Thursday, March 29, 2012

Memory Foam Mattress Knowledge, Reviews and Buying Guidelines

Memory Foam Mattress.org was developed in response to the ever growing number of mattress and mattress pad shoppers who have heard about benefits of memory foam, but have not been given enough information to make a proper buying decision.  Our goal is to make informed buyers out of every foam mattress shopper.  We do this with the help of Dr. Rick Swartzburg, D.C., an expert in the subject of pain relief and proper sleeping posture aids.  After several years of research, Dr. Swartzburg has accumulated a vast amount of information on this subject and has figured out how to convey it in a clear and concise manner to help people with this very important decision-making process. 


What Makes Foam have Memory

To give a piece of foam memory, you start with a synthetic polyurethane foam material and add certain types of chemicals which add an increase in weight or density to the foam.  With the addition of these chemicals, a non-toxic, visco-elastic foam material is created.  Visco-elastic can be synonymous with memory foam or some like to refer to this as "viscoelastic memory foam."  However, there are many features along the way that will help determine what type of memory foam you end up with.   To understand exactly what differences are found in each final product, you first have to start with understanding how to grade each foam.

What about organic or green memory foam?
One new trend in all bedding is to speak about organic memory foam or green memory foam.  While there are ways to make memory foam more environmentally friendly (Biogreen® Memory Foam is one such example), for memory foam to have the same type of visco-elastic feel and support as the original NASA developed formulation, it cannot be organic, soy based (usually 5 - 10 % soy can be added to memory foam), nor can it be all-natural.  However, the memory foam made in the United States has been shown to be safe and non-toxic and some manufacturers have gone one step further to reduce or eliminate V.O.C. off-gassing odors and other borderline chemical additives.

What to look for in a good quality memory foam mattress
Obviously it will be important to allow the foam to do what it is best for:  Allowing for a better contouring of your body shape and therefore less pressure placed on the areas of your body that press harder against the bed.  However, don't just go by your weight, because if you are tall, then your weight is dispersed over the bed more.
A good memory foam mattress will not need a box spring underneath it to make the mattress feel good.  You can order a platform base to increase the height of the bed, but remember that this mattress should feel good if it was placed on an even, concrete surface.  A good way to test the surface of a box spring or box foundation is to sit or even stand on various areas and see if it compresses underneath you.  If you have an existing foundation that is weak, you can easily place two cut 3/4 to 1 inch thick plywood sheets over it to give it the necessary support.
Also, you may want to look at the warranty that a company offers, because you can then worry less about spending extra money for a higher weighted mattress and can attempt to get the correct mattress feel, but save on cost.  
Beware of Cheap Imitations!
Unfortunately, not all foam is created equal.  Many companies will put together the mattress in the U.S., but buy the foam overseas to save money.  With overseas foam, we cannot be sure of the quality or the composition, so we are very wary of recommending mattresses that use memory foam not produced in the United States, with the exception of Tempur-Pedic, who has the only high quality Swedish manufacturing facility we know of.  The rest of the overseas foam makers produce memory foam that seems to flatten out with compression, even though it may feel comfortable upon the first feel.  Therefore, the memory foam made overseas may not last as long, be as safe to sleep on, and offer enough support.  Unfortunately, many companies state their beds are made in the U.S. because the mattress is put together in the U.S., even though they do not use U.S. produced foam.  For a list of companies that have produced documentation verifying that their mattresses are 100% produced in the U.S., click here.

Full Article Source: http://www.memoryfoammattress.org/