Hi Pheonix,
I recently purchased a Aerus natura from wal mart , because I wanted to try the memory foam bed, although it seems a little firm, especially for my wife. I have also ordered the snugg wool topper to help with the firmness ,( I haven’t received it yet ) but In case the wool topper doesn’t work with the firmness, do you have any suggestions for a plush latex bed that is also durable from wal mart as I am working with a limited budget or other manufacture. I’m a little scared of the layering method, do to the fact of to much trial and error . My wife and I did the test at sleepys and I am a blue and wife is a green for my side, in which she likes , but way over priced.
Any help is appreciated.
The firmness of memory foam has a lot to do with the type of memory foam, the density and thickness of the memory foam layer, the type and firmness of the layer below it, any materials above it, the sleeping environment, and how each individual body weight/shape and sleeping position interacts with the mattress.
Memory foam is temperature sensitive (different types to different degrees) which means that if it is isolated from your body heat it will also become firmer. What that means is that the thick wool layer will create some cushioning but it will also make the memory foam itself firmer (the heat won’t soften it as much).
Walmart doesn’t have any all latex mattresses although they do have a few with latex comfort layers. These are the Sleep Options 8", the Sleep Options 12", the MaxLatex, and the Eco-Lux 13" Venice. The Sleep Options are also sold at Sleepy’s (which has a description) and the Boyd descriptions are available on the Boyd site.
None of these have complete descriptions though and none have more than 3" of latex so it’s really not possible to tell the real quality or value of any of them. All of them seem to use Dunlop latex (which is firmer than Talalay in the same ILD) and I would want to know whether it was natural or blended. IMO … they are all a roll of the dice with a money back guarantee if the number on the dice comes up wrong
Is there a topper possibly tala lay latex that could act as a comfort layer, or other material I could use to offset the firmness of this matteress and still provide support.
I would be hesitant to invest in a talalay latex topper on top of a WalMart memory foam mattress for several reasons.
First … the memory foam will go though an initial softening period for a few weeks and I wouldn’t add to any expense until this has happened or you may create a new problem.
Second if you add a layer of latex on top there are several things that may happen. If the layer is thin enough, it may reduce the softening ability of the memory foam but the latex may be too thin to make up for it. This would be the better latex topper option though because the memory foam would probably still soften but it may just take more time. If you add a thicker talalay layer on top so that by itself it will make a difference … then it would isolate the memory foam even more from heat and firm it up which at first may feel much better (because of the softness and thickness of the talalay) but then over the course of the night it could slowly soften and with the thickness of the memory foam in addition to the thicker topper … you may end up out of alignment in the morning. If the top layers are too thick and you create a layering pattern that turns the memory foam into a support layer (from a comfort layer) … then you could very well end up with alignment issues.
Which Aerus mattress you purchased and the thickness and density of the Aerus memory foam and the layers below it will also make a big difference in what is happening. Can you give a link to which one we are talking about?
It is pretty firm, how much do you think it will soften, and how long does it normally take to soften, or is it just a poor quality mattress . I just thought do to the firmness that it could act as a nice support .
This is what I would call a medium quality mattress (4 lb density memory foam) with good value. In the world of 4 lb memory foams … Aerus is one of the better choices IMO.
All memory foam though would be considered soft and none of it … even the firmest versions … would be suitable for use as a support layer. This is why you only see mattresses with memory foam in the upper layers and there is always a firmer support layer underneath it (usually polyfoam but an innerspring or latex are also used).
The 3 “stages” of memory foam breakdown are the initial softening period (which can typically reduce the softness by about 10-20%), a more gradual softening after that, and finally the loss of resilience and the breakdown of the foam itself (deeper body impressions that remain without any weight on the mattress). The initial softening would be over the course of the first 90 days or so but this will vary with the foam itself and also the environment and the people that are using the foam.
Mattresses can also feel soft or firm for different reasons and how any individual perceives a mattress depends on many factors including their height and weight, their body shape, their sleeping positions, and their sensitivity to pressure. For example … a mattress may feel too firm to a lighter person because the top few inches of the mattress is too firm to allow them to sink in enough to distribute their body weight over a large enough surface area to relieve pressure. It may also feel too firm to someone else who is heavier because they are sinking “through” the top layer of foam and feeling the firmness of the layers underneath. The “fix” for the first is generally to use a softer top layer (assuming it is the right thickness). The “fix” for the second is generally to use a “thicker” top layer (assuming it is the right softness level) or a softer transition or lower layer. A mattress may also be too firm in one sleeping position and just right in another.
Without getting too complex, all of this is further complicated by the nature of memory foam itself. The variability of different batches (manufacturing tolerances) and how different people react to the different combinations of softness/firmness that is part of the nature of the foam itself (firmer with faster movement and softer with slower or more gradual movement). The different combinations of viscosity/elasticity, temperature sensitivity, and other specs for each type of memory foam means that different people will call the same foam either soft or firm depending on how they interact with it and the layers above and below it. Some people find for example that with initial movements … a certain memory foam is too firm and this bothers them during the time it takes for the foam to take on a new shape when they move or change position. Others don’t mind the initial firmness and like the gradual softening that happens as it warms up a little and gradually becomes softer in new positions. This is also the reason that some people feel like they are sleeping in mud or sand when they move while others who move less or like the more gradual transition into softer don’t mind this. Latex and polyfoam are much more instant reacting and get as soft and conforming as they are going to get more instantly.
So the bottom line is that I would wait for at least 6 weeks or so before deciding on whether it is too soft or too firm so you don’t fix a problem that may fix itself over the first few weeks of use and end up creating a new problem. You can hasten the initial softening by walking on the mattress evenly across the entire surface (so it softens more evenly) during the first few weeks of use and create more even wear by rotating the mattress on a regular basis in the first few weeks.
After this … if it still feels too firm to one or both of you and you are unsure about the cause … I would probably return it and start over again which is really the advantage of buying from an outlet like Walmart. This has nothing to do with the quality of the mattress … but with how well the layering works for each individual person. Even the highest quality most expensive mattress in the world (and some can cost over $50,000) may be unsuitable (and unsleepable) for a particular individual. I wouldn’t spend a lot of money on a low cost mattress … especially with 3" of medium density memory foam in it … without knowing that the odds of any “fix” justified the extra expense or that anything extra I was buying would be just as useable on the next mattress I may purchase.
