Solutions for Cooling Down My Memory Foam Mattress? Q: I have Graves Disease and that makes me generally warm, I have a memory foam mattress, and sleeping on foam is ridiculously warm. I wake up so over heated I have to get out of bed and cool down. It's really impacting my sleep. I want to buy a new mattress, but don't have the money so I thought maybe there could be some sort of mattress pad that might insulate me from the foam. I bought one, but despite the claims, it doesn't insulate any better. Editor: Please share your ideas and suggestions with Wolsey in the comments below - thanks! • Got a question? Email yours with pic attachments here (those with pics get answered first) Things to Know before Choosing a Down Featherbed Once a practical comfort item made by hand, down featherbeds are now a luxury item made from the finest materials. While down featherbeds aren't an essential bedding item -- unlike folks 100 years ago, people today put their down featherbeds on top of cushy mattresses -- they can make climbing into bed each evening a heavenly experience.
If you enjoy pillow-top mattresses, love the feel of down or just want to try out a luxurious piece of down bedding, then you may enjoy down featherbeds. Keep reading for a few pieces of information that will help you decide if a down featherbed is right for you and, if so, which down featherbed is the right one. Choosing a Down Featherbed: Down featherbeds supplement your mattress. While the term "down featherbed" is usually used, "down mattress-topper" is probably more accurate. Down featherbeds are roughly six inches thick and are meant to be used on top of your standard mattress, giving your bed unrivaled softness, but also retaining the support of your spring mattress. Down featherbeds contain a lot of feathers. Again, while the term "down featherbed" is often used, simply "featherbed" is usually more accurate. While the use of feathers may sound like a way of cutting corners, it's really not. Feathers add bulk to a down featherbed so that the fill doesn't completely compress when you lay down on it.
While you can find some featherbeds that are made from 100 percent down, they usually are either very expensive or very thin. Some brands offer featherbeds that have a layer of feathers that form the base of the fill with a layer of down on top. Down featherbeds are very warm. This can be a plus or a minus, depending on your preference. In terms of warmth, sleeping on a down featherbed is a lot like sleeping on top of a down comforter. In the winter months, sleeping on a warm down featherbed is very pleasant. However, if you live in a warm or humid climate, or if you often get hot at night, a down featherbed may add too much warmth, especially if you already use down bedding. Down featherbeds feature different types of construction. In terms of comfort, baffle-box construction is usually considered the best kind of featherbed construction. "Baffle-box construction" means that the bedding has been stitched with squares, like a checkerboard, and that the stitched squares on each side of the featherbed are connected by strips of fabric called "baffles."
That may sound confusing, but it means that the fill won't shift around, so you won't have to shake your featherbed every few days, and that your down featherbed won't have any cold spots created by sewn-through stitching. SwissLux Classic Eco Feather and Down Featherbed Topper Hotel Madison 300 Twill 2-Inch Gusset Baffle Box Down Featherbed Luxury Natural Down on Top Featherbed with Cotton Cover Set Downia Luxury White Goose Featherbed Mattress Topper Supportive Cotton and Natural Down and Featherbed Mattress Topper Grandeur Collection Overfilled 300 Thread Count Cotton Down and Goose FeatherbedChoosing the right mattress is exceptionally important for overall health. The average consumer spends over forty hours every single week lying on a mattress. If that mattress is too firm, too soft, too lumpy, or unsupportive, serious health issues can result. Problems with the back, neck, shoulders, and hips can be caused by a cheap mattress or a mattress that has not been replaced in several years.
Studies have linked insomnia and inadequate sleep levels to low quality mattresses. It’s clear that choosing a top-of-the- line mattress can have a dramatic impact on your health and your sleep patterns. What, though, makes a mattress top- of-the- line or high quality? There are so many different mattress styles to choose from. Many consumers get overwhelmed when they start asking questions about mattresses, and begin the shopping process. Two popular mattress types include pillow top mattresses and alternative gel mattresses. These two mattress styles have undergone recent improvements that make both of them incredibly valuable options for improving your overall health. Which option, however, is the best? Pillowtop Mattresses Offer Luxurious Softness A pillowtop mattress is a regular spring mattress that is topped with a luxurious layer of soft down or artificial fillers. Higher quality pillowtop mattresses, of course, are filled with real down. Down is the soft feathers that can be found as insulation below the flight feathers on bird breeds like ducks and geese.
Down is notoriously soft, and many people like to sleep on down pillows because this soft filler material conforms to the shape of their neck, head, and shoulders. The comfort of a down pillow has been expanded into the world of mattresses. Pillowtop mattresses feature a layer of soft down or artificial down across the entire surface of the mattress. This makes them as soft as a pillow. Pillowtop Mattresses Are Easier to Maintain Pillowtop mattresses may be easier to maintain than alternative gel mattresses because they aren’t filled with a semi-liquid material, and they don’t have all the risks associated with alternative gel mattresses. A pillowtop mattress can be cleaned with a regular vacuum hose attachment. The hose is directed slowly across the surface of the mattress, and dust particles, mites, and other contaminants can be easily removed. That said, it is thought that alternative gel mattresses may be more hypoallergenic than pillowtop mattresses, especially if a pillowtop is filled with real bird down.
Alternative Gel Mattresses Claim to Help with Mattress Cooling Alternative gel mattresses claim to help with mattress cooling. A mattress topper that absorbs body heat may cause overheating for the consumer, and overheating has been linked to insomnia in numerous studies. The gel material that fills the top of an alternative gel mattress is supposedly designed to absorb body heat, and wick it away from the consumer. Alternative gel mattresses certainly do feel cool to the touch when you initially lay on top of them, but there is no evidence that these mattresses are capable of maintaining that cool temperature after prolonged exposure to a body. Alternative Gel Mattresses May Deteriorate Over Time One final risk of alternative gel mattresses is the potential for gel deterioration over time. There have been some suggestions that inexpensive gel fillers may break down after several years. This, of course, will eliminate a great deal of the cushioning effect achieved with these mattresses.