Memory foam vs Gel foam mattresses

"MEMORY FOAM VS GEL FOAM"- The innovation in sleeping well

‘This comparative review is based upon thorough research and experience. We do not tend to impose or sell any of the following products. It’s only an informative article to show you the differences’.

From the very start of our human race, we have always struggle to achieve peace and it seems like running away from us. Not to talk about the wars happened and happening. Normally the governments and militaries are responsible for the peace within the country, the NGOs within communities, the UN tends to keep international peace and grandfathers (I love mine) keep the home-peace alive and so on.

Where in our life cycle we try to seek peace in our relationship, our families, our spirituality, the nature, mountains, in our life goals and our success. Seems like everybody is working for that one word. Sometime we get what we want but are not really satisfied with it and it demolishes our peace within. This leads to anxieties and depression. Gosh! I am talking psychologist.

Now if we break this cycle formulae to our 24/7 system, "Sleep" is what we relate to peace. Yes! It’s a universal truth that your sleep defines your peace and moreover how healthy you are. For the very purpose the sleep related industries are constantly working to make an impact on our 24 hours daily routine. Be this the sleep doctors, the wood workers, the pharmaceutical companies and last but not the least the “Mattress industry”.

We are already familiar with the types of foams and mattresses available in the market. Now which one to choose when you go out for to buy your sleep? Here we have the comparative discussion between two specific important names in the foams industry and as mentioned in the topic it is “MEMORY FOAM VS GEL FOAM”.

MEMORY FOAM

Memory foam was initially designed by NASA for cushioning astronomers when they leave or fall into the earth’s gravitational field. The spacecraft had several memory foams within to save the astronomers from getting injured. This concept was evenly applied to the planes where the pilots and passengers used to feel the jerk in landing. This helped preventing that jerk and made life easy there as well.

In 1970s memory foam became a commercial hit as a part of the Memory foam mattresses. Unlike common polyurethane foam, Memory foam has chemicals induced into polyurethane to increase its density and viscosity. That’s why its termed as “viscoelastic”. The viscoelasticity would make it dip down and form according to your body position. This means your partner would never know if you went out of the bed for a night out, unless she has tied you up to the bed. Jeez!

BENEFITS OF MEMORY FOAM

1.     Say bye to pain!!!

Before memory foams, spring mattresses were in use of the norms. We won’t talk about how bad they were but yes memory foam rescued us from the aches and pains the spring mattresses carried. As I mentioned above about the comfort design of memory foam, it actually imposes no or minimal pressure on your back. Investing in memory foam at that time was helpful in saving your doctor’s fees for those pains and aches. 

According to Jeffrey N. Katz, M.D., Professor of Medicine and Orthopedic Surgery at Harvard Medical School, “The percentage of people suffering from back using medium firm mattresses was very low”. Memory foam gave this innovation of dense firm mattresses.

1.     Ideal Density

Density was one of the major factors in the success of memory foam because density of the mattress had it comfortable yet very durable compared with spring mattresses.

For a normal weight person the density of memory foam should be around 4 lbs per cubic foot. The heavier you get the denser it should go but up to 6 lbs per cubic foot. This is because everything has durability if you want your mattress to stay long keep these mathematics in your mind. Around 5 lbs per cubic foot is the best average density for all.

2.     No bounce no party

I remember when I used to jump on my spring bed in my childhood and I am sure you guys have done the same if you had spring beds but what that did to the bed was it shortened its life. Due to the above point of density, the kids or adults (Mr. Bean’s fans) can no longer damage the bed by their jumps.

In other words memory foams eliminated that awkward bounce when you sit on the bed and the impact of the other person moving in the bed. With Memory foam it all went firm and the motion impact was minimized.

3.     Cost Effective

Since we are comparing Memory foam to Gel foam, this is probably the most important point. The memory foams are cheaper than gel foams. This is the only reason someone would still want to stick to memory foams despite the differences you’ll see below. Well no complain if you are short on cash for your mattress but I believe peace comes first.

I know these pros about memory foams are all good and sound but there are certain cons which I would like to mention.

 

DISADVANTAGES

4.     Wrestle the density

As the density of the foam makes it all beautiful to get in, it’s evenly difficult to get out of it. You would actually need to wrestle with the density and get out of the well. It also imposes some obstacles while turning in your sleep, and that is again because of the density due to the chemical. All that softness and density but getting difficulties in turning and twisting while sleeping.

