The Memory Foam



The foam used in a memory foam mattress is a substance developed in the 1970s at the Ames Research Center by NASA research scientists. It was developed to help the astronauts deal with the enormous pressure that they had to endure during take off. After years of testing, NASA finally perfected what is known as visco-elastic foam. This foam was then perfected for consumer use by a Swedish Company called Tempur-Pedic. Temper-Pedic begin selling the foam in mattress form in the early nineties. It was a raging success. So much so that Tempur-Pedic begin selling the mattress in the United States and Canada. The mattress became wildly popular in the United States and Canada also. It became so popular that many other manufacturers began creating their own memory foam mattresses. So now you have many to choose from.

The foam developed by NASA was developed to absorb pressure and heat from the body. It was created to conform to the contours of your body so that it supported your weight and eliminated any pressure points. When you move or shift, any points of the mattress that you were previously lying on or in contact with, will automatically resume its original form. This is where it gets its name "memory foam" from. This is also what allows you to have incredible sleep. With zero pressure points you don't get aches and pains and you don't toss and turn. You toss and turn and get aches and pains from a traditional mattress because the mattress "pushes back" on your body causing pressure. The points of your body where the pressure forms begin to build up, and so your body, in order to get rid of the pressure, makes you change positions. This can wake you up and disrupt your sleep.

The king size memory foam mattress is also good because the elimination of pressure points also means that you get better blood circulation (and this can help with injuries, post-operative healing, or just simply feeling better). Also they are completely hypo-allergenic so if you have severe allergies you do not have to worry about allergens ruining your evening.

You can find the king sized foam mattress online or offline. Offline you can check your local mattress store but more than likely they are not going to have that many in stock. Also they're more than likely going to be carrying name brands like Tempur-Pedic which can run upwards of $2000 to $6000. So if you're on a tight budget you want to check online because you can find hundreds of manufacturers selling their own version of a memory foam mattress. Just make sure that if you do buy mattress online that it comes with a solid warranty, a free in home trial, and is made in the United States (mattresses made outside the United States tend to be lower quality and can contain toxic chemicals such as formaldehyde and PBDE).