like polyols and isocyanates, to enhance its viscosity and density,” says Merwin. Without whipping out the periodic table of elements and giving you a science lesson in the chemical components of this material, here’s the need-to-know: These compounds form a malleable foam that holds teeny-tiny bubbles within it. How it works is, as you lie on it, your body imparts heat onto the surface, flowing into these air pockets, which in turn allows it to become softer to contour around your body.

But for the science enthusiasts reading this, Merwin’s got you covered: “The key ingredient is a polymer that creates an open-cell structure, which allows the material to respond to heat and pressure. This is what gives memory foam its signature contouring or ‘hugging’ feel. During the manufacturing process, the liquid foam mixture is poured onto a moving line, where it expands and solidifies into large foam blocks, which we call ‘buns.’ At a high level, it’s a blend of chemistry and precision that transforms raw materials into a high-quality product.”

To say it’s a natural fit for those who need pressure relief from their mattress may be a bit too on the nose, but it’s arguably the most standout feature of this material. It also lessens the feeling of movement for the most restless of sleepers, which also makes it an attractive option for couples. Arguably, the biggest issue that plagues memory foam is heat retention, since once the heat has entered into these air chambers, it turns into something akin to microscopic saunas that can make the overall mattress into a nightmare for those who sleep warm. This is where the various iterations of foam come into play, as some brands infuse elements like graphite, copper, gel, or more advanced cooling technology like phase-change materials into the foams that they use.

Three layers of foam make up the Bear Original, but its certifications and cooling cover are here to help dispel any rumors that circulate about the downsides of memory foam. You won’t find any eyebrow-raising chemicals here thanks to CertiPur-US and GreenGuard Gold certifications. Plus, you can add on a Celliant cover for a cooler feel.

Bear

Original Foam Mattress

The Nectar Premier is another memory foam option we’ve tested and liked, especially for side sleepers. Its foam layers are stacked so that you feel more pressure relief on top, but get more than enough support via a firmer foam layer at the bottom.

Nectar Sleep

Nectar Premier

Latex

The same stuff that goes into tires, balloons, and sports equipment can also be used for mattresses—and it’s the good stuff, too. Latex acts similarly to memory foam when it comes to pressure relief, but is far more reactive to you moving around. Think of a rubber band snapping back into shape when released; it’s pretty dang close to that. Many brands rely on organic rubber sap to create latex as we know it, and there are two categories of latex foam you’ll usually find with mattresses: Dunlop and Talalay. These names refer to the production process and resulting product, as liquid rubber is poured into molds, torched at high temperatures (called “vulcanization” and yes, I have to resist doing Spock’s “live long and prosper” hand signal every time), and flash-frozen to retain the feel. Dunlop is a firmer latex foam, and hence, firmer feel. Talalay yields a more plush feel. Latex is generally pretty even-keeled when it comes to temperature, too, keeping heat from accumulating within your mattress to maintain a nice, room-temperature feel.

WIRED reviewer Scott Gilbertson has applauded the organic latex construction of the Birch Luxe Natural, citing great support for the lower back region and good temperature regulation.

Birch

Luxe Natural Mattress

Smart Beds

Smart mattresses offer the ability to adjust their firmness level with the press of a button. They do this via internal air chambers or sensors that adjust coil firmness. To make your bed softer or firmer, you use a remote control or the brand’s accompanying app.

That’s not what only sets this mattress type apart. Some are also outfitted with tech features, such as sleep trackers and auto-adjusting pressure relief layers, as in the case of the Sleep Number p6 smart bed. Smart beds are becoming more refined as sleep tech evolves.

The Best Smart Rings, Tested and Reviewed (2025)

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Honorable Mentions

We have tested several other entrants to this nascent category, some good, some bad, and some in between. Here is the lowdown on some of your smart ring alternatives.

Left App screenshots tracking health such as sleep and heart rate. Center Hand wearing a partially closed gold ring on...

