2026: The Year You Start Sleeping Well
Set yourself up for success, and you’ll transform not only this year but also your life. To help you rest better, we highlight top-rated mattresses, pillows, sheets, and other sleep products.
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Be honest: How many times have you made a resolution to upgrade or improve your sleep? No shame, no blame here. Many of us are all in this together: Around one in three adults in the U.S. reported not getting enough rest or sleep every day, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Whether you’re someone who’s struggled with sleep every day or had trouble sleeping occasionally, we’re here with solutions to help make 2026 a pivot point.
Perhaps you’re due for a new mattress, in need of the perfect pillow, longing for the fresh-start feel of a new set of sheets, or desperate for white (or pink or brown) noise to usher you into dreamland. Scroll for the tips on choosing the best assists to truly restorative nights—and answers to burning questions, such as, What exactly is a hybrid mattress? Sleep tight!
- The Key Pieces: Mattress Pillow Bedsheets
- Worth-It Sleep Accessories
The Foundation: Your Mattress
There’s no universal “best” type of mattress; it’s all about how you want your body to feel. Within each category that CR tests—innerspring, foam, and adjustable air—you’ll find a range of firmness options. A quick breakdown:
The Supporting Role: Your Pillow
Sure, there are general rules for pillows and sleep positions: low pillow for back sleepers, higher pillows for side sleepers.
But there’s more to it than that. “When you’re shopping for a pillow, the first thing to look at is your mattress,” says Susan Booth, CR’s lead test engineer for mattresses. “It’s a system: Mattress and pillow go together. If you have a softer mattress, you want less loft in your pillow because your body sinks deeper. On a firmer mattress, the distance between your head and the mattress is less. You’re more on top of it. So a firmer mattress generally calls for a thicker pillow.”
See CR’s best pillows for great options for your sleep style, and learn about our three top-scoring pillows below.
The Packaging: Your Bedsheets
Sheets can be a pain in the neck to replace. We’ve found in our tests that some sets that purport to have deep pockets can’t even handle a 10-inch mattress. And claims about thread count won’t tell you a thing about longevity or overall quality—and, in fact, don’t necessarily correlate with softness.
In our labs, we wash fitted sheets according to the manufacturer’s directions more than 20 times. After each time, we try the sheet on mattresses of different depths to check for shrinkage. We also test for wrinkles, softness, and durability. So there’s no buy-and-try issue for you. When you shop CR’s best sheets, you know what you’re getting. Here are detailed test results for our top-scoring cotton sheets and synthetic sheets:
The Extras: Worth-It Sleep Accessories
Sometimes it’s the little things that make all the difference.
Total darkness is recommended for bedtime. Check out our picks for the best sleep masks (our top pick costs less than $20).
Perhaps sound is keeping you up. If so, you’ll want to explore the best white noise machines, tested by light sleepers on our staff.
Looking for deep quiet? We evaluated earplugs for comfort, fit, and staying (in) power.
If your mattress still has life in it but your bed needs a boost, a new mattress topper could be the refresh you’re looking for.
What’s softer and kinder than a sunrise gently lifting you out of slumber? One of our picks for the best sunrise alarm clocks could transform your day.
Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this article appeared in the March 2025 issue of Consumer Reports magazine.