1.     Smell of the chemicals

The most horrific part of the foam was that most providers used cheap chemicals for the density and it contained a very bad odor. Not just that, the chemical inside used to gas out or termed as “offgassing”. Ultimately this exhaustion of the chemical inside reduced down the durability life. This eventually had a negative impact on the commercial success of the memory foams. Coming to the horrific part, the smell was constant and not bearable for too long.  The peace was disturbed anyways. Then there was ways to get rid of the stinks but that lessen the firmness and durability. You couldn’t go either ways.

2.     Price for your Belly

The prices were based on the density of the foam so if you weigh more and that you need a denser quality memory foam mattress then you needs to pay more than the normal person would. So you would need around 5 lbs to 5.5 lbs per cubic foot mattress for lasting long in bed, wait no! I mean your bed would last long.

 

3.     Sweating

This was one of the modern-age problems as everything around had an exhaust system for the excessive heat to throw out. Where with memory foam it wasn’t really possible. Especially in summers there is always an itchy sweat pool under you. This was the point where they thought for the solution and introduced Open cell foams and gel foams. Open cell had the solution for letting the air though but it wasn’t a perfect replacement. Gel-Infused foams or just Gel Foams will be our thing.

GEL INFUSED MEMORY FOAM

The name itself describes that the foam is a kind of memory foam with the addition of Gel infused into it. This is introduced by Serta in 2010 and the initial model name was iComfort Gel memory foam mattresses. This was indeed a wonderful solution to the issues recurred in the previous forms of foams. “Sleep cooler” became the slogan for Gel foams as they were being marketed and sold for being cool.

There are two types of Gels used in the foams varying with their heat capacity. The first one is thermally conducted and can be felt marginally cool if you touch it. The other type is called phase-changing gel. This pretty much adjusts the body heat on its own. It actually holds and releases heat when it’s required. Pretty much like an AC on auto. So with both the gel forms you would be having a good cold sleep.

The process works as there are gel Microbeads infused which carries out the heat by giving open space for the heat to pass. Pretty much like open cell but here the gel also helps with absorbing the heat. Its not that you would see Gel popping up when you sit on it, no! the gel particles are infused or stirred with the foam material with a specific percentage. And the spacing that gives allows the heat to flow is actually between the material of the foam.

Though the quality of heat retention varies from brand to brand. One should always look for the best amongst these cool sleeping grounds. Here I am going to show you how different is this Gel foam than the memory foam. So let’s begin with the;

BENEFITS OF GEL FOAM

4.     No motion whatsoever

Same as memory foam due to the higher density and the gel infused you barely feel the other person moving in your bed. You can go out of the bed to pee in the middle and expect your partner not to know about it. The Gel makes it even better to make it cool and that your partner would sleep deep. It is important that your spin is rested for 1/3 of each day for a better performance; otherwise you’ll start losing your own durability.

1.     FREEZING MATTRESS

Kidding! Its not freezing but yeah it is cooler than the foams you had in the past. The spring had no colling system and the memoery foam was sort of the same. Where Gel foam mattresses are designed with spacing for the heat to flow. Also the Gel inhances the coolng quality by sucking the heat or holding the heat.

Since lack of sleep is considered to be the reason for many mental and physcial issues, so it is suggested that you sleep for atleast 6 hours continues without waking up in the middle. A conventional memory foams can’t give the additional solace and coolness that your body requires for getting settled rest. That is the reason it is suggested by numerous that you ought to supplant your old sleeping pad with a fresh out of the plastic new gel froth bedding. The gel froth sleeping cushion is initiated with gel that keeps the bedding cool notwithstanding amid sweltering summer evenings. This will enable you to rest without awakening amidst the night.

2.     Nature Friendly

These days every product seems to be getting on eco friendly mood to make the enviroment safe from the effects as well as sell their product more with this addition. As the previous versions had toxic chemical in them and they had that odd smell all night long, it was considered that those toxic chemicals were not ideal for your health and the nature around. Thankfuly! The Gel foams are safe from those toxics. The Gel itself is eco family and does not cause any problems to your health. With time they have introduced some flavours like green tea and soya induced into your Gel foams to make it more eco-friendly.