Photograph: Adrienne So; Getty Images

Movano Evie Ring for $269: When it first came out, the Movano Evie Ring (4/10, WIRED Review) was touted as the world’s first fitness tracker designed specifically for women. I was very excited! It was recently updated to integrate with Apple Health (in the iOS version of the app) and you can now see your cycle day on your home page, manually log your basal body temperature, and manually add workouts. However, these new features are pretty underbaked compared to those offered by its competitors. Now that Oura and the Galaxy Ring can track periods so accurately, its time may have passed. But it’s relatively affordable, has no subscription fee, and has a blood oxygen sensor, so that’s kind of nice. —Adrienne So

RingConn Gen 2 for $359: Despite a price increase over Gen 1 below, this is still a relatively affordable, subscription-free smart ring. RingConn retained the distinctive squared-off design, but this second-generation ring brought major improvements to sleep tracking (including sleep apnea detection), better battery life, and is very slightly slimmer and lighter. I found basic sleep and health monitoring solid (sleep is much more accurate than the first generation), but workout tracking is still a major weakness. Despite more available exercise types, you must manually trigger workout tracking, and it struggles with accuracy at higher heart rates.

RingConn Smart Ring for $179: Now heavily discounted, the original Ringconn (6/10, WIRED Review) is worth considering. A slightly squared-off design with beveled edges gives it a unique look, the health and sleep tracking work well, and it lasts four or five days between charges. It also comes with a handy battery case (enough for several charges on the go). However, I had trouble with data syncing, the app lacked proper workout tracking, and the data was sometimes inaccurate, though the app seems to be steadily improving through updates.

Luna Smart Ring for $300: The Luna smart ring is a new titanium smart ring with five days of battery life that purports to offer many new AI features, like menstrual health coaching and nutrition advice, in addition to by-now-standard blood oxygen and skin temperature measurements for cycle tracking. However, it would not stay connected to the app and—I’m sorry for how dumb this sounds—it doesn’t sit on the charger well, so I constantly kept finding it uncharged, which was extremely irritating. —Adrienne So

Amazfit Helio Ring for $200: Purveyor of affordable fitness trackers like the Amazfit Active 2, I expected a competitive smart ring from Amazfit, but the Helio (4/10, WIRED Review) is badly out of shape. I like the subtly textured bronze finish, but it is the only color you get. Sizes are also limited to 8, 10, or 12 for now (sizes 7 to 13 are coming). While it has similar capabilities to the smart rings above, the Helio was sometimes hopelessly inaccurate, with heart rate measurements wildly out of step with other trackers. It lacks automatic workout-tracking, battery life averaged three days for me, and the Helio frequently disconnected from the busy and confusing Zepp app. You don’t need a subscription, but there is Aura AI ($70/year) for sleep insights and content or Fitness ($30/year), which includes an AI coach. They are expensive and confusing. (Why have two separate subscriptions?) The Helio works much better in conjunction with a smartwatch (I tried it with the Amazfit Cheetah Pro), as it can merge the data, but as a stand-alone device, it is impossible to recommend.

How Do I Choose the Right Smart Ring Size?

Some smart rings come in standard sizes, but there is variation, and half sizes are rare, so it’s worth taking some time to ensure you get the correct ring size. Most manufacturers will send you a free sizing kit, enabling you to wear a dummy ring for 24 hours. (You may have to buy the ring directly from the manufacturer to get this kit for free.) You should absolutely do this. Bear in mind that your fingers swell and shrink throughout the day. Your smart ring should be snug to enable the sensors to measure accurately, but you will have to remove it regularly to charge, so you don’t want too tight a fit.

Which Finger Should I Wear My Smart Ring On?

You can wear your smart ring on any finger, but most manufacturers recommend wearing it on your index finger, though the middle or ring finger can also work. These three fingers all have large blood vessels for more accurate pulse monitoring. What’s really important is that the ring fits tightly and securely around the base of your chosen finger, so if you have a big knuckle and a narrower finger base (more common with the middle or ring finger), this can be tricky. I recommend wearing it on the index finger of your less dominant hand because I found wearing it on my right index finger, as a right-handed person, led to more damage on the ring and scrapes on some things I touched.

Which Smart Ring Finish or Color Is Best?

All the smart rings we tested combined tough titanium with a sensor array on the inside, but the coatings and colors vary. If you are hard on rings, a silver or gold finish will likely suit you best, as there is less risk of damage. My Oura and Ultrahuman rings with black finishes have visible scratches and chips after a few months. The Oura and Amazfit rings have tiny dimples to help you align the sensors. While I prefer the smooth finish of the Ultrahuman, I suspect correct placement aids accuracy enormously.

