Nolah Mattress Review: Find Out if Nolah Is Right for You

Score: 9.7 out of 10

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Pros and Cons

Pros

• Standout spinal alignment for higher-weight sleepers
• Plenty of pressure relief for joints
• Above-average cooling

Cons

• So-so bounce 
• Fair motion isolation

Features

• Type: Hybrid
• Firmness: Medium firm
• Best sleeping positions: Side, back and stomach 

Key takeaways from our testing

Reinforced coils provide higher-weight sleepers ample support. Home tester Jerry, a 77-year-old higher-weight sleeper, gave the Nolah Evolution Comfort Plus perfect scores for pressure relief and spinal alignment in all sleep positions. He was pleasantly surprised while testing the bed on his stomach, stating, “This mattress feels really comfortable on my stomach. Usually, my lower back feels bad, and my neck is cranked weirdly, but this feels very lightweight and pain-free.” The bed features coils that are designed specifically for higher-weight body types, with thick 13.5-gauge coils for extra support.

High-scoring cooling capabilities. This mattress received a favorable score in our cooling gun test. This assessment involves measuring the bed’s starting temperature and comparing it to the temperature after heat is applied for one minute. The faster the surface cools, the higher the score. The result was a difference of 16.02 degrees, below the average of 18.2 degrees across all beds we’ve ever tested. This outcome is likely thanks to Nolah’s cooling features, which include a specialized memory foam formulated with temperature-sensitive materials.

Passable bounce. This mattress earned a middling score in our bounce test. Still, 60-year-old tester Donna felt that the edge support was solid. Lying on the perimeter, she noted, “I don’t feel like I would roll out of bed at all in this position.” 

Nolah Signature: Best Memory Foam

Score: 9.0 out of 10

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Pros and cons

Pros

• Impressive edge support for a foam mattress
• Top-notch compatibility with adjustable bases
• Standout motion isolation 

Cons

• Poor bounce
• May be too firm for some sleepers

Features

• Type: Memory foam
• Firmness: Medium
• Best sleeping positions: Stomach and back

Key takeaways from our testing

Supportive edges. All-foam mattresses aren’t known for having very sturdy edges, but the Nolah Signature does, our testing found. Lying on the edge, tester Karin felt no significant sinkage. “I am very stable. There is no tilting of my body,” she said. In our lab team’s edge support test, the edge sank only 1 inch with a 150-pound sandbag on top — the lowest of all beds we tested for this review.

Stellar motion isolation. If you share your bed with a partner and are sensitive to their movements at night, having a mattress that reduces motion well is helpful. The Nolah Signature fits the bill. Thanks to its all-foam construction, including high-density stabilizing base foam and responsive transition foam, it aced both our ripple and couples’ motion isolation tests. In our ripple test, tester Karin found that “the liquid barely moved at all, regardless of how aggressively I was tossing and turning.”

May be too firm for some sleepers. Karin, an average-weight sleeper, felt she wasn’t sinking far enough into the bed, leading to pressure on her shoulder and hips when lying on her side. “I need more drop in the hips for my spine to be aligned,” she said, grading the mattress less-than-satisfactory for pressure relief. If you are seeking a responsive mattress with more bounce, you may want to consider the Nolah Evolution. 

How much do Nolah mattresses cost?

The Nolah beds we tested in this review range from $1,799 to $2,499 for queen mattresses before any discounts, with the Nolah Evolution Comfort Plus being the most expensive.

The company offers discounts year-round, but it’s best to time your mattress purchase around holidays such as Memorial Day, Labor Day and Black Friday, as these sales typically shave hundreds of dollars off the retail price. Nolah’s seasonal deals often include 30 percent off, reducing the price of a queen-size Nolah Evolution to $1,594 — a savings of nearly $700.

Is a Nolah mattress right for you?

Nolah offers a variety of mattress types with varying firmness levels, including options for older adults with back pain, couples seeking enhanced motion isolation, higher-weight body types or individuals seeking cooling relief. 

If you’re interested in a Nolah mattress but need help narrowing your options, ask yourself the following questions.

What position do I sleep in?

The Nolah Evolution is available in three firmness levels, making it the company’s most accommodating mattress. We tested the luxury firm, which Nolah rates 6 to 7 out of 10 on the firmness scale (with 10 being the firmest). It falls in the medium-firm sweet spot that many consumers seek. Side sleepers may want to opt for the less-firm plush model (4 to 5) to allow their shoulders and hips to sink a little deeper into the mattress, helping to keep the spine aligned. The firm model (7 to 8) could be ideal for back sleepers looking for a firmer surface with minimal give.

