Are you thinking about buying a memory foam mattress?
Are you confused about all the hype and confusing claims made by the different advertisements for memory foam?
I've
set out to clear the air, remove the "smoke and mirrors", and put into
one article all the true information you'll need to make a selection
that will thrill you, give you years of value and make poor sleep a
thing of the past.
The term "memory foam" or "visco-elastic memory
foam" was coined in the early days of NASA's space program. That's why
it's also known as NASA foam.
Sometimes, a memory foam mattress is referred to as a NASA foam mattress.
During lift-off, astronauts were being subjected to tremendous g-forces that the human body just wasn't designed to endure.
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The
need for a new material, that would make these conditions tolerable for
the astronauts, spawned the research that resulted in the invention of
this brand new kind of foam.
If water, springs, air or any
combination of those things had been an alternative, the expensive
research that followed wouldn't have been needed, and the need for a new
material wouldn't have existed.
Visco-elastic foam has unique qualities.
It
is able to mold itself to the shape of any object that puts pressure on
it and, yet, when the object is removed, it will slowly return to it's
original shape.
The picture that comes to mind is the hand above the memory foam mattress that still has the hand print showing on it.
Memory
foam is an open celled foam, which means that air is free to move from
one cell to another, so when pressure is applied, the affected cells
collapse and you feel sort of like you're floating down into the
material.
This collapsing of the cells allows the material to
"melt away" from pressure until the entire surface of your body is
evenly supported over the surface of the memory foam.
It virtually eliminates pressure points.
Another unique feature of a memory foam mattress is temperature sensitivity.
Within a short time of your body lying on the mattress, your body temperature will start to cause the memory foam to soften.
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Any
area of your body that has excess heat, such as a fevered injury, will
cause the mattress to soften even further where it is touching, making
memory foam the ideal material for a comfortable mattress.
The
problem with the NASA foam was that it "off gassed", putting off a smell
that was overpowering in the confined quarters of a space vehicle.
It was eventually scrapped by NASA. To my knowledge, it was never actually used on any space mission.
At
that point, memory foam was just too expensive to be used for
mattresses and the off-gassing wouldn't have been acceptable either.
A
few medical research companies started experimenting with the material
for use in hospitals. Many patients develop bedsores when confined to
bed over long periods of time.
Because it was cost effective for
this application, these experiments led to using memory foam in a
variety of health industry settings to alleviate pressure points in
hospital patients.
Through this medical research, memory foam
became more and more adaptable to use as a consumer product in the form
of pillows, mattresses, toppers, chairs, etc.
The Memory Foam Mattress Industry Was Born
The
memory foam mattress industry started slowly in the early 1990's and
then shot into the mainstream in the late 1990's and early 2000's.
So
much so, that it's difficult to find a magazine, newspaper, or
television that doesn't have several ads for memory foam products
running continuously.
With that kind of demand for the product
it's no wonder that a lot of people started forming companies to
manufacture and sell to an audience with this enormous appetite.
And,
yes, as in all industries, some companies are born just to make
inferior products and, then, using terminology that is confusing or
misleading, capitalize on the lack of good information that's available
to consumers.
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So let's clear some of the confusion with a few simple facts.
What Is The Difference Between Good And Bad Memory Foam?
Memory
foam is graded by it's density. Imagine yourself cutting a huge "dice"
(yeah, like the kind you throw on the crap table) out of memory foam
12"x12"x12" and slapping it onto the scale in your doctor's office.
The weight of that 12" sized cube is how you determine density.
For
example, if your "dice" weighed 5.9 lbs. it's considered to have a
density of 5.9, or if it weighs 3.2 lbs. the density is rated as 3.2.
Pretty
simple, really, isn't it. Like most things, we all thought density
would be determined by some E=IR formula or something terribly complex.
You, now, know more about density than most of the sales people in your local mattress store.
It's
also a fact that the less dense foams are made mostly of air, not foam.
Less foam, less cost to manufacture...they can sell it cheaper.
For
most memory foam mattresses, it's a fact that the human body is best
supported by a density of 5.3 lbs. to 5.9 lbs. Any heavier than this and
it tends to be too dense and won't allow the proper cell collapsing
that allows your body to settle into it.
Any lighter and you don't get the needed support in the hip and shoulder areas.
Another
problem is that the lighter foams won't continue to return to their
original shape after a relatively short lifespan. They'll lose their
comfort.
Some of the 5.3+ lb. mattresses are still going strong
after 15 years being just as comfortable to their users as the first
day...and with no body impressions.
Remember, too, that we
discussed temperature sensitivity. Not all foam being advertised as
"memory foam" is temperature sensitive.
Make sure it has this feature so you get that "fine tuned" comfort.
A
better memory foam mattress will contain 3 1/2", or more, of memory
foam as a top layer. Any less than this probably won't keep you from
bottoming out and laying on the underlying base layers of foam.
Those
foams aren't meant to be in contact with your body and won't
comfortable for you. They are there to help the memory foam do it's job
correctly.
Just remember density and temperature sensitivity, when
you go shopping for your memory foam mattress and you'll be miles ahead
when you purchase.
