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Facts and Frequently Asked Questions about Memory Foam Mattresses
Click on a question below or scroll down for expert opinions and answers to all your questions about memory foam mattresses:
- Why do physicians recommend and prescribe Memory Foam Mattresses by NimblePedic™ for back pain sufferers? Also, why would a physician now want to recommend it instead of the TempurPedic® Mattress?
- Are Mattresses made with Nimblepedic's® pressure-relieving top layer good for allergy sufferers?
- If you have a particular health problem and are considering the benefits of purchasing a Memory Foam Mattress,
ASK THE DOCTOR--NOW: doctor@backbenimble.com
- Can I expect my Nimble-Pedic™ Mattress to solve my back problem?
- How do competitor visco-elastic (memory) foam mattresses compare to the original Nimble-Pedic™ Mattress that we offer?
- Do customers say good things about their mattress?
- Sounds too good to be true, but are they really as good as:
- a) waterbeds?
- b) airbeds?
- c) coil springs?
- How does the Nimble-Pedic™ Mattress compare to the Tempur-Pedic Mattress®?
- But, I've tried a similar mattress at a Brookstone Store and I'm not sure that I'd like the feel; are there any other good alternatives?
- If the mattress shapes itself to my body will it envelop me and make me hot?
- Does the Nimble-Pedic™ Mattress last like a coil spring mattress?
- Do I need a box spring (foundation) with this mattress and if so, what kind?
- Do you have a have trial period, and what happens if I don't like this mattress?
- What is the difference between the popular thicker Deluxe Mattress and the original Classic Mattress?
Memory Foam Mattress.org: Memory Foam Comparison, and Buying Tips
Memory foam mattress consumer information to help you shop smarter for foam mattresses and other memory foam products.
- Why do physicians recommend and prescribe Memory Foam Mattresses by NimblePedic™ for back pain sufferers? Also, why would a physician now want to recommend it instead of the TempurPedic® Mattress?
- Most of us grew up hearing: "If you want a good mattress, get a firm one, and the harder the better." However, more recent studies have revealed a fallacy in this way of thinking.
The contour of the human body is not a straight line, but is more shapely. Normally, when viewing the body from the side, we see a normal transition of curves from the buttocks (spinal base), to the lumbar spine, on up through the thoracic curve (ribs/upper back), and finally to the neck. When viewing us from the back, of course we see parts that stick out from the trunk of the body and form our hips and shoulders. Sensibly, if we were to lie on our side on a very firm surface (non-conforming), only the parts of the body that jut out like our shoulders and hips will be supported. Therefore our trunk is literally forced into a bent position putting undue stress on supportive ligaments, discs, and muscles. Additionally, excessive pressure will exist at the major points of contact causing sore shoulders and hips.
On the other hand, a mattress that is too soft will allow the heaviest parts of our body to seek a low point with our trunk virtually suspended between the shoulders and the hips. This situation sends a signal to our brain telling our postural support muscles to contract in an effort to resist the sagging of the spine. This dangerous situation is called the "hammock effect," and most certainly interferes with our important restorative sleep phase.
Remember that 1/3 of your life is spent in bed and that time is for restoration and recuperation. Many people sleep without restoration and recuperation, consequently waking up tired and sore.
DEFINITION: restorative sleep--level of sleep allowing one to best rejuvenate, rebuild energy stores and body tissues in hopes to recover from the work, stress and exercise of one's day. Thus one faces the next day refreshed, renewed, energetic and feeling at least as good, if not better that when retiring to bed the night before. ...(Copyright Dr. Brad Lustick/Back Be Nimble).
Ideally, the perfect mattress, a memory foam mattress, facilitates the described "restorative sleep" by distributing its support 100% equally across the body's surface while at the same time not allowing the spine to sag (hammock). In our opinion, the NimblePedic™ Mattress accomplishes these important functions better than any other mattress. The highly resilient lower 5-inch foam base in this mattress prevents the hammock effect often seen in waterbeds or airbeds. These factors combined with the anti-allergy qualities of the Nimble-Pedic™ Mattress, have already earned the praise of many physicians and our customers.
