What Is a Memory Foam Mattress?

What is a memory foam mattress? It is a whole bed made from memory foam that has the ability to sense your body’s weight and temperature so it is able to conform to your shape, minimize pressure points, aid alignment and reduce tossing and turning.

This was first developed by NASA or the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in the 1970’s. But the first generation memory foam mattress was too brittle and had the tendency to break after just one to two years of use.

Ten years later, a Swedish company that worked closely with NASA in making the first memory foam mattress got it right. This was made using a spongy, gel like plastic whose composite open cells could deform under pressure and reshape back to its original form.

Just to prove how effective it is, one brand called Tempur-Pedic sells these to hospitals. Patients who have used the memory foam mattress claim that this has reduced remarkably the pressure on joints whenever they lie down. It also gives good support for the back.

Memory foam mattresses were first introduced in the market in the early 1990’s. The problem then was that these were very expensive. But this soon changed as other companies were able to produce similar products.

But the story of the memory foam mattress doesn’t end there. If it is good for the back, then it could also have benefits in other places in the body which is why the foam is also used on other products such as mattress toppers, pillows, office furniture, automobile seat padding, infant cribs, car seats, wheelchair cushions, hip pads, sweat pads, computer cases, movie theater seating, pistol gloves, ear plugs and tennis racquets.

The price of memory foam mattress is from $300 to $600. This depends on the density that you wish to buy. The thicker they are, the more expensive it is. Most people get those that weigh 3 to 5.5 pounds since this is what fits their budget.

Some of these are sold in stores while you can also find these online. These come in different sizes so you can surely get one for every bedroom in the house and if you find these expensive, perhaps you should consider getting a topper.

A topper is much smaller than the foam mattress given that you put this simply over an existing mattress. Its thickness is 1 to 4 inches thick. If you plan to put this over a spring mattress, make sure that this is not more than 5 years old.

Memory foam mattresses are not affected by the temperature outdoors. If this happened, it will not be able to do its job which is to adjust to the shape of the person.

You might be thinking that all the companies that make memory foam mattresses use the same materials to make their product. This is not true because some use liquid foam while others use a vacuum injection which means they do not rely on gravity to provide consistent density and eliminate variation. So when you are looking for a memory foam mattress, ask the sales person what material is used.

A lot of people say that the memory foam mattress is out of this world given that this was first designed for use by astronauts. Given that it is used in almost every type of furniture these days, you can now say that it has taken the world by storm.