Cautions About A Memory Foam Mattress Topper - Tips

Before you go out and acquire a memory foam mattress topper for your bed, you may want to consider a few things. Almost everyone with a mattress of visco memory foam appears to love it, raving about how they get such good nights of sleep with such good support. And who can forget the fact that this foam "remembers" its original shape in the morning, and returns to it after you get up? All of this is great, but a topper simply might not give you the same benefits as a complete foam bed.

What makes a memory foam bed work so well is a combination of things. The top layer of foam is what softens when exposed to body heat, changing to adjust itself to your contours. But the memory foam in lower levels of the mattress retains its shape and firmness, since the heat doesn't reach down that far. That quality of support provided by the lower level of the foam stems from its high density; in some cases as much as 8 pounds per cubic foot. This very firm support is just as important to the function of the memory mattress as the softening and changing of the upper level.

The problem is that the memory foam mattress topper likely won't do as well functioning alone; probably not as good as complete memory foam beds would do. A topper needs to rest on something that's reliably firm if it's going to work properly. Add to this the problem that unless your original mattress is brand new, it probably isn't completely flat and may already sag in places. Any memory foam mattress enhancer or topper will sag in the same places, meaning you'll derive almost no benefit from it at all.

Because of the extra variables introduced by trying to put a memory foam mattress topper onto an existing non-memory foam mattress, you simply might have to think twice about going this route. Without reliable underlying support, and with the prospect of sagging, a topper made of foam can't provide the sleep or even health benefits you're looking for. You might do better for yourself if you go for the whole package, and buy yourself a complete bed made of memory foam.