Best single mattress toppers

“Buy a single topper for the person who sleeps on it, their weight, how warm they run and how often the bed is used. The topper that suits a teenager's everyday bed is rarely the right one for a guest bed made up twice a year.”

Single, small single or European single

A standard UK single mattress topper measures 90x190cm, the size Bed Advice UK lists as 3ft by 6ft 3in. A small single is 75x190cm, so a single topper overhangs it by 15cm and rucks up at the edge. A European single of 90x200cm is 10cm longer, which leaves a bare strip at the foot under a UK single topper. Of the picks on this page, only the Latex Sense Luxury comes in a small single, and the Latex Sense and the Panda also sell a 90x200cm version.

Depth for the person, not the bed

One sleeper means one body weight to plan for, which makes depth easier to choose than on a shared double. The 5cm minimum is enough for a light child or teenager. An adult side sleeper on a hard single, or anyone on a thin sofa-bed mattress, gets more from 9 to 10cm of foam, such as the Emma Original Pro or the 10cm Dunelm Gel Fusion. Fibre and down add loft more than support, so the Airmax and the Soak&Sleep soften a single without holding a heavier adult’s hips level.

On a top bunk, depth is a safety question too. Bunk beds made to BS EN 747 carry a mark showing the maximum mattress height, and a topper counts towards it, because every extra centimetre brings the sleeper closer to the top of the guard rail. If the mattress already reaches the line, leave the topper off the top bunk.

Heat in a small room

Single beds often end up in the smallest bedroom of the house, where warmth builds up overnight. A review in the Journal of Physiological Anthropology (Okamoto-Mizuno and Mizuno, 2012) found that, with bedding in use, heat exposure increases wakefulness and reduces slow-wave and REM sleep. Solid memory foam, as in the IKEA Nordberget and the Panda, holds body heat. The John Lewis wool, the Simba’s springs, the Airmax’s mesh sides and the Emma Original Pro’s graphite foam run cooler, and the Soak&Sleep down is the one to pick when the room is cold.

Cleaning a single at home

The North West Allergy Network, an NHS service, advises: “Wash bedding and covers regularly at 60°C to kill dust mite.” The IKEA Nordberget is the only pick here whose cover is made for that temperature. The Emma and Simba covers wash at 40°C and Panda’s at up to 30°C, the John Lewis wool is sponge or dry clean only, and the Latex Sense cover cannot be washed. For a child with a mite allergy, a protector over the topper that takes a 60°C wash does the hygiene work, and our best mattress protectors compares them.

Topper or a new single mattress

A topper changes how a sound single feels. It cannot rescue one that sags, because the topper settles into the same dips. The sums are worth doing. The Emma Original Topper costs £169 in a single against £369 for the Emma Original mattress, and IKEA’s Nordberget pad costs £99 against £149 for the Valevåg pocket sprung single. If the mattress is past saving, start with our best single mattresses instead.

Other sizes are covered in our double, king size and super king topper rankings, and the whole field in best mattress toppers.