Visco Mattresses Versus Spring Beds Health Concerns

Many mattress manufacturers and retailers say their products can cure insomnia and/or many other sleep disorders, back pain, joint pains and so on. The truth is that no mattress can fix these things but they can help ease the pain and improve comfort during sleep, depending on your medical condition, mattress type and quality. So what do doctors have to say about it?

But first, here's what you must know about home mattress trials and what makes a good foam mattress.

Mattress Recommendations from Doctors

Many customer reviews say that a Tempur-Pedic mattress or pillow has helped apnea and fibromyalgia patients, insomniacs and people suffering from back and hip pain. There are no relevant medical studies to back up these effects which is why doctors are still skeptical about recommending (or not recommending) visco mattresses.

For a very long time, people were led to believe by specialists and the media that a good firm inner spring mattress is perfect for back pain, joint problems and insomnia. But the truth is that all those pressure points and firmness will, in most cases, aggravate the sores and damage the quality of sleep.

For some people, a firmer sleeping surface can indeed work wonders with acute back spasms, but that doesn't mean that spring mattresses have the power to cure or ease back pains or other medical conditions. It all depends on the amount of support your back and neck get during sleep. And that can only be measured by sleeping on the mattress for a few nights.

Back Support

Visco mattresses will provide good support as long as it is dense enough (4lb minimum), is layered over a firmer core made of good quality high resilience foam, is firm enough (ILD rating of 14-15) and, most importantly, is sensitive to body temperature.
When you lie on a spring mattress, your body pushes against the springs in search for comfort and support, and at the same time the springs push back against your body with an equal force, in order to regain their original shape. That's why you sometimes wake up with stiffness and back pain. Instead of a body-conforming mattress, you have one that putts extra pressure on you and minimizes sleep comfort.
Spring mattresses cannot provide adequate support since they don't have the ability to contour your body in any way. Even if they support your bone system when sleeping on your back, they won't perform as well when you lie on your side or stomach or if you have an extra rounded bottom, for example.
They only work for people of certain height and weight and in certain positions. The pocket spring models, on the other hand, do offer great support no matter your position and body coordinates.

Pressure Relief

Health care specialists say that to be labeled as providing pressure relief, a mattress has to have the pressure of 32mmHg or lower, whereas pressure reduction performance is agreed to occur between 32mmHg and 50mmHg.

A good quality viscoelastic mattress like Tempur-Pedic Swedish mattress and other leading brands were shown to reduce average pressure to around 15 mmHg from nearly 30 mmHg.
Exact numbers are not published, but specialists say that the pressure exerted by a spring mattress is certainly greater than 32 mmHg, the highest limit for pressure reduction mattresses. In other words, the springs pushing back against your body put a considerable amount of pressure onto your skin and organs, causing numbness and sores.

Allergy And Mattress Choice

Unfortunately for allergy sufferers, there are no allergy-free mattresses readily available (except for the ones manufactured especially for people suffering from allergies).

The structure of any spring mattress is a good host for dust mites, whether natural or synthetic (even if the fibers inside are not a source of food nor do they promote nesting, they still are a closed, sometimes warm and humid environment for the tiny creatures to live comfortably in). Unfortunately, due to its structure, you cannot clean or vacuum the inside of the mattress, so all you can do is use dust-mite resistant encasings and covers.

Dust-Mites And Memory Foam Mattresses

Open-cell memory foam mattresses do not promote dust mite nesting, nor are they a food source in themselves, but unfortunately they can and do host dust mites.
Due to its structure, an open-cell foam mattress (like almost any other type of mattress) cannot be cleaned of these microscopic creatures. The only way to prevent allergy-provoking dust mites in your foam mattress is to use dust-mite resistant encasings and covers.

Customer Opinions

The deal with a spring mattress is that they have a definite lifespan. Those springs are going to uncoil, and come sticking through the padding at some point. groups.google.com/group/misc.consumers.frugal

One new development attacks the old adage that "firmer is better," Those experts are not otherwise identified. However, a 2003 Spanish study of people with lower back pain revealed that medium-firmness mattresses help back sufferers more than hard mattresses, something to bear in mind if you have an occasional achy back. www.consumersearch.com/www/house_and_home/mattress-reviews/review.html

The only plain coil mattress and box spring mattress we had was our least favorite. It was a good one, but didn't last that well, and never was as comfortable as the previous foam, and later waterbed. I would never go to a box spring and coil mattress again. groups.google.com/group/sci.med.transcription

By the way, putting a spring mattress on the floor works much better for me than one on a box spring for some reason. You might try this as a temporary fix if you can't afford a new bed right away. groups.google.com/group/alt.med.fibromyalgia

Disclaimer:
MyFoamMattress.net is an independent buyers guide and is not affiliated with any mattress manufacturer or retailer. Different mattress manufacturers and retailers may advertise on this website but we are not affiliated with them in any way, we do not act as agents on their behalf nor are we their employees.

All care has been taken to provide consumers with unbiased information on memory foam mattresses. This may include both the pros and cons of different products and of different brands. All our content is based on extensive research on existing consumer opinions found online on countless forums, discussion groups and review sites spanning back 6 years. Our findings are meant to act exclusively as a concise summary of all these consumer opinions we have read.

This website is Valid XHTML 1.0! | Valid CSS!

My Foam Mattress Has Memory!

A Critical Eye On The Latest Mattress Technologies

Top Memory Foam Complaint

The most commonly reported problem consumers have with memory foam beds is that they sleep hotter when compared to conventional sleeping surfaces.

But sleeping conditions are influenced by environment temperature, the material's heat sensitivity and your own body heat.

2 lb vs 3 lb

Which to choose from a 2lb foam bed topper versus 3lb Tempur-Pedic bed overlay comparison? Higher density alone does not make a quality sleeping surface. The formula behind the best sleeping surface uses best quality, high-density foam that responds to body temperature.

Known Brands

What is the secret behind Tempur-Pedic mattress technology and why is it in the top 5 most popular brands alongside the likes of Sensus, Isotonic, Bergad and Sealy? The answer is that it uses good quality, high density, heat responsive foam.

How Long Does It Last?

What affects the expected lifetime of memory foam beds and do Tempurpedic beds last longer? The answer is years and years as long as it's made of better quality, higher-density foam.