How to Buy a Mattress without Losing Your Mind
Posted: Wednesday, October 10, 2007
by Jason Wright
Essentia
Do you know how to buy mattress? Choosing wrongly will affect your health.
So what's there to know? What first-time buyers or average buyers are not aware of is that their choice of mattress can actually save them from back, hip, and joint pains, aggravated health problems, allergies, harassing headaches and stiff neck conditions that one wakes up with, and the forever annoying nuisance of having to shop for mattresses again and again.
So how do i buy a mattress without losing my mind you ask? Keep reading.
Things to Consider when Shopping for Mattresses?
Physiological research indicates that back (particularly the spine), hip, and joint problems can be traced back to ones sleeping conditions. Here is where your choice of mattress factors in. Very firm and hard mattresses tend to cause these pains because the pressure your body exerts on the mattress is returned with full force. On much the same note, very soft mattresses also tend to produce such pains because they most probably cannot support the weight of your body, hence, your muscles are compensated because they try to bring support to your bodys weight. However, the choice whether to buy a firm or soft mattress must depend on a persons weight because firmer mattresses are necessary to support heavier body weights.
On the market today, are three general types of mattresses, namely: spring mattresses, spring mattresses with memory foam tops, and memory foam mattresses:
Spring Mattresses
Spring mattresses are the traditional mattresses in the market. They are made up of coiled springs of 1.37mm to 1.94mm in thickness. Theoretically, these coils are the means in which your body is supported. However, they cannot provide distributed support to your body since these coils are often the same all throughout the underside of your bed and thus, they push back with the same pressure that your body gives. Another downside in purchasing spring mattresses is that 16%-17% of their provided support is lost in the first year.
Spring Mattresses with Memory Foam Toppers
Some companies have preferred to fuse the old and new technologies in the manufacturing of mattresses. Memory foam toppers are placed on top of the coiled springs. The downside is that this fusion product has not yet been proven effective.
Memory foam toppers added to spring mattresses add comfort but dont address spinal alignment concerns. They also dont change the fact that youll have to changee your spring mattress in 5-8 years.
Memory Foam Mattresses
Memory foam mattresses are the result of a newer and innovative technology in mattress-making that specifically pays attention to the health and comfort of its users. This technology had its origins in NASA and was used as the material which made up the astronauts seats. Back in the 1970s, memory foam was used to reduce the pressure of gravitational force.
Memory foam mattresses are generally made up of a polyurethane core with a 2 to 5 inch layer of memory foam on top. If you didnt have that core you would never stop sinking in. Not all memory foam mattresses are created equally and proper support for your body my be compromised because of this.
Memory foam mattresses, although one may initially find them to be costly, prevail over spring mattresses because they have the ability to distribute your bodys weight thereby reducing pressure points.
The negatives to memory foam are their beathability issues and they're made from chemicals and petroleum which is not very healthy.
Natural memory foam is only available by Essentia out of Quebec , Canada . Natural memory material eliminates any health issues caused by traditional memory foam mattresses because theyre water based and made with essential oils.
You're now a little more prepared in buying a new mattress ;-)
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Top-level comments on this article: (4 total)You left out water beds and the water bed variant called Somma. And what about those sleep number beds? I had always wondered what kept you from just sinking and sinking into memory foam. Now I know.
what is the difference between memeory foam and latex.. which is healthier
If we're talking about health alone (not support and comfort) natural latex is healthier than petroleum based memory foam. The natural memory foam mentioned above by Essentia is as healthy as latex. In term of comfort and support it's a different story. If you test a latex mattress and memory foam mattress their numbers are far different. Latex cannot compete with the contouring support and pressure point relief memory foam provides.
Nope, because the guy is still saying 'buy a foam mattress' even though they are a mistake for people with back problems. Since he teamed up with a mattress manufacturer, what can you expect him to say? It's like having your hearing evaluated by a hearing aid dispenser.
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