Memory foam springs

The technology in beds and mattresses is developing continually and this has seen the appearance of different foams, zoned spring mattress designs and even the production of springs that use memory foam.

Springs made of foam rather than coils of metal may seem like a logical development, but are they genuinely good or nothing more than the latest advertising ploy.

Why have foam springs?

The idea behind having a spring made of an advanced material like visco elastic memory foam is multi fold.

Springs made of metal are seen as passive rather than active and they are also perceived as offering resistance (upward pressure) rather than support. Neither of these shortcoming are actually the case and with a good quality pocket spring mattress, however a metal spring does have some flexibility limitations.

The idea behind a memory foam spring is that it offers the cushioning and cradling support required of an orthopedic mattress, but that it does so in a way that combines the technology of springs with the technology of advanced foams. These beds are in fact composite mattress designs, but where the composite element mixes a design and a material rather than two different materials.

So how good are these foam spring beds and what do they do? The design and performance claims made for foam based spring mattresses are as follows -

• The springs, being formed from active foam, support the weight of the body rather than resist it.


• With an independent and unconnected design the springs do not transfer any motion, e.g. resulting from the movement of one sleeper, to other parts of the mattress. This is of course the principal of all independent or pocket springs.


• The springs work and move tri-dimensionally, which is of course the case with all good springs and the reason that springs are used in beds and mattress products.


• The open memory foam spring design, as opposed to the typical memory foam slab design, avoids one of the issues of memory foam, namely the fact that it can feel very warm.


• No metal components mean that these mattresses are actually closer in composition to other foam mattresses rather than beds that use springs.

As with all new products and designs there is a lot of hype about these foam spring designed beds. However, as a comparatively new product it is not yet possible to evaluate how they will perform over time in a real use situation. The spring design is similar to that of a honeycomb which is also the design used for the gel component of gel composite beds (although in the case of gel other foams or springs are also utilised in the construction).

Another question to ask is to what degree the use of incorporating a spring like design into the memory foam is functional rather than purely gimmick. Having areas for ventilation in memory foam is one effective way of preventing them from sleeping hot and doing so with a spring like design is certainly interesting.

Once these mattresses have been around for a bit longer, and their design and reliability evaluated by buyers, we will add some further information about them. At present it would seem that the company promoting them is called Octaspring although they are actually designed and owned by a Belgian company called Zele.