3.     Everybody can sleep on it

This is a common benefit in all memory foams but I’d like to mention this here as well as it is one important point. There are many kind of sleepers in the world. Some sleep straight on their back and imagin faces on the sealing, some sleeps side ways, some sleeps on their stomach (not recommended medically) and some just sleep in between all of them. Memory foams adjust to all kind of sleepers and comfort their body parts. Gel foam is being recommended from majority of the physicians as it is suitable for all age groups and each kind of sleeper.

DISADVANTAGES OF GEL-INFUSED FOAMS

Ah! I have to say this. Despite all the great things about Gel-Infused foams innovation, there are some disadvantages of Gel foams as well. I mean c’mon everything has pros and cons. No big deal. Let’s talk over it. 

4.    

Beads counts

It is noticed that the durability is greatly influenced by the beads counts and size in Gel foams. The size of the bead is inversely proportional to the durability where number of microbeads is directly. This means the larger the beads quickly it would break down but if we keep the size low and greater the number of beads it will last longer and remain firm.

1.     Fading coolness

Over the time the Gel’s ability to store and retain heat fades away and you start feeling a bit warmer than before. Not fun right? But don’t worry the changes are not that as of memory foam.

2.     Cost

Well I have mentioned the cost effectiveness of memory foam against gel foams. This leads us to see the cost factor as a con on gel foams. Though the prize difference isn’t that high but yeah there are people with limited budgets out there, so this may be a concern.

3.     DURABILITY

This actually related to the disadavantage no.1. Since the amount gel is really important in for how long will it be cool? Well! This may not be your headache but to the manufacturer as the foams they get has very less Gel microbeads, between 2% to 30%. If it is 2% it will only be cool for a couple of weeks and then bang! It will go back to the memory foam mood. A 30% Gel will make it keep cool for atleast couple year after that it will start loosing the coolness and you would probably need to replace or live with it.

The concern rises because you have paid slightly higher than the memory foam but eventually you are getting a normal memory foam? Well per my opinion the difference in price and changes that happens to the coolness are very low to skip gel foams over memory foams. Furthermore see the conclusion section for ellaboration.

 

CONCLUSION

Since we had this long discussion over the comparisons of the two types of foams and we pretty much are aware of the pros & cons of both the types, now how do we pick the most appropriate one for you? I think most of you might already have your pick but in my opinion I would go for Gel foam any day. That is because the two major disadvantages i.e. Cost and the fading coolness, are so minor that I could easily choose Gel foam mattress over a regular memory foam mattress. You could look for the cost difference yourself and find out that there is a very slight difference but the impact is quite a lot. Coming to the other factor that is you will lose the coolness of the foam by sometime. Per my experience our body gets adjusted to the slowly fading coolness that it does not really sweat or may be does not sweat enough for us to wake up and that is too after a long period of time. So I would really recommend to Gel foams over regular memory foams and the open cell foams.

You could still look around and ask people about their experiences if you haven’t experienced them yourself. But one thing is for sure both these foams are far better than the old school spring mattresses, where you would spend most of your day holding your spine. Even if you go memory foam it’s not really a bad choice.

NOTE: One thing I would want you guys to know which is really important in terms of picking memory foams. Since the memory foams are really soft and dense, some proportion of our body gets sink in and we have to put in a bit of effort to get of the bed but for infants a normal memory foam or Gel infused memory is not really safe because the infant body will mostly be dipped and they could have breathing problems due to the suffocation. This problem is even worse because of the carbon dioxide trapped in the foam and this can lead sudden infant death (SIDS). Please make sure not to use normal/adult memory foams, open cell foams or gel foams. To tackle the issue memory foam providers have made a special infant memory foam which are not that soft to sink in infants yet they are firm and dense enough to comfort the child. They are Certi-PUR certified foam mattresses that are mite-proof, hypoallergenic and anti-microbial. Kindly use those foams for your infants.

In the end I would want to thank you all for reading the comprehensive comparative review of both the foams. You can leave your questions, feedback and also share your experience you are having/had with memory foams and gel foams. I’ll try to come up with the best possible answers. Also keep visiting for another article on latex mattresses review as they are in business these days or may be comparing it with memory foams and gel infused foam. Something like Memory vs Gel vs Latex, you never know. Also share this with your friends for them to get something out of it!