Dr. Funke Afolabi-Brown, a board-certified sleep medicine physician and founder and CEO of Restful Sleep MD, says a mattress that’s “medium to medium-firm can help support the hips and shoulders so they are aligned, but also protects the joints against too much pressure.” 

Dzierzewski agrees. “Many people do well with a medium-firm surface that provides solid support without letting the heavier parts of the body sink too deeply,” he says. The Nolah Evolution Comfort Plus falls in the medium-firm range, making it another solid option for many sleepers and body types, including higher-weight individuals. 

What do I want my bed to feel like?

The Nolah Signature is the only all-foam mattress in this review. It has a denser feel, more like that of traditional memory foam. As a result, it creates a contouring sensation that can help ease pressure on your joints as it conforms around your body. However, because you may sink further into the material, it can be harder to switch positions — potentially aggravating joint pain.

The Nolah Evolution and Evolution Comfort Plus have a bouncier, more responsive feel, in part because they have a layer of individually wrapped coils. This springiness can make it easier to change positions, but it does not isolate motion as well. 

Am I a light sleeper?

If you sleep with a partner who tosses and turns, or you share your bed with pets, you know how annoying motion transfer can be — especially if you’re a light sleeper. Thanks to its all-foam design, the Nolah Signature absorbed motion most effectively across all the Nolah beds we tested, earning a perfect score in our motion isolation test. The Evolution and Evolution Comfort Plus still received decent motion isolation ratings, especially for being hybrid mattresses, but they did not perform quite as well as the Signature. 

Do I have chronic pain?

If you have pain from conditions like sciatica or arthritis, maintaining proper spinal alignment is important. “If your spine is not aligned, it can lead to muscle tension and strain, which, over time, makes you wake up feeling sore and eventually have chronic low back pain, which impacts sleep quality,” says Brown. 

The Nolah Evolution (medium firm) and Evolution Comfort Plus (medium firm) performed the best in spinal alignment and pressure relief, each earning above-average scores in those assessments. Meanwhile, the Nolah Signature (medium firmness) received mediocre scores for both pressure relief and spinal support in our testing. 

Dzierzewski emphasizes the importance of balancing spinal alignment with pressure relief. “While there is no single best mattress for pain, studies have found that medium firm mattresses often improve back-related pain and disability more than very firm models,” he says. “This is the ‘Goldilocks’ of mattress firmness – not too hard, not too soft.” 

Do I have mobility limitations?

Brown and Dzierzewski encourage sturdy edges for older adults who need help getting in and out of bed. “Strong edge support creates a stable perimeter for sitting and transferring, which is a crucial safety feature for older adults and anyone with mobility limitations,” Dzierzewski says. “A sagging or unstable mattress edge increases the risk of sliding, missteps or falls.” 

The Nolah Signature received a near-perfect score for edge support. Our edge support test entailed measuring how much the mattress caved under a 150-pound sandbag, as well as having testers sit and lie on the edge. “This mattress has excellent edge support,” tester Karin said while sitting on the edge of the Nolah Signature. “I don’t feel like I am sinking really at all.” 

The Nolah Evolution and Evolution Comfort Plus don’t have bad edge support — both earned solid ratings — but they didn’t score as high as the Signature.

What customization options are available for Nolah mattresses?

Nolah offers mattresses with a variety of customization options, including different construction types and firmness levels. The brand’s best-selling model, the Nolah Evolution, is the only one in its lineup with customizable firmness options. The Nolah Signature is available in both hybrid and all-foam versions.

The company offers an optional cooling pillow top for an additional $210. This add-on features GlacioTex, high-thermal-conductivity fibers that help draw heat away from your body as you sleep. It adds an extra inch of quilted foam for plushness. 

Does Nolah have good cooling mattresses?

Yes, Nolah incorporates cooling features in all of its mattresses. The company states that the temperature-neutral formula of its Airfoam and the natural properties from other mattress materials like latex allow for all Nolah mattresses to lend to a cooler sleeping experience. 

Each Nolah model we tested received admirable cooling scores in our lab tests, with the Evolution delivering the best performance. 

Questions or feedback? Email us at AARPSmartPicks@aarp.org.