Experts

What Is Memory Foam and How Can It Change Your Life?

By Staff Reporter | Update Date: Dec 12, 2019 11:01 AM EST

Imagine having a bad day. You get home, you eat dinner and go to bed, thinking that you will wake up in the morning feeling refreshed. But, what do you know? The next morning you wake up as tired as you were when you went to bed the night before. Does that sound familiar? 

Unfortunately, it sounds familiar to all of us. Every single one of us has gone through that at some point in our lives, but fortunately for some, it all changed when they discovered memory foam.

What is memory foam?

Memory foam is a foam made of polyurethane invented by NASA in 1966. Trying to increase the quality of their aircraft cushions and improve safety,  they came up with a formula that is now considered one of the basic comfort providers when it comes to sleep and lying down.

Memory foam reacts to pressure and the body's heat. When you lie on a memory foam mattress, your body weight is equally distributed, preventing muscle pain. When the pressure is removed, the foam returns to its initial shape. That is the 'memory' feature. It doesn't remember your body shape, but it remembers its initial one.

Later on, it was used for medical equipment. Most of the beds in the X-ray machines are produced having a memory foam layer and many hospitals use memory foam mattresses for patients who are immobilized. 

If you have such relatives and you want to provide them with the best care possible, try to purchase this kind of mattress. It might also be a good idea to buy a Hoyer lift to make their lives easier. You can always find affordable prices for Hoyer lifts, as well as for memory foam mattresses. 

How can memory foam improve your overall well being?

Products made from memory foam, like mattresses and cushions, were initially commercialized to the public in 1980. The production process was difficult, so it was only in 1991 that their market increased. Since then, a lot of people have started using the products and a lot of brands started to use the technology to produce them.

In the early years, memory foam mattresses were used for medical settings, especially for people who could not move for a long period of time because in some areas of their body there was a lot of pressure causing problems with their blood flow which lead to gangrenes and sores. 

These mattresses reduce these events and studies have shown that they can also reduce fibromyalgia-related pain. 

Memory foam products come with great benefits for people experiencing chronic pain. We live in a world where people's physical activity is reduced and we spend a lot of time sitting down. That is why most people start experiencing back and neck pain because of the lack of muscle strength.

While we sleep, our muscles have to rest. Memory foam allows them to do so by reducing pressure. But a mattress may not be enough. If you've been waking up with neck pain and even headaches due to poor posture and contractions in your neck muscles, a memory foam pillow may be the one that rescues you.

Memory foam pillows usually have an anatomic shape and provide support for your cervical spine and muscles, allowing them to relax and reduce contraction.

If you sleep in an uncomfortable position and your muscles are not able to relax, your body will need to change its position seeking for that relaxation state. If you sleep on memory foam, the waking up episodes during the night will be reduced and, therefore, your sleep quality will increase.

Final thoughts

Our day to day wellbeing has a lot to do with the way we sleep. Life has become a lot more stressful and people have a rough time relaxing and recharging after long days and long stressful periods. We have to take care of our bodies and minds as much as possible to remain happy and productive.

Comfortable sleep is not a luxury, even if it may seem hard to believe, and memory foam is such an accessible way to improve its quality that it's a pity not to try it.




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