Why memory foam mattress vs regular foam?

[Tony_Alberta]

What's the big deal about memory foam mattress vs plain standard foam mattress.  I get the idea that it molds to your body shape after a few minutes but then a regular foam mattress does the same thing right away.

I stayed at my cousins place a while back on an el cheapo 3" foam mattress from Ikea.    It was just fine other than when you sat up you sank to the plywood underneath.  But that was no big deal.

 

[ruthandken CDN]

Well I guess if you have to sleep on it night after night, you might appreciate something a little more substantial.  I have a really excellent mattress here in my stick house and I put one of Costco's memory foam on top and oh my what a difference and it was very comfortable to begin with.  So every single one of my beds, including the rig now has a memory foam topper.

 

[Wolf Pack Fan]

I think the thing with memory foam is that it reduces or eliminates pressure points.  Something that regular foam doesn't do.  I've heard that the reason a person might toss and turn in the night when sleeping is because your body is telling you to move because circulation gets cut off where there's a pressure point.

 

[Getinaway]

We have one of those high dollar swedish memory foam mattresses.
Sometimes I get really hot in it. I mean to the point I have to get out of bed.
Other than that its alright, but I wouldnt get another one.
I miss waterbeds.

 

[AndyinLexington]

We've tried the memory foam but the heat factor is a big negative for us.  We've got a pillowtop extra firm mattress now in our stick house and love it.  The top 3" or so is the "pillowtop" and is soft. Under that is the extra firm mattress for support.  Works well for us.  In the m/h we threw away the short queen mattress and expanded the bed platform to 70" wide by 80" (same length as king and six inches narrower than king).  That's as big as we could make it without major modifications.  Then ordered an extra firm "special cut" mattress at 70" x 80" to fit.  We put a foam "egg crate" type pad on that, with an extra thick mattress pad.  Very comfortable now.  The whole mattress discussion is one of personal preference but we really like the way ours turned out.  One of the best modifications we have thought of for the m/h.

 

[Tony_Alberta]

I think the thing with memory foam is that it reduces or eliminates pressure points.  Something that regular foam doesn't do.  I've heard that the reason a person might toss and turn in the night when sleeping is because your body is telling you to move because circulation gets cut off where there's a pressure point.

I have trouble understanding how a memory foam would do a better job at reducing pressure points.  That just doesn't make sense to me.

Also another cause of tossing and turning and excessive movement is sleep apnea.  But thankfully with all the publicity that medical condition has received these last five or eight years folks are recognizing it.

 

[Tony_Alberta]

We've tried the memory foam but the heat factor is a big negative for us.  We've got a pillowtop extra firm mattress now in our stick house and love it.  The top 3" or so is the "pillowtop" and is soft. Under that is the extra firm mattress for support. 

Thanks for the comments about the heat factor of the foam mattress.  I was reading a few articles which mentioned that.

See, now being the analytical person I am (some call me a questioning jerk  )  I'm wondering what the difference is between your pillowtop with the firm mattress and the pillowtop on a sheet of plywood?  Or just ordinary foam on a sheet of plywood.

At my cousins bed once you were stretched out you never felt the plywood.

 

[FrankNSharon]

Tony,

I will probably get in trouble for this one,  but...

A lot of how comfortable a bed is has to do with  how much you spend on it and how complicated it appears. This is because you (general you, not you persoanlly) know that if it cost that much it must be better.

Sharon and I sleep on a pair of RV twins pushed together and topped with a 2 inch memory foam, cheap and easy. We have been thinking about replacing the twin mattresses with a full memory foam mattress. They range in price from a couple hundred for a 12 inch thick one from Wally World to a couple thousand for the same thing from a "name brand". Sharon believes the name brand MUST be more comforable... sigh..

I think there are two factors at work - one is "buying into your purchase" where a person looks for confirmation that they did a good thing spending that much money, and second marketing types having trained us to be good little consumers and let them have all our money. So, we THINK that higher price means better by default.

The Wally World mattress is 10% of the cost of the name brand, so I suggest to Sharon that we buy it and throw it away if it isn't good enough before buying the name brand.

Frank

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

One can get a good quality mattress without it being a "memory foam" model.  I think the memory business is mostly just more marketing hype.

 

[Just Lou]

One can get a good quality mattress without it being a "memory foam" model.  I think the memory business is mostly just more marketing hype.

