Best Mattress for Sleep Apnea in Canada: What Actually Helps

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Sleep apnoea affects roughly 6% of Canadian adults, with the number climbing to 28% among those aged 45 to 85 when you include undiagnosed cases. If you use a CPAP machine, sleep on your side to keep your airway open, or wake up feeling exhausted despite a full night in bed, your mattress is playing a bigger role than you might think.

A mattress cannot cure obstructive sleep apnoea. That needs medical treatment. But the right sleeping surface can reduce the number of apnoeic events you experience, improve your comfort with a CPAP mask, and help you stay in positions that keep your airway clear. The wrong mattress can make everything worse.

We have been helping customers in Brantford choose mattresses since 1987, and sleep apnoea is one of the most common concerns we hear about. Here is what we have learned, what the research says, and what to look for when you shop.

How Sleep Apnoea Affects Your Mattress Needs

Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) happens when the muscles in your throat relax during sleep, partially or completely blocking your airway. Your brain notices the drop in oxygen and briefly wakes you, often so quickly you do not remember it. This can happen dozens or even hundreds of times per night.

Three things determine how often your airway collapses: the anatomy of your throat and jaw, your sleeping position, and how well your spine stays aligned. Your mattress directly influences the last two.

When your mattress sags or fails to support your spine, your head can tilt forward, narrowing the airway. A mattress that traps heat can increase inflammation in already-swollen throat tissues. And a surface that makes it difficult to roll onto your side keeps you in the supine position, which is the worst position for OSA.

Mattress Features That Help Sleep Apnoea

Not every mattress marketed for sleep apnoea actually addresses the condition. Here are the features that matter, based on sleep medicine research and what we see in our showroom.

Spinal Alignment and Support

Your spine needs to stay in a neutral position from your skull to your tailbone. When it does, your airway stays as open as your anatomy allows. A mattress that is too soft lets your torso sink, pulling your head forward. One that is too firm creates pressure points that push you onto your back.

Medium-firm is the sweet spot for most people with OSA. Research from the Journal of Chiropractic Medicine confirms that medium-firm mattresses reduce pain and improve sleep quality, which matters because pain is one of the main reasons people with sleep apnoea keep shifting position.

Adjustable Base Compatibility

This is the single most important feature for sleep apnoea. A 2017 study in the journal Sleep and Breathing found that elevating the head of the bed to 7.5 degrees significantly reduced the apnoea-hypopnoea index (AHI) in patients with mild to moderate OSA. A separate study analysing over 1,000 nights of data showed that sleeping at a 12-degree incline reduced both objective snoring and subjective symptoms.

Your mattress needs to work with an adjustable base without cracking, bunching, or losing support. Not all mattresses can handle repeated bending.

Cooling and Breathability

People with sleep apnoea often report night sweats. Part of this comes from the repeated micro-arousals that spike your heart rate and cortisol. Part comes from sleeping with a CPAP mask, which can trap heat around your face.

A mattress with good airflow, whether from an innerspring or hybrid design, keeps your core temperature lower. Cooler sleep means less inflammation in your throat tissues and fewer apnoeic events.

Responsiveness

You need to be able to change positions easily. Side sleeping reduces OSA severity for many people, but only if you actually stay on your side. A mattress that "traps" you in one spot, the way some memory foam beds do, works against you. Responsive surfaces with coils or latex make it easier to shift from back to side.

Edge Support

Strong edge support keeps the mattress surface stable when you are sleeping near the perimeter. For people who use CPAP machines, the tubing often runs to one side of the bed. Solid edges prevent the feeling of rolling off when you shift toward the CPAP side.

Best Mattress Types for Sleep Apnoea

Here is how the main mattress types compare for OSA, based on the features that matter most.

Mattress Type	Spinal Support	Adjustable Base	Cooling	Repositioning	OSA Rating
Hybrid (coil + foam)	Excellent	Most compatible	Good to excellent	Easy	Best choice
Latex	Excellent	Compatible	Good (natural)	Very easy	Strong choice
Innerspring	Good	Limited	Excellent	Easy	Decent
Memory foam	Good	Compatible	Poor to fair	Slow	Not ideal
All-foam (budget)	Fair	Sometimes	Poor	Slow	Avoid

Adjustable Beds and Sleep Apnoea

If you could do one thing to improve your sleep with OSA, it would be elevating your head. The research is clear on this point.

