We spend approximately one-third of our lives in bed. Unfortunately, for many of us, those essential eight hours a night involve a lot of tossing and turning, waking up sore and exhausted amidst a pile of rumpled sheets.
Good quality sleep is vitally important to your health and wellbeing. And one of the simplest ways to help ensure your nights are restful is to invest in a quality memory foam mattress. The DIYdwelling team have been hard at work to find the best memory foam mattress under £500, so you can get a comfy night’s sleep, without spending an arm and a leg.
1. Silentnight 7 Zone Memory Foam Mattress
They say you can’t put a price on a good night’s sleep. Well, it turns out that’s not quite true – for way less than £500, the Silentnight 7-Zone Rolled Memory Foam Mattress could very well be what you need to transform a sleepless night into a restful, refreshing affair.
Silentnight 7 Zone Key Features
- Miratex 7 system for full body support.
- Memory foam moulds to the shape of your body.
- Luxurious 20-centimetre depth.
- Relieves painful pressure points.
- Quilted knit cover provides superb comfort.
- Medium-soft firmness suits most sleepers.
Seven Zones Support the Whole Body
The human body is not a flat, two-dimensional object – it swells and recedes. Some parts are hard; others are soft. It only makes sense that a mattress would be designed in accordance with such variances, but few mattresses are. The Silentnight 7-Zone Memory Foam mattress is an exception to the rule. Its thick layer of high-density foam provides exactly the right level of support for every part of your body, and extends from edge-to-edge, maximizing each centimetre of space.
Miratex Foam Absorbs Movement, Keeping Both Sleepers Happy
Some people sleep alone. Others sleep together. If you share your bed with a partner, chances are that one of you has been woken up by the other’s tossing and turning, and probably on more than one occasion. Silentnight’s advanced Miratex foam absorbs movement, preventing the transfer of motion from one side of the mattress to the other. That means that a night in bed with even the most active of sleepers will leave you feeling refreshed!
Unique Treatment makes it Safe for Allergy Sufferers
Have you ever had a mattress that made your eyes water, your nose itch, your breathing become congested – or caused a sneezing fit? Chances are that you’re allergic to dust mites – tiny creatures that can inhabit your bed, sustaining themselves on dead skin cells and making you miserable.
The Silentnight 7 Zone Memory Foam Mattress contains Purotex, a natural, Allergy UK-approved probiotic (healthy bacteria) solution. It’s microencapsulated, and every time you lie down, a small amount of Purotex bacteria is released. These beneficial microorganisms remove all the moisture from the mattress, making it impossible for dust mites to survive.
Relieves Painful Pressure for a Great Night’s Sleep
Silentnight’s memory foam spreads the pressure out and away from your body, significantly reducing the painful pressure points that often occur on mattresses filled with inferior materials or supported by springs. When pressure is minimized, you can sink into a deeper, more restful sleep, and wake up feeling refreshed and pain-free.
Easy to Unpack and Set Up
Next to grand pianos and bathtubs, a mattress is traditionally one of the most challenging items to move up or down a flight of stairs. Luckily, the Silentnight 7 Zone Memory Foam Mattress arrives rolled and compressed, ready to fit through any doorway or staircase. When it’s time to set your new mattress up, simply unroll it and place it on your bed frame. Goodnight, and sleep tight!
What is Memory Foam?
Memory foam is a soft, viscoelastic (temperature-sensitive), polyurethane material that absorbs energy. It’s a material that responds to pressure and heat, moulding its shape to your body. It was first developed in 1966 under a NASA contract to create safer and more comfortable aircraft cushions and has undergone significant changes in the last fifty years.
Today’s memory foam mattresses are cooler, more comfortable, more durable, innovative, and feature-filled than ever before.
Benefits of Using a Memory Foam Mattress
Let’s talk about some of the benefits memory foam has to offer.
Allergy Friendly
Hypoallergenic – is a fancy word that simply means “a material less likely to cause an allergic reaction”.
The average mattress contains tens of thousands of dust mites. These are microscopic creatures that live in mattresses and feed off dead skin cells.
…pretty horrifying.
