Memory Foam Mattress Pads
If you are seeking a good night’s but find that sleep eludes you, your mattress may be to blame. Considering all the hours of your life spent in bed, a good mattress is a must. But at what cost?
You may have heard the accolades for memory foam mattress. Visco elastic foam, or memory foam, was invented in the 1960s by the brain trust at NASA. Seems they were looking for a super material that would help space voyagers withstand the G-forces applied during take off. Those violent launches were hard on a body! Time to invent something.
And invent they did – visco elastic foam. (And Tang, but that’s another story!)
Visco elastic or memory foam contains many cells that disperse energy. They contour or mold themselves around body parts and provide support and cushion at the same time. Although NASA never used this memory foam in the astronauts’ chairs, it was a heck of an invention nonetheless.
Hospitals soon discovered this material and used it for mattresses. Bed-ridden patients were relieved of the pressures endured for long periods of inactivity. This stuff worked great!
Soon furniture manufacturers implement this space-age material into mattresses, pillows and other items. Tempur-Pedic went ‘all in’ and is arguably the most famous of foam mattress manufactures in the world.
Although expensive, memory foam mattresses gained a huge following of devout sleepers. And like a good cop show on TV, many copycats soon appeared. The knock-offs may look similar, and may even initially feel similar, but in reality, there is a world of difference.
The secret to memory foam is its density. Generally speaking, the thicker (more dense) the material, the higher the quality. And more the expense.
Seeking to bridge price and comfort, many mattress manufacturers developed memory foam mattress pads. This seemed to supply the best of both worlds. The cushiony feel of memory foam but since less material is used for a pad (a.k.a. mattress ‘topper’) Could this be true sleep nirvana?
Well, no. It turns out the foam mattress pads just don’t have the lifespan of a premium foam mattress. This is due to a number of reasons but primarily due to the thickness of the foam. The qualities of a foam like visco elastic are produced when the adjacent cells lend support to carrying the weight. And with a traditional foam mattress, there are plenty of these cells to do the job. With a foam mattress pad that’s only an inch or two think, there isn’t an ‘army’ of these cells to perform adequately. So like an understaffed army, they are eventually overrun and go down in defeat.
The wonderful benefits of foam, i.e. molding and contouring, can also be the downfall of a foam mattress pad. Since the pad is laid over an existing mattress, any irregularities of that mattress are only magnified. The foam padding will simply follow that slump or sag.
Another downfall of a foam mattress pad is when it’s used by; let’s say ‘heavy’ people. Since the pad has nowhere near the strength of a full foam mattress, cells within the foam can quickly collapse and flatten out.
The advantages of a foam mattress pad is that you can try out and get a ‘feel’ for a foam mattress before investing a lot of money in one. A premium foam mattress can run from $1,600 and up to $6,000! And not everyone actually likes sleeping on foam. It is an acquired taste – err.. feel. It may be best to test the waters with a foam mattress pad to see if it’s something you’d be comfortable with.
But even if you fall in love with the feel of foam, and many do once they make the investment. A foam mattress pad has a relatively short lifespan. While a full mattress might be backed with a 20-year guarantee, a foam pad might only get you a couple of years. Max.