Memory Foam and Memory Foam Mattress

THE HISTORY...

The technology to produce memory foam has been around since the late 1970s. It was initially designed for use as seat cushions for astronauts. The foam was intended to reduce the G-forces sustained through liftoff. There were some serious flaws with the first few prototypes, namely off-gassing (the process by which material slowly and continually breaks down on a chemical level releasing fumes in the process); and durability (early memory foam broke down quickly, flaking and tearing after very little use). NASA decided to put their memory foam technology up for sale.

Swedish foam manufacturer, Fagerdala immediately recognized the potential for memory foam, and began to develop a version for the consumer market. He proposed the use of memory foam for medical patients in need of reducing painful pressure points. These pressure points can lead to serious health issues when patients were bedridden fora prolonged period of time. Fagerdala's Tempur-Pedic ® eventually became an independent company and manufacturer, and remains one of the oldest known memory foam producers on the market.
The success of Tempur-Pedic ® drove the continued research and development of memory foam, leading to numerous innovations and dramatic improvement in the foam itself.

HOW IS MEMORY FOAM DIFFERENT...

Memory foam is made of "open foam" cells. The foam cells themselves have holes in them, when compressed they release the air inside to adjoining cells. The pressure moves through a greater number of foam cells, and relieves the pressure from the weight that is on it.

That said, you wouldn't want an entire mattress made of memory foam! It would be far too soft, and wouldn't provide enough support. Memory foam works best as a sleeping solution when layered over a supportive base.

WHAT IS ILD ?

ILD, or indentation load deflection, is how manufacturers rate the firmness of their mattresses. It is a standardized system for measuring the firmness of a mattress. It goes a little something like this...
A foam block, 15 inches square and 4 inches high is pressed down 1 inch by
an 8 inch disc. The pressure reading for pressing the foam down 1 inch is
the ILD. So basically, the higher the ILD, the firmer the mattress.

THE DENSITY DEBATE...

This is a matter of opinion, so I'll give you mine. Until recently I cautioned people about buying a mattress with lower densities because of durability issues. But with new innovations in memory foam mattresses, the foam itself has become much more durable. I've found that medium density memory foams (I'm talking about those in the 3 lb density to 4 lb density range) rate just as high in durability testing. And these new generation medium density foams can have certain advantages over the higher density foams - they are softer, have better temperature sensitivity ranges (higher density memory foams are sometimes firmer and stiffer at room temperatures), and have great pressure relieving properties.

KEEP IN MIND...

Many manufacturers have taken advantage of the recent increase in demand of memory foam. Like everything else, there are certain manufacturers that are creating extremely cheap memory foam. This memory foam might be appropriate if you are buying a memory topper, as they can be replaced frequently and are less expensive. If, however, you are buying a mattress, or sleeping solution, you want to ensure that your memory foam is higher quality, as it will need to be durable as well as comfortable!

So%u2026you need to look for a mattress with a medium to high density memory foam layer.