3 Best Air Mattresses of 2026, Tested and Reviewed
We found clear winners and losers when we tested six blow-up mattresses from Serta, Intex, Amazon Basics, and more
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With the holidays fast approaching and family already making travel plans, you may be thinking about how you’ll be accommodating extra guests in your home. Air mattresses are a great way to fit more family and friends in a small space without a big investment. They’re portable, fold down to an easy-to-store size, and some are comfortable enough to sleep on for a few days.
- Air Mattresses We Tested: Amazon Basics Bestway Intex Oh Geni King Koil Serta
- FAQs and More: How We Tested Sleeping on an Air Mattress Every Night How to Make Air Mattresses More Comfortable
Can I Sleep on an Air Mattress Every Night?
We spoke to several experts about how sleeping on an air mattress affects the body. Melissa Erickson, MD, MBA, FAAOS, a member of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, says that while you can sleep on an air mattress every night, you probably shouldn’t. “Standard air mattresses can develop air leaks that are challenging to identify. This leads to inconsistent firmness of the mattress throughout the night. Ultimately, this can result in variable support for the body and discomfort that affects the quality of one’s sleep,” she says.
American Chiropractic Association member Robert A. Hayden, DC, PhD, FICC, agrees with Erickson. In addition, Hayden says that the natural curves of the body "need a mattress that can bend to accommodate the areas of the body that are denser and heavier, such as the pelvis and shoulders." As a result, an air mattress’s "lack of ’give’ can distort the body’s natural curves and lead to pain in the upper and lower back, or perhaps in the hips.”
Hayden says there is one specific case where air mattresses could be a better option than a regular mattress. “From my critical care nursing days, I recall using many versions of air mattresses for patients who were less mobile or totally immobile, because air mattresses distribute pressure on the skin in such a way that pressure sores are inhibited or prevented.”
How to Make Your Air Mattress More Comfortable
We also asked the experts we spoke with if they had any suggestions for how to make sleeping on an air mattress more comfortable. Rahul Shah, a board-certified orthopedic spine and neck surgeon, suggests using multiple pillows to help with “augmenting the difference within the body to the conformity of the air mattress.”
Erickson suggests placing a mattress topper on an air mattress to achieve more comfort.
Here's footage from the testing conducted in our lab by José Amézquita.
Sneak Peek: None of these models lost a significant amount of air after 16 hours with a load of 200 pounds on top. There were also few differences in the heating rates of the mattresses. Instead, we based our recommendations on other factors such as their puncture resistance, ease of inflating, deflating, and storing, and comfort. Extra features like auto-shutoff inflation were also considered.
