Memory Foam vs Spring MattressesI’m going to cut straight to the chase with this page on my website, and start by telling you the main reason spring or “coil” mattresses are still manufactured is because they’re cheap to construct and to buy. The technology used within a spring mattress hasn’t changed that much in many years, and the support you received from a new one bought 10 years ago will be the same if you buy one now. However, I’m not about telling you what’s good for you and what isn’t. My job is to make sure you get both sides of the story and I think this page will be very useful for those of you who are not sure if moving from a spring mattress to memory foam is the right choice for you. So, let’s take a look at some of the pros and cons you can expect with both types. Of course, I will try not to be biased, but I can’t help starting with memory foam. There is far more choice with a memory foam mattress simply because of the abundance of technology available to manufacturers.
Plus the levels of firm to soft are far more accurate than that of a coil spring, not to mention the different layers foam mattresses can have. Starting out with a foam mattress before you suffer from back, neck or shoulder pain could stop this from happening all together because you get the natural support you need from the word go! If you do have trouble with various aches and pains whether they’re mild or severe, a foam mattress will definitely help because it supports important pressure points across the body. Unlike a spring mattress, the technology within is like having billions of tiny springs supporting your frame and it will contour to your natural shape much better. Think of it like buying a suit that’s been made for you rather than buying “off the peg”. Foam mattresses will last much longer and the warranties available are more extensive because the materials used are far superior to that of a spring type. Largely, you’ll be doing the environment a favor especially if you look out for the CertiPUR-US certification.
One of the biggest complaints about foam mattresses is the fact they produce additional heat. However, there are brands on the market like the DynastyMattress 12-Inch New Cool Breeze GEL I have reviewed that pretty much eliminate this problem. Depending on the way of packaging, you may have to wait for your mattress to expand before you can use it, and in some cases there will be an odor. Finally, yes, foam mattresses will cost you more. But, they last longer if cared for properly and could avoid problems in the future due to aches and pains caused by a poor sleeping surface. First of all, as I have mentioned a spring mattress is cheap. The main reason for this is the technology used to construct them is pretty basic. When you first buy a spring mattress, there is no need to wait until you can use it because they “spring” to their original form instantly. Since spring mattresses don’t rely on heat to adjust to your body, you won’t get the problem of being too warm when you sleep.
They are well ventilated. You won’t get the “outgas” odor that’s sometimes synonymous with foam mattresses because of the materials used. If you don’t like the idea of waiting for your mattress to conform to the contours of your body, a spring mattress might be the answer. This is a personal issue though, and most people get used to this characteristic of memory foam fairly quickly (plus new foams and layer set-ups are being developed every day, making the problem slowly go away). If you suffer from various aches and pains, don’t expect a spring mattress to help. This is because the coils within simply push weight back at the same pressure at which it’s received. This leads me on to another con with this type of mattress… Body weight will not be distributed evenly so it’s impossible for a spring mattress to help support various pressure points around the body that can cause spine or joint problems. It’s virtually impossible to find a mattress of this type with anything more than a 10 year warranty due to the materials used and in many cases they will start to sag after a year or two because of the way they’re designed.
Maintenance of a spring mattress will take up much more of your time because they not only need to be rotated often, but flipped as well.susan greenfield and her girlfriend Llina Kempner couldn't wait for their new memory-foam mattress top to arrive. For months, they'd heard friends rave about how the high-tech material molds itself to your body. But when they unwrapped the three-inch-thick pad in their Manhattan apartment, they noticed a strong, acrid odor. "My nose and my lungs were miserable," recalls Greenfield. For the two nights Kempner slept on the mattress top, she felt nauseated. After Greenfield, who is chemically sensitive, had an asthma attack in the middle of the night, the couple returned the mattress pad. But its stench lingered in the apartment for weeks.Reactions like Greenfield's are relatively rare, but you, too, might lose some sleep when you find out what's really inside your mattress—memory foam or not. The place where you spend one-third of your life is chock-full of synthetic materials, some potentially toxic.
Since the mid- to late '60s, most mattresses have been made of polyurethane foam, a petroleum-based material that emits volatile organic compounds that can cause respiratory problems and skin irritation. Formaldehyde, which is used to make one of the adhesives that hold mattresses together, has been linked to asthma, allergies, and lung, nose, and throat cancers. And then there are cotton pesticides and flame-retardant chemicals, which can cause cancer and nervous-system disorders. In 2005, Walter Bader, owner of the "green mattress" company Lifekind and author of the book Toxic Bedrooms, sent several mattresses to an Atlanta-based lab. A memory-foam model was found to emit 61 chemicals, including the carcinogens benzene and naphthalene. There is no proven health risk from the substances in mattresses, however, mostly because tracking their long-term effects is virtually impossible. Heather Stapleton, an environmental chemist at Duke University, says there's simply not enough data to determine whether low levels of these chemicals will eventually make people sick.
"It's the dose that makes the poison," she says. "If they're not getting out, maybe it's not a problem—but we don't know. There are plenty of lab studies that show that these compounds are harmful. It's just a question of what levels people are exposed to." Still, more and more consumers are seeking out mattresses made of natural latex, organic cotton batting, and organic wool. Sales of California-based Vivètique's latex mattresses have increased by 40 percent annually for the past five years—they now comprise 45 percent of the company's total sales. And they are even sold by discounter 1-800-Mattress. It's hard to say whether you should ditch your conventional bed in favor of a green one, since you'll likely have a tough time figuring out exactly which toxins are lurking under your covers. Take, for example, fireproofing chemicals: Pentabde, a member of the polybrominated diphenyl ether (pbde) family of flame retardants, was used in some mattresses before 2004, when it was phased out.
(Pentabde is now known to be toxic to the liver, thyroid, and nervous system.) So let's say that just to be on the safe side you toss your pre-2004 mattress and buy a new one. Last July, the Consumer Product Safety Commission began to require that all mattresses sold in the United States be able to withstand 30 minutes of exposure to an open flame. Mattress makers aren't using Pentabde anymore—but it's not clear exactly what they are using to meet the new standard. Major manufacturers such as Simmons, Sealy, and Tempur-Pedic won't divulge their flame-retardant formulas, which are considered trade secrets. A Simmons press release touts a "proprietary blend of char-forming, intumescing, flame-resistant components." Tempur-Pedic vaguely states that its products "consistently meet all safety standards." A best guess at what's in today's mattresses comes from Ryan Trainer, executive vice president of the International Sleep Products Association, an industry group. He says most companies use "various types of barrier fabrics" such as cotton treated with boric acid or rayon treated with silica—both relatively benign chemicals—as well as fire-resistant materials such as modacrylic fiber (which contains antimony oxide, a carcinogen) and melamine resin (which contains formaldehyde).