Dust mites produce millions of droppings, and it’s breathing in these droppings that cause allergic symptoms such as wheezing, sneezing, and itchy eyes, and is associated with asthma and eczema.
…even more horrifying.
But the good news is that the dense polyurethane foam that memory foam mattresses are made of prevents dust mites from entering, and settling inside the mattress. A memory foam mattress and memory foam pillow are an ideal bedding choices for allergy sufferers.
Low Motion Transfer
Have you ever been woken by your partner turning or moving in the middle of the night?
Well, memory foam mattresses absorb movements and impacts way better than spring or other mattress types, making them an ideal choice for couples.
When your partner tosses or turns during the night you’ll experience very little movement on your side of the bed. This is one of the great benefits of memory foam as the impact is isolated to one area of the mattress.
If your partner is having a restless night, it doesn’t mean you have to have a sleepless one.
No two bodies are exactly alike, which is why memory foam is so highly rated – it adapts to any shape and weight, whereas mattresses made of other materials take a sort of “one size fits all approach”, which can be particularly problematic when sharing a bed with another person!
More Comfort
There exist many types of mattresses, from the simplest cotton-stuffed futon to the conventional box spring, to exotic wool, latex, water, and even horsehair-filled varieties – but memory foam is most consistently rated for comfort.
Because memory foam is temperature-sensitive – as your body warms throughout the night, the foam becomes softer, adapting to the shape of your body and allowing you to sink more deeply into the mattress.
When you first lie down on a memory foam mattress, you may experience a mild sinking feeling, as the memory foam warms, adapts, and moulds to the contours of your body.
Users report a relaxing comfort from sleeping on memory foam compared to a common spring mattress.
Unlike other types of foam, which compress under pressure and return immediately to their original shape, memory foam – which contains foam cells filled with many small air holes – compresses and spreads pressure to the surrounding cells. The result is a more comfortable, supportive surface, with far fewer pressure points than on a typical spring mattress, and a reduction in the pain that can come from sleeping on a non-adaptive surface.
Pressure Distribution
As I mentioned in the section discussing the benefits of memory foam mattresses, one of the main advantages they have over spring mattresses is their ability to distribute body weight more evenly. This dramatically reduces pain-causing pressure points and improves overall comfort.
The image below shows a pressure map of someone lying on a spring mattress vs a memory foam mattress:
Greater Durability
Spring mattresses tend to sag and lose tension in the springs around the area you sleep on the most. This can happen within just a couple of years of buying a brand-new mattress, which starts to create uncomfortable lumps and bumps across the surface.
User data shows that spring mattresses are the most prone to sagging, compared to memory foam which is 30% less likely to sag. Memory foam has a “memory” effect whereby it “remembers” and returns to its original state after long periods of compression.
Although over time, a memory foam mattress will lose some of its expanding properties, it exceeds the comfortable lifespan of a spring mattress. A decent quality memory foam mattress could last 10 years.
Hypoallergenic
Spring / Coil mattresses provide the perfect location for dust mites to thrive. Their hollow inner cavities allow dust mites, their allergy-producing faeces and dead skin cells to build up.
Because memory foam mattresses are basically large blocks of foam, they don’t have cavities where dust mites can penetrate and live. Therefore, memory foam is the superior choice for allergy sufferers or those with conditions such as asthma. This is the reason that NHS hospitals mattresses, and private medical centres choose foam, for greatest comfort and hygiene for patients.
Memory Foam Mattress Sizes
Whether you sleep alone or with a partner, nothing cramps your nighttime style like a mattress that’s too small. If you’re a solo sleeper, simply choose a mattress that allows you to shift up and down and move from side to side without bumping your head against the wall, dangling your feet off the end or rolling onto the floor.
Memory foam mattresses come in the same size ranges as any other mattress – small single, single, small double, double, king size and super king size.
Although some memory foam mattress manufacturers may have limited sizes available. Make sure to get the correct size mattress to fit your bed frame. Always do your homework here, the last thing you want to have to do is send the mattress back because you bought the wrong size.
Take a look at the mattress size chart below. But always double-check everything with the retailer/manufacturer before purchase:
Memory Foam Costs
If the price of a new mattress seems too good to be true, it probably is.
