Visco Elastic Foam Mattress

The next time you take a rest on your Visco Elastic foam mattress  have a think about the great comfort you are enjoying is due to Nasa.

We think of memory foam beds as a relatively new product, but in actual fact the foam was initially developed way back in the 1960′s by NASA. The two primary developers were the Stencel Aero Engineering Corp and NASA’s Ames Research Center and their goal was to developed a aircraft cushion that was safer and more comfortable for use in the space program. After some time the use of this new material was extended into the sports and medical fields for use. You may be surprised to learn that football helmets were lined with it and it was also used in X-ray tables. Gradually as the popularity of memory foam became more widespread, it was sold to the public by a few companies that had used it to manufacture mattresses and pillows from it.

The funny thing is, as it eventuated it never did make its way into the spacecraft after all.

You may be curious to know what memory foam is exactly? We need to get a little bit technical here, it is actually made from polyurethane and various other chemicals, which give it the very dense properties it is known for. We have all seen some ordinary foam products and these vary greatly from the memory foam we see today in mattresses. This is because of the way it is made with millions of minute bubbles that are both temperature and weight sensitive. Therefore it is these properties with the higher density that make it firmer when the temperature is cool, and nice and soft when it is warm. This of course means that it will react to the heat from your body and then contour itself around your body.

So the first time you lay down on it, it will seem quite firm. But gradually as the heat from your body is transferred through the top layers it will soften and mold itself around your body. This will only happen down to a certain depth, as the heat from your body will only travel so far through the layers. The bottom of the visco elastic foam mattress will remain cool and firm in the bottom layers.

Now when you rise in the morning, the mattress will remember the original shape it was before you slept. It will return to that flat shape within a few seconds, which naturally is how it gets its name!

For all these principles, is why memory foammattresses have been lauded as the best mattresses to sleep on to relieve your pressure points, these are the areas of the body that can get sore or even cause bedsores because they press a lot harder on the bed than the remainder of the body does. This is achieved by having every part of the body supported equally, with this kind of memory foam mattress.

Even so, you will need to be cautious and there are a few things you will need to consider . One main concern is that this foam is flammable, so keeping this in mind you will need to consider it a fire hazard. This of course rules out smoking in bed and placing candles nearby, so keep both of these well away from the bed. There are some chemicals that are used in the mattress to help make it fire retardant in some mattresses and these can lead to some health issues also. They say airing a mattress when you buy will help with these gases. And this is the reason it never made it into space. There are no windows that you can open in a spacecraft to get rid of the smell.

But if you have a Visco Elastic foam mattress topper already, then you will have discovered that these problems don’t really affect you. So the nest time you are enjoying laying on that mattress, spare a thought for those scientists at NASA. This could be the most useful byproduct of all the space programs research ever done, with its widespread use that is so popular with many people.