Standard foam mattress

With the popularity and promotion of memory foam mattresses and, to a lesser extent, latex foam products, standard foam is often neglected. However foams other than memory foam and latex foam still play a part in the manufacture of many beds.

The things that distinguish memory foam and latex foam from more normal foams are their density and weight. (Their price is another factor.)

Both latex and visco elastic memory foam are very dense and this means that they are also very heavy. Further to those features, these foams have a more encapsulating feel to them and it is this feel that makes these new modern foams popular, particularly for their perceived orthopedic properties.

Even so, many people do not like the feel of memory foam or latex foam and many others cannot, are not prepared to, pay for these expensive foams. This is where standard foams still have a strong place in the mattress market.

Mattress made from standard foam

In the same way that cheap innerspring beds like the continuous coil bed still have a place in the spring bed market, so the standard foam mattress still has a place in the budget foam bed market.

Low density foams can still provide good levels of comfort and, although they do not encapsulate in the same way as memory foam, they can still adapt and shape to the contours of a human body.

The result of this is that many of the cheaper foam beds are made from standard foam or (in some cases with imported mattresses) standard foam purporting to be memory foam.

Standard foam is of course cheaper, and this means that you would probably compare a standard foam mattress with an inner coil spring based one. Many of these mattresses come with firmness ratings starting at 1 (for very soft) and going through to 10 (for very hard).

If you do not like a spring based mattress and you find memory foam too warm, or you do not like the way that it wraps around you, standard foam may be a viable option. These foams are neutral in terms of heat retention and they can be ideal if you like a very firm or hard bed (e.g. an 8 to 10 rating).

Most normal foam beds are vacuum shrink wrapped during transit and this means that they may be delivered looking almost flat. In order to get them to a usable state you simply remove the packaging and allow them to expand to their normal shape and size. This can take anything from 2 to 24 hours.

How good are they as orthopedic mattresses?

Not too long ago only very firm beds were considered to be orthopedic beds. Now those same beds are seen as unsuitable by many and the softer more compressible mattresses are perceived as being desirable.

What this really means is that views and opinions are always changing and what is ideal at one point in time is seen as been less so at another. The main factor in determining how good and how orthopedic a mattress is, is how well you sleep and how relaxed and refreshed you feel the next day. If a standard foam (economy priced) mattress works for you, then that is all that matters.