The Best Foundations or Base for a Latex or All Foam Mattress

[phoenix]

Hi snl42,

Seems like the Europeans are more into adjustable beds and slats than Americans.

Tension adjustable slat systems are a bit more common in Europe, where thinner latex and other foam mattress are more popular where the adjustment of such a slat system would be more noticeable.

Somehow sleeping on a metal platform in the American ones doesn’t sound appealing. I have to know more about the construction of the more common American construction, eg. Leggett & Platt.

I think you’ve misunderstood my explanation of the construction of most power foundation bases. You are not sleeping upon a metal grid, but a plywood deck. All power foundations will have some sort of a metal frame / lift network under them, whether they are topped with a plywood deck, wood cross slats or plastic modules. Here’s a video of a typical adjustable bed base that shows you what the underside looks like that might help you out.

Also, given how metal bed materials attract EMFs, one of the advantages of foam over inner springs seems to be negated with so much metal in the foundations.

You can see some comments about innersprings and electromagnetic (EMF) fields in posts #2 and #3 here . It’s personally not something that would concern me in any way. While I’m certainly not a health professional or an expert in electromagnetic fields but EMF fields from mattress innersprings, there are some people that believe they are harmful although I’m not one of them. I have seen and read articles about innersprings being a “health” issue because of electromagnetic fields, but I have never seen any specific evidence that is compelling to me and most of these types of articles use some very non specific anecdotal stories or what I would consider to be some questionable correlations that don’t provide any clear evidence that would directly relate to “passive” items such as innersprings or metal frames. I would personally be more cautious with “active” electromagnetic fields (such as living close to high tension wires, holding a cell phone too close to your head, or sleeping near active electrical fields or wiring as examples), but I personally wouldn’t have any issues with sleeping on an innerspring or adjustable bed in terms of health or safety (although I recognize that there are certainly others that have a different opinion). In the case of adjustable beds, they’ll all use some sort of “brain” underneath and also a motor (unless manually operated via hand crank), and that would be the most “active” part of their system, which again I wouldn’t personally have a concern about.

Phoenix