How Do I Care for My Smart Ring?

Most smart rings are durable, but if you want to avoid damage, you should remove your ring when working with tools, weight lifting, washing pots and pans, or even cleaning the sink. If your ring is likely to rub against a surface, take it off. I found this was a bigger problem wearing a ring on my index finger than with the middle or ring finger. I scratched the Oura and Ultrahuman rings when gardening, moving boxes, and using a dumbbell. Titanium is also tough enough to damage surfaces in your home. I gouged the porcelain of my sink and marked the inside of a mug with the angular Ringconn. All the smart rings we tested are water resistant, so you can swim or shower without taking them off.

How Often Do I Need to Charge My Smart Ring?

Image may contain Electronics Camera Lens Hockey Ice Hockey Ice Hockey Puck Rink Skating Sport Speaker and Lens Cap

Photograph: Simon Hill

Smart rings come with a charger and cable, but you will generally have to provide your own wall adapter. From dead, they take anywhere from an hour and a half to three hours to fully charge, but you should avoid letting the battery run down completely, or you run the risk of losing health data. We tested the smart rings above with all the bells and whistles turned on, so our battery life estimates are lower than the manufacturer’s claims.

What Smart Ring Features Should I Look For?

Most smart rings will track your sleep, heart rate, and temperature. If you want to keep an eye on your sleep and get health insights unobtrusively and comfortably, smart rings are ideal. Fitness tracking varies, with most smart rings offering basic step counts and movement, some offering manual workout tracking, and others offering automatic workout recognition. But you can expect more depth and accuracy from a traditional fitness tracker or smartwatch. Combining a smart ring with an Apple Watch or Fitbit makes for a seamless experience, allowing you to take off the watch and let it charge at night without gaps in your tracking.

Smart Rings or Smart Watches?

In the past few years, we’ve fielded many questions about why someone would get a smart ring instead of, or in addition to, a regular fitness tracker. Here are a few reasons why you might consider it:

Better battery life. A smart ring is smaller and usually (if not always) has better battery life. It’s a helpful addition to your repertoire if you hate missing a couple hundred, or a thousand, steps while you’re charging your smartwatch every day.

Sleep tracking. It’s no coincidence that our favorite sleep tracker is a small, unobtrusive ring. Maybe you’re tired of having your enormous Apple Watch Ultra smack you in the face every time you turn over. (Or maybe you’re charging it instead!)

Cycle tracking. Many watches and fitness trackers now feature a skin temperature sensor that’s sensitive enough to detect when you’re sick or drinking alcohol. However, in Adrienne’s testing so far, only the Samsung Galaxy Ring and the Oura have been accurate enough to track her menstrual cycle.

Finally, fashion. Watches are a statement and a status symbol; a smartwatch often says nothing more about your preferences and choices besides “I don’t like missing meetings.” Almost everyone we know who has bought a smart ring has done so because they have a hand-me-down Cartier Tank, or a fun Casio or Swatch, that they don’t want to give up. If this is you, good for you! And get a ring!

We have been wearing smart rings continuously for several years (sometimes two or three at a time), so we have a good handle on what makes a smart ring worth buying. Every smart ring we test has been worn for at least a month, usually longer, and we always compare its tracking data against our top pick (Oura) and with other smartwatches and fitness trackers (Apple Watch).

What Are We Testing Next?

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Eight Sleep Pod 4 Review: Sleep Better

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Finding the right temperature in bed can be tricky. Feeling too hot or cold makes it tough to drop off and can wake you prematurely. Since our mental and physical health depends on sleep, that’s a problem. Eight Sleep has the answer. The Eight Sleep Pod 4 is a temperature-regulating mattress cover that tracks your body as you snooze, with a hub that pumps cooled or warmed water into the cover to help you stay in the land of nod for longer.

