Sofa Beds Uncomfortable? Here’s Why and How to Fix It

When you buy a sofa bed, a piece of furniture designed to serve as both a seating area and a sleeping surface. Also known as a pull-out sofa, it’s meant to save space—especially in small apartments or guest rooms. But too often, it ends up being the one piece of furniture you dread lying on. If you’ve woken up with a stiff back, numb hips, or a sore neck after sleeping on one, you’re not imagining it. Most sofa beds uncomfortable because they’re built with thin, low-quality mattresses that lack proper support. Unlike a real bed, the mattress is often compressed into a frame that doesn’t allow for even weight distribution, forcing your spine into unnatural curves.

What makes this worse is that many people use sofa beds as their main sleeping surface. A sofa bed mattress, the thin foam or spring layer that folds out from the sofa frame is rarely designed for daily use. Studies show that mattresses under 6 inches thick provide inadequate spinal alignment, and most sofa beds come in at 4 to 5 inches. Combine that with a rigid metal frame underneath and you’ve got a recipe for back pain. Even worse, the frame itself can dig into your body when you shift positions—something you’d never experience on a proper bed. And if you’re sleeping on it every night, that stress adds up fast. The sleeping on sofa bed, the practice of using a sofa bed as a primary or frequent sleeping surface isn’t just inconvenient—it’s physically taxing over time.

But here’s the good news: not all sofa beds are created equal. Some high-end models now come with memory foam layers, reinforced frames, and even adjustable bases that mimic the feel of a real mattress. You don’t need to spend thousands, but you do need to know what to look for—like thicker padding, steel support slats, and a mattress that’s at least 6 inches thick. If you’re stuck with an old, saggy one, adding a high-density foam topper or switching to a futon-style design can make a huge difference. The posts below cover everything from real-life experiences of people sleeping on sofa beds nightly, to how to pick the least painful option, and even how to fix your current one without buying new.