Prices can range wildly from as low as £40 to as much as £900. When you invest in a high-quality memory foam mattress, you’re not just buying something comfortable to sleep on, you’re investing in your long-term health, so don’t skimp.
With that said, you can pick up a really great memory foam mattress such as the Silentnight 7-Zone for less than £500. Whether it’s a single, double, Euro double, King, or Euro King size – you can have this leading memory foam mattress delivered to your home for under £500.
If you don’t have enough to buy the best mattress for your needs, then save up for the best memory mattress you can afford. Read plenty of user feedback reviews, thoroughly read through the mattress product details and ask any questions before you buy.
Not all memory foam is created equal. There’s a fair difference in both feel and price between foam with a density of 2.5 lbs. versus 4 lbs. per cubic foot.
Put simply, the denser foam will be more expensive, feel heavier and offer more support than its less-dense counterpart. The higher the density of the foam, the firmer it will be, and vice versa.
Which Foam Density is Best?
Most people find a density of 3 to 5 lbs. per cubic foot for a mattress ideal.
- Low Density: 2 – 3 lbs per cubic foot
- Medium Density: 4 – 5 lbs per cubic foot
- High Density: 5.5+ lbs per cubic foot
Do you sleep on your side, stomach or back?
As we discussed earlier, most people are comfortable with a foam density of 4 to 5 lbs. per cubic foot – but side-sleepers may prefer a slightly lower density, which allows a mattress to better conform to the shoulders and hips.
Stomach and back sleepers tend to prefer denser memory foam, which offers more support.
It’s also worth mentioning that investing in a memory foam pillow may offer support and relief for those suffering from neck pain or discomfort.
If you share your bed, both you and your partner should be able to lie down beside each other and place your arms behind your heads without bumping elbows. Look for a mattress between 10 and 15 centimetres longer than the tallest partner’s height.
Are There Any Down Sides to Memory Foam?
Memory foam has come a long way. The advancements made in the last five decades mean that a new memory foam mattress may be exactly what you need for a comfortable nights’ sleep, to wake up feeling refreshed and ready to take on the day, instead of ready to crawl back into bed.
A memory foam mattress could be the answer to your bad back, hip pain or general sleeping discomfort from your current inferior mattress.
From our research, memory foam mattresses are superior to traditional spring mattresses, in more ways than one. I don’t want to beat a dead horse here, if you read over this guide, you’ll agree that memory foam is simply the better choice.
The only negative I’ve heard people complain about is the smell.
Memory Foam Mattresses sometimes have a chemical smell to them. I found there was a mild smell from my memory foam mattress that filled a small room, but I wouldn’t say it was unpleasant.
In fact, I quite liked the smell, it was like the smell of a brand-new pair of trainers – a smell of “newness”, not a foul chemical odder that some report. The smell does gradually fade over weeks and is pretty much gone within a few months.
Still Not Sure if Memory Foam is Right for you?
Of course, some people just don’t like the feeling of memory foam and prefer spring, or latex mattresses – it’s a matter of personal preference. However, most people who switch to memory foam report the change as positive.
If you’re still on the fence about buying an expensive double memory foam mattress, we suggest you try a cheaper, middle of the range memory mattress first. These can be picked up quite cheaply for around £60 and will allow you to see what memory foam feels like to sleep on, before investing in a high-end mattress such as the Ghost or Eve.
When you buy a memory foam mattress, you’re not actually buying a mattress made entirely of memory foam. Typically, the mattress has a supporting Reflex foam base with a top layer of memory foam.
If you see a mattress described as just “Reflex Memory Foam”, or the manufacturer doesn’t disclose the depth of the memory foam top layer, walk away.
The memory foam top layer should ideally have a minimum depth of around 2inches. Anything for less than that and you’re not going to experience the full benefits that memory foam has to offer.
Depth ranges in the top layer varies from around 1 – 7 inches. More doesn’t necessarily mean better. You may find a very thin memory foam layer too spongy. Around 3 inches is optimal for best comfort and support.
Do your homework before buying. Make sure that the mattress you’re buying has a genuine top layer of memory foam. Or, you could just make use of the homework we’ve done and choose our best memory foam mattresses to suit your budget.
