Best Memory Foam Mattresses - Buyers Guide And Reviews

Mattress shopping can be exciting if you have the right attitude about it. You’re about to invest in a product that can have a significant positive impact on your life, in a very positive way, if you take your time and shop wisely. However, it can also lead to a huge negative impact when you fail to do your research and discover what will and won’t work to meet your personal needs. When you take the time to do your homework, the better chance you’ll find the right product for your lifestyle and sleep habits. You’ll definitely experience no lack of options when you choose to shop online.

Buyers have a variety of motivating factors that can lead them to one product over another. Next, we’re going to walk you through a few products we would recommend you check out depending on what you’re looking for. After spending countless hours of research and reviewing dozens of mattresses available online, here are our top picks for the best memory foam mattress in today’s online marketplace.

Best Memory Foam Mattresses

Why You Never Have an All Memory Foam Mattress

Memory foam offers unique properties in the comfort layer of a mattress but shouldn’t be the only material used if you want proper support. This comfort layer is located at the top of the mattress and offers sleepers the level of comfort they need with the initial give and contouring properties we’ve mentioned. However, your best bet is to find a product that offers various layers featuring different materials that can create a space with additional benefits aside from those offered by memory foam. These support layers could be other types of poly foam or coils, latex, or other options available that are more inclined to keep the mattress sturdy and long lasting.

Furthermore, memory foam by itself wouldn’t be able to provide the right level of support (keeping your spine inline) and is more geared toward the provision of pressure relief.

Cooling and Response

While the sinking property of memory foam is an attractive quality for many consumers, there are others that are considered drawbacks and could have a significantly negative impact on the quality of your sleep. For starters, since you do tend to sink into memory foam, it can sometimes be difficult to move around if you don’t opt for the proper distribution of foam types, choosing a mattress with a denser foam to help support and avoid too much sinking. This can make life more difficult for those who have mobility problems

Furthermore, traditional memory foam is known to sleep hot, retaining the body heat you release during the night and causing you to sweat or overheat. This is counterproductive since, in order to achieve the more restorative stages of sleep, your body needs to achieve a slightly lower body temperature and avoid moisture gathering.

The good news is that there have been a number of innovations intended to address these issues. As we discussed above, the addition of other mattress layers can help add the bounce you need to move around with ease and enough support to assure you reach proper alignment without ‘bottoming out’ and sinking too deeply.

As you shop, you’re likely to come across gel infused memory foam products. The gel acts to absorb heat and therefore keep the mattress cooler as you sleep. It’s important to distinguish gel-infused products versus gel beads as you seek out the coolest memory foam mattress. This is because gel beads have a limited capacity in the amount of heat they’re capable of absorbing, as opposed to a gel infused mattress with greater capabilities for heat distribution and release. Therefore, when they reach that limit, the bed will begin to warm up and could potentially reach a point of great discomfort, depending on how hot you sleep. Therefore, if you tend to sleep hot, you’re a better option would typically be a gel-infused product.

Firmness and Indentation Load Deflections

No matter what mattress material you’re considering, firmness is a factor that’s important to get just right. Everyone has their own preferences, and many mattress companies you’ll come across will allow you to select the firmness level for yourself. Therefore, it’s well worth it to understand what firmness level you’re looking for in the best memory foam mattresses. While only you know what you like, a general guideline for those who are unsure is as follows, based on your preferred sleep position:

Stomach Sleepers

Stomach sleeper faces the unique issue of difficulty breathing since your face is often pressed into the mattress. Therefore, it’s essential that you have enough support to avoid reduced ability to receive the air you need. You’ll want to opt for a firm mattress so your face doesn’t sink into the surface.

Side Sleepers

The biggest obstacle faced by side sleepers is maintaining proper alignment to the neck, hips, and spine since your body is most contoured on its side. In order to procure enough support to keep you from sinking in too deeply while offering enough cushion and contour to align and relieve pressure points, a medium firmness (between a 5.5 and 6.5 on a scale of 1 to 10) is typically best for side sleepers.

