Will a Memory Foam Mattress Improve Your Sleep, Cure Insomnia, or Reverse Sleep Deprivation?

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Leading memory foam mattresses retailers claim that their bed will help improve your sleep, cure insomnia, and fight sleep deprivation. But according to The National Sleep Foundation (NSF), “there isn't much published research on mattresses, or how mattress quality may affect how sleep feels to the sleeper.”

While NSF does not promote any scientific studies that show how a sleep surface will improve your sleep, they acknowledge that, “discomfort can make falling asleep more difficult and lead to restless slumber.” They encourage finding a mattress that is comfortable to you and replacing your old, unsupportive mattress.

If foam bed retailers do not have studies to support their claims to better sleep, they can certainly show their mattresses provide maximum comfort. The key measure of comfort in a mattress is pressure relief. Even weight distribution and elimination of pressure points are the pinnacle achievement of a great mattress.

Even distribution of pressure is the basis of claims to health benefits. The logic goes that with greatly reduced pressure points, a bed is more comfortable, sleep comes easier, rest is more satisfying, and we awake with more energy.

To show comfort and pressure reduction in technical terms, companies like Tekscan and Xsensor have developed pressure mapping technology. A pad, with hundreds of pressure sensors, is laid down over the mattress. Then a person lies down on top of it and a computer generated map is displayed on a screen showing color coded areas of different pressure. The image demonstrates, in an intuitive way, exactly how comfortable a mattress is.

Pressure mapping shows in a technical way the same thing people know intuitively when they lay down on a memory foam mattress. They conform ideally to your body and are really comfortable. Memory foam has dramatically risen to popularity in the past few years because of its unsurpassed ability to reduce pressure points and provide maximum comfort.

While most people will agree that a more comfortable mattress will naturally lead to better sleep, there is not a lot of scientific data to support this claim. There is much that experts don’t understand about insomnia, sleep deprivation, sleep apnea, restless leg, or other sleep disorders. Nevertheless, sleep experts will all agree that a comfortable sleep surface is a major contributing factor to improved sleep.