An adjustable bed lets you raise your upper body to the angle that works for you. Most people find 15 to 30 degrees comfortable for all-night sleeping, though your doctor may recommend a specific angle based on your AHI score.

Dorothy, our sleep specialist, often shows customers how even a modest 10-degree elevation changes how they breathe while lying on our showroom adjustable bases. "People are surprised," she says. "They expect it to feel strange, but most say their breathing feels easier within seconds."

What to Look for in an Adjustable Base

• Quiet motor (important when your partner is sleeping beside you)
• Wall-hugging design (keeps your nightstand and CPAP machine within reach as the bed rises)
• Wireless remote or app control (so you can adjust without waking your partner)
• Weight capacity that accounts for you, your partner, and the mattress
• Zero-gravity preset (takes pressure off your diaphragm)

CPAP Users: What to Look For in a Mattress

About 4 million Canadians use or should be using CPAP therapy. If you are one of them, your mattress needs to accommodate both you and your machine.

Pillow and Mask Accommodation

CPAP masks come in three main styles: nasal, full-face, and nasal pillow. Each has different pressure points on your face. A mattress with moderate contouring helps your pillow cradle your head at the right angle so the mask seal stays consistent. Too much sinkage and the mask shifts. Too little give and you get pressure marks.

Hose Management

The CPAP hose typically runs from a nightstand-mounted machine to your mask. When you roll in your sleep, the hose can pull on the mask, breaking the seal. A responsive mattress that lets you turn easily, combined with good edge support on the machine side, reduces this problem.

Motion Isolation

Many people with sleep apnoea share a bed with a partner who is already sleep-deprived from listening to snoring. Individually wrapped coils absorb motion so that when you shift positions or adjust your mask at 3 a.m., your partner does not feel it.

What We Recommend at Mattress Miracle

In our Brantford showroom, we have fitted hundreds of customers dealing with sleep apnoea. Here is what we usually recommend based on the features that matter most.

For Most People with Sleep Apnoea: Restonic ComfortCare Queen

At $1,125 CAD, the ComfortCare Queen has 1,222 individually wrapped coils that provide excellent airflow, responsive support, and motion isolation. It works with all adjustable bases we carry and offers medium-firm support that keeps your spine aligned without creating pressure points.

For Those Who Want Premium Support: Restonic Luxury Silk and Wool

At $2,395 CAD, this mattress uses 884 zoned coils with natural silk and wool fibres. The natural materials regulate temperature better than any synthetic we have tested, which matters for CPAP users who already deal with heat buildup around their mask. The zoned coil system provides firmer support under your torso and softer cradling at your shoulders.

For Maximum Adjustability: Adjustable Base Package

We pair our adjustable bases with any of our hybrid mattresses. Call Brad directly at (519) 770-0001 to discuss pricing for a mattress-and-base combination. The package includes white glove delivery, setup, and removal of your old mattress.

Best Sleeping Positions for Sleep Apnoea

Your mattress and your sleeping position work together. Here is how each position affects OSA.

Side Sleeping (Best for OSA)

Gravity pulls your tongue and soft palate to the side rather than backward into your airway. Research consistently shows that side sleeping reduces AHI scores. Your mattress needs to cushion your shoulder and hip without letting your spine bow. A hybrid with a comfort layer of at least 5 cm (2 inches) typically works well.

Back Sleeping with Elevation (Second Best)

Lying flat on your back is the worst position for OSA because gravity pulls tissue directly into the airway. But back sleeping with head elevation of 15-30 degrees changes the equation. The elevation counteracts gravity and can reduce AHI by 20-50% in mild to moderate cases.

Stomach Sleeping (Mixed)

Stomach sleeping keeps your airway open but can strain your neck and lower back. Most sleep specialists do not recommend it long-term, especially if you use a CPAP. If you naturally sleep face-down, talk to your doctor about whether a specialty CPAP pillow might work for you.

Sleep apnea often means a partner losing sleep to CPAP noise or snoring between treatments. Our earplugs for sleeping guide reviews options that help partners of sleep apnea sufferers rest better.

Sleep apnea and tinnitus frequently co-occur (38-42% of OSA patients). If you experience both, our mattress guide for tinnitus sufferers covers the specific features that help with ringing ears.

Related Reading

• Best Sleeping Position for Sleep Apnea
• Sleep Apnea vs. Snoring: When a Mouthguard Isn't Enough
• Health Benefits of an Adjustable Bed Frame
• Sleep Positions Guide
• Best Firm Mattresses in Canada 2026