Different qualities of memory foam

Memory foam is a material that was developed by NASA in the 1960s as part of its space program, especially designed to reduce and alleviate as much as possible the pressure that astronauts' bodies suffered when taking off and landing.

And it was from the 1990s onwards, when this material began to be used in mattresses and other rest products, due to its extraordinary properties. adaptive.

At Colchón Exprés we have the best memory foam mattresses on the market, so you can select the one that best suits your needs. Below we explain the different qualities of viscoelastic that exist, the types, as well as false beliefs associated with this material, so that you can choose the mattress that best suits you.

Table of contents

Advantages of viscoelastic
False myths about viscoelastic
Types of memory foam
Conclusion

Advantages of the viscoelastic

Some of the main advantages that have made viscoelastic one of the materials most in demand by a large majority of users in their mattresses are the following:

Adaptability
This property refers to the ability of viscoelastic to adapt to the shape of each body, regardless of the posture adopted when sleeping. As it is a thermosensitive material that has memory, viscoelastic creates a perfect mold of the body, promoting greater relaxation of the muscles and a great feeling of comfort during rest.
Reduces pressure levels
By maximizing the support surface when lying down, a homogeneous distribution of weight occurs along the entire surface of the mattress. In this way, a sensation of zero gravity is achieved during sleeping hours, which improves blood circulation and contributes to a better quality of rest.
Personalization possibilities
Memory foam, increasingly used in high-end mattresses, is the subject of numerous studies to improve its properties. One of these improvements allows its firmness to be adjusted, achieving personalized mattresses according to the needs and rest habits of each user.
Great recovery capacity
Once pressure is no longer applied to the memory foam, it recovers its original shape. Depending on the composition of the memory foam that the mattress incorporates, this process is more or less slow. In this way, regardless of the position we adopt during rest, the adaptation will always be maximum.

False myths about memory foam

1) "Memory foam gives heat":

Perhaps this phrase may be familiar to us, especially in hot times...and perhaps this old belief may be giving us the wrong idea about mattresses that incorporate this material inside. First of all, we must warn that just because a mattress has memory foam, that mattress does not give more heat than another. Because? Because everything will depend on how the memory foam is combined in that mattress with the rest of the materials that make it up. In fact, at Colchón Exprés, we have a line of viscoelastic mattresses specially designed for hot people, such as the following:

- Ingravity Termalfresh Relax 2.0 Mattress

2) "Memory foam mattresses are soft"

As we have explained previously, this statement is totally false. Perhaps this may be the first impression we get, when we imagine the typical iconic image that usually accompanies memory foam mattresses, of the hand leaving a mark on a block of foam. But the truth is that there are many types of memory foam, with different densities, which give rise to mattresses with high final firmness. At Colchón Exprés, some of our best high-firm mattresses incorporate high-density memory foam in their padding, such as the following:

- Ingravity Termalfresh Swiss Mattress

- Ingravity Dual Comfort Mattress

3) "Memory foam mattresses do not breathe"

This statement often accompanies the previous one of 'memory foam gives heat', but its error originates from the same principle: It would be analogous to saying that because A recipe incorporates 'oil' in its preparation, it makes you fat. Just as it seems reasonable that in the recipe phrase everything depends on the proportions of oil it contains with respect to the other ingredients, as well as its quality...Whether a mattress breathes more or less does not depend on whether it incorporates memory foam or not, it depends on how the materials that form it have been combined and what natural aeration channels are produced so that the air can circulate freely inside. In fact, there are mattresses on the market that have an excellent level of breathability and that incorporate memory foam among their materials. Some examples are the following:

4) "The more viscoelastic my mattress has, the better it will be"

As we have commented before, it is not about the 'quantity' but the 'quality' of the viscoelastic that our mattress incorporates, and the combination of total materials and technologies that configure it. Only based on all these factors, we can determine if the mattress is really good. As a general rule, when buying a viscoelastic mattress, if the specialist tries to convince us using the number of centimeters of viscoelastic that the mattress has as the only argument, we should be wary.

Types of viscoelastic

The different types of viscoelastic on the market are differentiated according to their manufacturing process, the amount of material per cubic meter used, as well as the origin of the materials used in their manufacture. All of this will give rise to different qualities of viscoelastic, which depending on its combination with the rest of the materials, will give rise to mattresses of different qualities.

Depending on its manufacturing process
Foamed or cut memory foam. To manufacture this type of viscoelastic, the ingredients are placed in an open mold and activating agents are added that make the mixture grow without limits. The result is an open-pore viscoelastic, which favors the free entry and exit of air inside, but has a lower adaptive capacity than those manufactured in a closed mold.
Mold or closed-pore viscoelastic. In this case, the viscoelastic formula is introduced by injection and the foaming of the material is promoted in a closed container. In this way, a material with a high adaptive capacity is achieved, with a more closed pore, with a higher density per cubic meter.

Depending on the origin of the manufacturing materials
Some viscoelastics use in their manufacture materials of natural origin such as soy, aloe vera, green tea, active carbon...these materials improve the properties of some synthetic products derived from petroleum, which are used in more conventional viscoelastics. However, despite the fact that some labels indicate the 'Viscoelastic Vegetal' brand, the maximum content of these materials in the overall formula does not exceed 10%, since if this were not the case, we would not be talking about viscoelastic, but rather another material with different characteristics.

According to its density
This data refers to the amount of viscoelastic material per cubic meter of material. Based on this, we usually speak of low-density viscoelastic, when it does not exceed kg per cubic meter, of medium-density viscoelastic, for densities between 20 and 40 kilos per cubic meter; and high-density viscoelastic, for those that exceed 50 kilos per cubic meter. Depending on the density, the intrinsic properties of viscoelastic in terms of adaptability and speed in returning to its original shape become more or less noticeable.

Conclusion

Based on this explanation, at Colchón Exprés we recommend not taking the amount of viscoelastic material as the only measure of comparison between mattresses, since as we have seen, many other values also influence such as the final firmness of the mattress, back support, ergonomics, breathability and, above all, the ability to relieve pressure points on the body.

Therefore, we recommend to all our clients, to choose the mattress that best suits your needs, pay attention to your specific needs in terms of firmness preferences and rest habits.

And if you have any questions, you can always speak to one of our rest experts by calling 900 897 956, or if you prefer through the chat on our website. We want to help you find the mattress of your dreams.