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The best mattress for side sleepers – and how to choose one, according to doctors and osteopaths

Do you need a soft mattress if you sleep on your side, or are firm models better for your back? And what about pillows? Here’s what the experts say • The best mattresses, tested • The best mattresses for back pain Most of us, me included, sleep on our sides. Drooling into your pillow and giving yourself a dead arm may not be as photogenic as Sleeping Beauty lying prettily on her back, but it’s probably better for you

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Ledger record
#3515
First seen
27 Aug 2026, 14:16 UTC
Last checked
27 Aug 2026, 19:57 UTC
Version history
1 version
Current fingerprint
18c72b84f6c9...8f5a3c
01

Publisher layer

Recorded article metadata

Publisher
The Guardian
Country
England / United Kingdom
Source published
27 Aug 2026, 14:00 UTC
Source updated
No update timestamp supplied
Byline
Jane Hoskyn
Section
Sleep
Source-supplied excerpt
Do you need a soft mattress if you sleep on your side, or are firm models better for your back? And what about pillows? Here’s what the experts say • The best mattresses, tested • The best mattresses for back pain Most of us, me included, sleep on our sides. Drooling into your pillow and giving yourself a dead arm may not be as photogenic as Sleeping Beauty lying prettily on her back, but it’s probably better for you
02

Change layer

Observed version timeline

  1. 1
    Initial capture

    The best mattress for side sleepers – and how to choose one, according to doctors and osteopaths

    Do you need a soft mattress if you sleep on your side, or are firm models better for your back? And what about pillows? Here’s what the experts say • The best mattresses, tested • The best mattresses for back pain Most of us, me included, sleep on our sides. Drooling into your pillow and giving yourself a dead arm may not be as photogenic as Sleeping Beauty lying prettily on her back, but it’s probably better for you

    Changed fieldstitlebylinedescriptionTextcontentTextsourcePublishedAtsourceUpdatedAtsectionimageUrltags
    Version SHA-256
    18c72b84f6c9...8f5a3c
    Capture SHA-256
    a477d721ed10...c5b95a
03

Interpretation layer

Labels with declared origins

Not an adjudication.

Publisher categories are copied from source metadata. Machine signals report observable wording or format and do not determine truth, intent, ethics, or wrongdoing.

  • machine content-type Reported news observable-rules-v1 / 70% rule confidence
  • machine language-signal Death or self-harm observable-rules-v1 / 65% rule confidence
  • publisher category Health & wellbeing rss-category
  • publisher category Homes rss-category
  • publisher category Interiors rss-category
  • publisher category Life and style rss-category
  • publisher category Sleep rss-category
04

Public response layer

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No reviewed reception capture yet.

Comment counts and samples remain absent until a lawful, source-specific capture method is reviewed. Absence is recorded instead of estimated.

05

Evidence layer

Capture provenance

Capture ID
#3164
Observed
27 Aug 2026, 14:16 UTC
HTTP result
200 / parsed
Raw payload
480,932 bytes, private gzip evidence
Collector
news-ledger/0.1
Public boundary
metadata and excerpt