Addtionally, we feel that physicians can really feel comfortable recommending Nimble-Pedic™ for back, hip or knee pain sufferers because of the functional edge support. This allows the user to comfortably sit upon and arise from the edge of the bed without sinking into the adaptive foam. This feature is virtually unseen in competitive memory foam mattresses, even quality products like the Tempur-Pedic® Mattress.
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- Are Mattresses made with Nimblepedic's® pressure-relieving viscofoam good for allergy sufferers?
- It has been discovered by allergists that the average mattress is a haven for the infestation of the "dust-mite". Dust-mites are microscopic creatures that literally feed off your dead skin cells. Of course like most of earth's creatures, when they eat they produce waste products. The majority of folks who suffer with allergies are highly allergic to the fecal products of the dust-mite.
Studies have shown that in 4-5 years, 60% of the weight of the average pillow will be composed of the waste and corpses of dust-mites. That's quite a "sickening" thought. Fortunately, there is a solution for this. Nimblepedic's® memory foam mattress is inherently dust-mite free (they simply just don't live there).
The cover has been treated with a hypoallergenic process that renders it dust-mite free. Our manufacturing process utilizes very "green" (environmentally friendly) production processes and the foam used is carefully produced to be hypo-allergenic and to not produce (off-gas) any CFCs. The gas that is used to open the air cells which gives the adaptive foam layer its temporary characteristic scent is non-toxic and virtually non-allergenic. We feel that these factors make our mattresses and pillow the premier choice for allergy sufferers.
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- Can I expect my Nimble-Pedic™ Mattress to solve my back problem?
- At Back Be Nimble, we truly feel that if one were to try to pick the one perfect mattress for most people, it would be the NimblePedic® mattress. After all, in our quest for the perfect mattress and during our 14 years of combined clinical and retail experience with the Tempurpedic® mattress, we feel we had the opportunity to evaluate, compare and contrast all brands, alternative mattress types, viscofoam samples, etc. Thus, we feel very confident that we developed the very best mattress to offer our customers in the Nimble-Pedic™ line.
That's not to imply that it is for absolutely everyone or that it will solve everyone's back troubles. We all are certainly unique individuals with our own shape, size, strengths and weaknesses. Although many of us suffer with back pain, one's pain might be a result of a herniated (slipped) disk, while another's might simply be from an inherited scoliosis (improper curvature). One should never expect pain to go away merely from the purchase of any mattress. Don't get me wrong, it does take away the pain for many users, but overall the resolution of a back problem involves many factors. As important as the right mattress is, it is only one of those factors necessary for alleviating back pain.
EXAMPLE: One of the most common causes of chronic back pain is restricted mobility or joint play between 2 spinal segments. This could be due to arthritis, healing of an old injury, or merely scar tissue from surgery or previous insult. Certainly, sleeping on the right mattress would not restore movement in this segment. However, by combining a mattress that provides a restorative sleep (see #1 above), with rehabilitative exercise, physical therapy, and/or spinal manipulation; one might notice fantastic results. Thus, although not a panacea, this mattress might be considered an important factor in your maintenance and recovery.
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- How do alternative competitor visco-elastic (memory) foam mattresses compare to Nimble-Pedic™ mattresses?
- This Nimble-Pedic™ material has the best qualities we could offer when compared to the visco-elastic memory foam used in any other competitor's mattresses. In our opinion it compares favorably with the beneficial properties of the revolutionary N.A.S.A. foam that was used in astronaut seats to absorb G-forces. During research and development, it was recognized that the unique properties of that material could be a major innovation in the sleep industry. Years of experience, feedback from 1000's of customers, and our own experience, have caused us at Back Be Nimble to arrive at the same conclusion. Although there are many fine foams on the market, we have not been able to yet find one matching all the fine properties of the Nimble-Pedic™ product. Those properties are listed as follows:
- This Nimble-Pedic™ material is a true temperature reactive product -- we experimented by placing it and several samples of competitor foams in the refrigerator. While our material becomes rock hard at these cold temperatures, all competitor foams tested with the exception of Tempurpedic® remained pliable. Whether this is good or bad, it at least confirms the fact that most of the competitive foams are very different.