Back Sleepers

Because you need back support and the alignment provided in a similar fashion to side sleepers, though perhaps not quite as contoured, if you are a back sleeper, you should also consider a medium-to-firm mattress. However, if you have chronic back pain, opt for medium firmness to avoid unnecessary aches and pains upon awakening.

Some people don’t have a preferred sleeping position, which may make it seem difficult to determine the best firmness level to meet your needs, but there’s another way you can determine the right feel for you when you consider your body mass index or BMI. It’s easy to calculate using online tools and this information can help you find a more ideal product than when you consider sleeping position alone because mass can affect the pressure points on your body and how a mattress could react to your particular build.

How Do You Determine Firmness When Shopping Online?

Most companies will offer you the ability to choose between plush, medium and firm mattresses. Others will even have you fill out a questionnaire designed to allow the company to calculate just the right firmness for you, based on responses to queries about sleep style, position, heat level, and underlying health conditions. However, there are grey areas that are easier to pinpoint when you have a scale to refer to. There is such a scale, and it’s called indentation load deflection.

To test for this scale, a foam sample of material measuring 15 inches x 15 inches x 4 inches is used. A 50 square inch circular indenter is used to compress the material a total of 25 percent of its thickness, or 1 inch deep. You can see a clarifying ILD video here to get a better idea of how the test functions. It clearly shows the process as well as the computerized measurements that result which allow for precise results you can count on to express just how firm a mattress is.

If you come across ILDs as you examine our recommended memory foam mattresses, we want you to understand what these numbers mean. If you prefer the softest memory foam mattress, an ILD of 25 or less would offer what you’re looking for, with a plush, pillowed feeling that allows you to sink deeper into the mattress. If you prefer something in the mid-range, be on the lookout for an overall ILD of around 25-31, giving you a combination of sinking and firmer support to keep you from going too deep. Firm products are those more than 31 and signify that you’ll do more floating on the mattress than sinking.

While analyzing ILDs, it’s important to keep in mind that the ILD of the combined unit is different than what you’ll find at the various mattress layers. In the comfort layer, it’s common to find lower ILDs while they tend to increase as you make your way to the support layer. It’s important to ensure you know what the combined ILD is in order to determine how you can expect to experience the product as a whole.

What Makes a Quality Memory Foam Mattress?

In order to ensure you can enjoy the longest possible lifespan in your new mattress, be prepared to make a reasonable investment. You get what you pay for. When you only have a few hundred dollars to spend, you can expect to experience much lower durability. If you don’t have the money yet, it can prove well worth it to wait a little longer until you can save up some more money. However, if you need something new now for a temporary solution, there are some pointers to help you find the materials that will work best for your needs.

– Density

Durability and quality go hand in hand, and the key term to look for in this department is density. While many confuse it with a representation of firmness, density actually helps you determine the durability you can expect out of your memory foam mattress. Each layer will feature its own density, and it’s important to understand that the comfort layers will experience the most wear and tear. Therefore, you want to ensure the levels in this area, in particular, are high.

Before we go over the numbers to help you know what to look for, it’s worth mentioning that the density of memory foam is different than with other materials. For instance, a polyfoam density of more than 1.8 pounds per cubic foot would be considered highly durable. However, in memory foam, the magic number is four to five pcf. Ideally, you want to be financially prepared to purchase a product that falls within these parameters.

– Better Durability Than Most Polyfoams

Memory foam products are generally known to last much longer than polyfoams in the comfort layers as this is where most of the compression takes place. However, you do get what you pay for, and, for a typically higher price, there are other materials that can last longer than memory foam including:

• Latex
• Natural fibers
• High-quality innerspring

– Thickness and Compression Modulus

In memory foam, in particular, consumers are often particularly interested in the unique feel it’s so famous for. However, the experience will vary depending on the thickness of the memory foam layer. This has an impact on how you’ll experience the product. However, if the layer is too thin, you might not be satisfied with the lessened effect memory foam is known for. We don’t recommend anything less than 2 inches if you’re particularly interested in the memory foam experience.