Gary, I agree.  To me, the foundation and basic construction is more important to my comfort than the top few inches of plush foam.

A good example of "Marketing Hype" effectiveness is to remember how many original WATER BEDS were sold where we were told that sleeping directly on top of this big "bladder" was so restful and healthy. ???

 

[Marsha/CA]

In support of the memory foam, we were miserable with the coach mattress and instead of buying a new one, I tried the memory foam.  It was a mere $100.00 and made all the difference in the world.  Before it, I would wake up several time during the night with my hip and shoulders aching.  Both Tim and I tossed and turned all night.  After the memory foam nothing.  We liked it so much that I put one on our bed at home.  That mattress was a very high dollar box spring and pillow top.  As mentioned earlier, the pillow top made us very warm and both of us woke up with intense back aches....now with the memory foam, we are fine.

I'm trying to remember if memory foam was developed for bedridden patients to prevent bedsores for long time use. 

Marsha~

 

[AndyinLexington]

See, now being the analytical person I am (some call me a questioning jerk  )  I'm wondering what the difference is between your pillowtop with the firm mattress and the pillowtop on a sheet of plywood?  Or just ordinary foam on a sheet of plywood.

At my cousins bed once you were stretched out you never felt the plywood.

We just like the way it feels.  I don't think 3" of padding on a sheet of plywood would feel as good.  You could try it out that way and report back  ;D.  In all seriousness, people are all different sizes, shapes, and weights.  For us, the biggest improvement was going from 60" wide to 70" wide.  The tweak, of the padding on top is not absolutely necessary for us to sleep, but feels better (to us).

 

[hilldude]

We went with a memory foam because we could cut it off to length, and the camper mattress was no good.happy with choice, it is a low priced no name mattress but it works.

 

[s2kskibum]

A good example of "Marketing Hype" effectiveness is to remember how many original WATER BEDS were sold where we were told that sleeping directly on top of this big "bladder" was so restful and healthy. ???

SLEEPING on them wasn't the, umm, fun part...!

 

[1275gtsport]

We bought a 5 inch foam topper from JC penny on sale for less then 70 bucks (full size cause that is the bedroom space) the platform is just 3/8 plywood. we sleep WAY better then on our expensive box spring and mattress at home so much so that we went and bought the 2 inch foam to go over the bed at home.

OH and I really like that the spam message from henrryedson is targeted to the topic. much better then just some random post about jewelry. 

 

[Ned]

OH and I really like that the spam message from henrryedson is targeted to the topic. much better then just some random post about jewelry. 

Taken care of.

 

[EarlyWanders]

I don't know about it being hype and I hate to name drop but we have a TempurPedic for the house and when we bought the MH we didn't sleep a night until the new TempurPedic was in place.I have severe neck issues and its as good a mattress as I have found. Funny thing about mattress are that everyone has a different need and what works good for one won't work for another. When we were looking for a MH we messed up on a lot of things but we did make sure it took a standard size mattress.

 

[esim134]

Another one here for the love of memory foam!  In college I used to sleep with those egg crate mattress toppers - they are nothing like memory foam toppers.  Memory foam toppers come in various densities.  Egg crates do not.  I currently have a 2 inch, 4lb density level memory foam topper and it is WONDERFUL!  Before this I had a 3 inch 3 lb density and absolutely hated it.  Density makes all the difference in the world.  I have one on the stick house mattress and the MH mattress.  Wouldn't sleep a night without them.  I got them on overstock.com.  Great prices, much better than Wally World prices too.  They also have lots of reviews and information about choosing a memory foam topper. 

 

[Going National]

We have Tempopedic mattresses..they are great..kind of like a foam but nice and cloth covered.  Tempopedic is a brand sold by Mattress dealers all over..we even found one for the sofa sleeper in the lounge..folds up real nice in there and springs to life when its opened up..couldn't be happier..Foam,,I think we'd get hot as well. Hope this helps with your choice..Jerry and Teri Lea

 

[SargeW]

Yeah, different strokes for different folks.  We are just about ready to dump our memory foam mattress that came with the new rig.  After two years of sleeping on it daily, it is just "OK".  We did put a really thick mattress pad on it when we first got it to help out with the claims of getting really hot to sleep on.  And that part has been fine.  But I much prefer a firm spring mattress with a good pillow top cushion built in. 

I have back and neck issues as well and the firm support offered by the latter makes me a much happier camper in the morning.