Memory foam mattress vs spring mattress: which is better?

The mattress market is flooded with a variety of memory foam and spring mattress options and it’s easy for buyers to get confused. Which one is better? We examine these two mattress types and compare a memory foam mattress versus a spring mattress.

Image of Memory foam mattress and spring mattress

What you will learn in this article:

What is a memory foam mattress?
What is a spring mattress?
What’s better: memory foam or a spring mattress?

Memory Foam Mattress versus Spring Mattress

Sleep? What is it good for? Absolutely everything! A good night’s sleep is a crucial part of a healthy lifestyle and a good mattress is a crucial of achieving that goal. In the following sections we examine memory foam mattresses, the history and background of them, as well as spring mattresses. We compare and contrast each major mattress type and give you our recommendation on the best mattress for you.

What is a memory foam mattress?

A memory foam mattress is a popular type of mattress made from high density foam. It is both durable and comfortable.

Memory foam was first designed for astronauts! In the 1960’s memory foam was developed for NASA for use in space shuttle seats. It was known then as slow spring back foam. The foam used in a memory foam mattress carries a unique quality: it’s viscoelastic.

“Viscoelasticity deals with the flow and deformational behavior of materials. The term is adopted from the Greek word “reheos” meaning “the river” or “flowing.” This technique has been used by various industries related to paints, adhesives, paper, packaging, cosmetics, foodstuffs, pharmaceutics, polymer product making, surface technology, and even in the glass/ceramic and metal industries. The basic term “viscoelastic” consists of two subwords indicating viscous dominating over elastic. This implies the time-dependent deformational behavior of materials. The viscoelasticity of a material is highly dependent on the external force applied to the material of interest”
Science Direct

In other words, it “springs back.” The foam is typically very dense and tends to absorb the impact of things placed on it (like a human body) and slowly springs back to its original shape. It tends to be extremely stable, providing an excellent and consistent base product to be used in the making of mattresses.

Readers may remember the infamous memory foam mattress wine test from Tempur-Pedic. The video, below, helps illustrate the capabilities of memory foam.

Tempur-Pedic, of course, was the first company to turn memory foam into a mattress. Early on, memory foam was extremely expensive, however, it has come down dramatically in price making memory foam mattresses more affordable than ever. Tempur-Pedic remains a major player in the mattress industry offering a variety of different memory foam mattress options including the ever-popular TEMPUR-Adapt 11, pictured below:

Spring Mattresses

Most readers will associate a spring mattress with some distant memory from a sagging bed they slept on in a guest bedroom while visiting aunt Flo and while yes, a sagging spring coil mattress is a real thing, the technological advancements in spring mattresses have come a long way. Spring mattresses are still the most popular type of mattress made – primarily for their durability – and are sold nearly everywhere.

Mattresses have been around for thousands of years. The early forms of mattresses involved natural substances like straw or horse hair. However, in the mid 20th century innerspring coil mattresses became a popular choice for mattresses.

Example of a Spring Mattress from Amazon

Innerspring mattresses are built using a core wooden frame with metal springs on the inside, hence the word innerspring. These springs are covered with durable cloth material and provide a comfortable springy feel for a mattress. The firmness of the mattress can be calibrated by spring strength.

Coil mattresses remain incredibly popular and many sleepers find them more durable and consistently comfortable then their memory foam rivals.

Which is better: memory foam or spring mattresses?

So, which is better? It’s a great question. Unfortunately, there’s no easy answer. Mattresses are extremely personal. What works for one person may be horrible for another. It’s not uncommon for married couples to disagree on mattress types. The best way to decide if a memory foam mattress or a spring mattress is right for you is to test them out. Yep, go lay on them at the mattress store. Then go buy them online where you will likely be able to save a little money.

Why is a travel blog writing about mattress types?

Good question! Here at the CBoardingGroup we love to travel and we love staying in hotels. Our readers are always looking for ways to bring back bits and pieces of their travel experiences home with them. One way that is very popular with travelers is buying the hotel bedding they’ve come to love.

Yes! Most hotel bedding can be purchased for use in your own home. For example, travelers can purchase the most popular hotel bed of all time, the Marriott Jamison Bed:

We’ve built a variety of buying guides to help our users do just that:

Final thoughts

We hope this comparison between spring mattresses and memory foam mattresses was informative. Happy shopping and more importantly, happy sleeping!