When I tested its predecessor, the Eight Sleep Pod 3 (7/10, WIRED Recommends), I was wary of the billionaire biohacking buzz, but it won me over. Aside from the increased comfort, the best sleep trackers all told the same story: My wife and I slept longer and got more deep sleep and REM with the Eight Sleep Pod than without. The Eight Sleep Pod 4 brings some welcome improvements, including greater comfort, quieter operation, and handy tap controls, so you don’t have to reach for your phone at night.

Eight Sleep Pod 4 Cover a rectangular device on top of a grey mattress pad

Photograph: Simon Hill

Sadly, better sleep does not come cheap. A Pod 4 Cover and Hub for a queen-size bed costs $2,599, but you must also take a year’s subscription to Autopilot for an extra $199. If you already have a subscription, you can transfer it to a new Pod, but you can no longer buy an Eight Sleep Pod without taking the Autopilot subscription. The UK Super King I tested costs £2,699, with a year of Autopilot at £199. It’s a real investment, but sleeping soundly can be transformative.

Hitting the Hay

The Eight Sleep Pod 4 Cover and Hub come in two large boxes. The mattress cover has rubber tubing inside and a soft, plush, dark material on top. It is elasticized for a snug fit on your mattress, and tubing must be routed from the top to plug into the hub. The hub is about the size of a desktop PC, with a fabric front and a big 8 logo. The hub is the brain of the operation, and it cools or heats water and pumps it around the cover.

Setup with the Pod 4 was similar but much quicker than the Pod 3. You pull the cylinder out the top of the hub and pour water up to the fill line. The priming process has dropped to around 10 minutes from a couple of hours for the previous version. You connect the hub to your Wi-Fi using the mobile app. The Pod 4 cover is much comfier than the Pod 3, and the hub is far quieter. It never broke 30 decibels when measured. It makes a subtle hum, like a white noise sleep sound.

The 14 Best Pillows We Found After Months of Night-Time Testing (2024)

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Finding the best pillow for your needs can be an agonizing ordeal. Get something that’s too firm, too soft, or just not quite right for your head and you can wake up with a lot of pain the next day. Never fear, WIRED is here. We’ve tested all these recommended pillows and several more, using each one for a minimum of several weeks to get a sense of how comfortable they are, how well they hold up to repeated use, and what sleeping style they’re best suited for. These are our top picks, but there are an innumerable number of pillows out there. We’ll update this guide as we test more. All of the prices below are for the queen-size version unless otherwise specified.

If you want to get even better sleep, check out our other guides, including the Best Mattresses, Best Mattresses for Side Sleepers, Best Organic Mattresses, Best Sheets, and Best Bed Frames.

Update August 2024: We’ve added the Saatva Down Alternative Pillow, Saatva Graphite Memory Foam Pillow, and Eli & Elm Side Sleeper Pillow.

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What Kind of Pillow Do You Need?

You might think a pillow is a pillow. It just has to be soft and fit under your head, right? Your head, neck, and back disagree. Getting a good night’s sleep can depend heavily on your pillow, so when choosing one, here are a few key questions to ask.

What kind of sleeper are you? Do you sleep on your back, side, or stomach? Do you stay relatively still, or do you toss and turn a lot? Do you usually have one pillow under your head, or do you cocoon yourself into a pillow chrysalis? This is probably the most important thing to keep in mind when deciding what type of pillow works best for you and we’ve noted our picks below based on sleeping style.

What is the pillow made of? Pillows can be filled with all types of materials, from feathers to foam. Down and synthetic down are fluffy clusters of fiber that can feel soft and comfortable, whereas memory foam is designed to compress with the weight of your head but still return to its previous shape. Organic latex pillows can be heavy and spongey, holding a side-sleeper’s head in place. There are also hybrid pillows that use multiple layers of different materials for a more structured feel.

How are the materials sourced? Since some materials like down feathers come from animals, you might want to be aware of how manufacturers get their fill (literally). Down filling typically comes from the belly feathers of either ducks or geese. In order to ensure that down feathers are ethically sourced—such as by avoiding cruel practices like live plucking—programs like the Responsible Down Standard set criteria that manufacturers must adhere to. Another option is to look for synthetic down alternatives, which use cotton, rayon, or polyester as a synthetic replacement. The broader Material Matters Standard is a recently-overhauled system for examining the environmental impact and sustainability of bedding manufactuerers.