You also need to consider how much you can expect to sink into a product. The deeper you sink into the mattress, the firmer it becomes due to the increase in compression. This is known as the material’s compression modulus, and different foams increase in firmness due to this factor at different rates.

Cons of Memory Foam Mattresses

Firm

While the density of memory foam is one of the reasons it’s so popular, it can also be a downside for some people. At first, especially, a memory foam mattress can be too firm and rigid and it may take some time for you to “break in” your new mattress and experience that cradling comfort everyone is talking about. On average, for people that find a memory foam mattress too firm, it takes anywhere from 2 to 4 weeks for them to adjust.

Can get hot

One of the biggest issues people have with memory foam is that it feels warm to sleep on. In most cases, a memory foam mattress would be completely unsuitable for a hot sleeper, but there are some exceptions that use special types of foam, such as gel-infused foam, to make sure that the foam inside the mattress has good breathability and doesn’t heat up in response to your body.

Odor

There is a specific type of smell that can put people off memory foam mattresses as it has a strong chemical odor that no one wants to smell in their sleep- or ever, really. However, if you’ve got your mattress from a reputable seller and brand (there are many cheap knock offs that are not really certified memory foam), you don’t have to worry. The unpleasant scent is just the polyether polyurethane smell trapped inside the packaging and it will disperse in 2 or 3 days completely.

Types of Memory Foam

There are three primary types of memory foam, and they each have unique properties that can help guide you to the one that will be best suited for your needs. Let’s take a look at each of these types along with a few properties of each.

– Traditional

• Designed for cradling support to enhance circulation and decrease stress on your joints
• Is known to sleep very hot

– Open Cell

• Has a quicker response, so you can avoid that “sinking in” feeling often associated with traditional memory foam. Better able than traditional memory foam at dispersing heat.
• Able to respond to your body temperature to keep it properly regulated for restful sleep.

– Gel

• Helps in the reduction of pressure points
• Better at dispersing heat than traditional memory

Is a Memory Foam Mattress the Right Choice for You?

The decision to purchase a memory foam mattress is one that will affect you for many years to come. No mattress is one-size-fits-all, and memory foam just isn’t right for certain people. There are a couple of situations in which it may be in your best interest to seek other options.

You Tend to Sleep Hot

If sleeping hot is a significant issue for you, memory foam may not be the best option. While there are solutions available such as gel beads and infusions, foams that are open-celled can typically help keep the sleeper cooler during the night. Therefore, if you tend to sleep very hot and this is a serious issue for you, memory foam may not be the best choice.

You Have Limited Mobility

The primarily evident feature of memory foam is that it allows the sleeper to sink into the mattress more and more as their body heats it. This allows your body to achieve superior contour to help promote proper spinal alignment. However, if you are severely limited in your mobility, this could pose issues when you try to move around or get in and out of the bed. I would suggest, in this situation, that you seek a product with an innerspring unit.

You Sleep On Your Stomach

If you sleep on your stomach, you may find the visco elastic properties of memory foam to interfere with your preferred sleeping position. As you sleep, your body will sink deeper into the product, and this can become a hindrance in breathing if your face has contact with the mattress.

Conclusion

There’s clearly no shortage of quality products on the market, and these are just a few of your options you have for memory foam mattresses. I’ve had the chance to try out a number of memory foam mattresses, and, if you can afford it, a product like the Tempurpedic Cloud Prima will provide a feeling of luxury and would be at the top of the list of dreamy sleep environments. This product carries with it the expectation of excellent durability, and the quality of the materials found within deliver the support you need to sleep your best.

However, not all of us have $2,500 available to spend on a mattress, so there’s a good chance you’re like me and have to settle with comparable products that still have a lot to offer without the high price tag. I personally enjoyed the Ultimate Dreams gel memory foam mattress very much, and I found this to be a very reasonably-priced product for the comfort you’ll enjoy. I found the firmness level to be great for my needs (I like my mattresses medium to plush), and the combination of the soft cover and memory foam beneath makes it feel like you’re floating on a cloud.