- Qualitative feel -- while many of our Nimble-Pedic™ products are individually poured in a mold, as far as we could find, Tempurpedic® was the only competitive product that is also poured in a mold. Most competitive products are cut from sheets to make several mattresses. Pouring a mold creates an outer layer (which is called a "skin") that seems to encase the foam. This provides a very discernable difference in the feel of this material when compared to competitive foams.
- Functional Edge Support--This allows the user to comfortably sit upon and arise from the edge of the bed without sinking into the adaptive foam. This makes it a great feature for sufferers of back pain, knee pain and hip pain. This feature is virtually unseen in competitive memory foam mattresses, even quality products like the Tempur-Pedic® Mattress.
- Density of the material -- The Nimble-Pedic™ material is made with a density rating of "5.3" which is extremely rare because it is more costly, but generally makes for a much better performing material than lower densities used by most competitors. Don't be swayed by those that tell you less density is softer and more comfortable, because although less dense foam may sound appealing, it is NOT an ideal quality in a mattress. We often present this analogy: "One could lie on a piece of granite that was cut to be exactly their shape because the pressure per square inch would be less than any conventional mattress." We don't mean to imply that this mattress is hard like granite, but we do want you to understand that this is a firm material that softens to become your shape and continues to re-form to your body as you move. Therefore the pressure per square inch (PSI) on the body surface is negligible. We feel we improve the comfort of this dense foam layer by using a lower ILD of 13 than other companies that use 5+ lb. foam. For example, Tempur-Pedic® utilizes 5.4 lb. visco material, but their ILD is somewhat higher than 13 in their main layer of adaptive material. Therefore, Tempurpedic® maybe perceived as a little harder, if you prefer that.
- Low risk warranty -- 20 years (10 years non-prorated and the next 10 years prorated)
- Physician reviews -- Initial feedback from physicians who have visited our showroom has been very favorable toward our mattress even when presented in comparison to our primary competitor.
- Rapid market control -- Foam mattresses in the USA and other countries like Sweden, are rapidly replacing the previously popular coil spring mattress.
- Proven in sleep-disorder centers -- studies in multiple sleep disorder centers have shown memory foam mattresses to decrease a high percentage of the tossing and turning seen with other mattresses.
- Hospital approved -- hospitals have shown memory foam to be quite effective at reducing pressure that leads to bedsores.
- Dust-mite resistant -- one of the few mattresses on the market to be virtually dust-mite free and hypoallergenic.
There are probably a small percentage of customers that may better be served by a competitor. Yes, although we feel that ours offers the highest quality with the best overall sleep experience, our advanced comfort design provides firm support with a plush soft feel against the body surface. In our opinion, other memory foam products have either too little density, or in rare cases, the same density, without the softer feel against the body. Additionally, this temperature reactive foam becomes too hard in temperatures that are equal to or below 60 degrees. Therefore, if one keeps their room temperature less than or equal to 60 degrees, they should probably spend their dollars on a competitor's product or look at one of our latex foam mattresses.
Of course, there are less expensive alternatives, but being that we spend 1/3 of our lives in a bed, our bodies need recuperative support. Over 10 years, the average purchaser of our mattress would have spent an average of 50 cents per day. We think you're worth it, don't you?
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- Do customers say good things about their mattress?
- Our customer response speaks for itself. With an inventory of over 1,000 of the most popular self-care products available our customer purchases are showing that Nimble-Pedic™ products are one of the top 5 products sold at Back Be Nimble. Customer referrals of their family members and friends is growing by leaps and bounds. Like all of our products, this mattress has been evaluated by our medical review staff for therapeutic value and uncompromised quality.
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- Sounds too good to be true, but are they really as good as:
- waterbeds? Oh yes, in our opinion, they are far superior. Although waterbeds have the virtue of being heated, which can be nice, we have noticed the hammock effect in too many water-based beds. That is, the heavier body parts displace the water and since the heavier parts are inherently at mid-body, there is often hammock effect produced in such beds putting undesirable stress on the spine. Of course this is purely the opinion of our medical review team at Back Be Nimble.
- airbeds? Airbeds or beds with a "number" indicating inflation amount, have recently done a really good job infiltrating the mattress market through all kinds of ad and news media. Paul Harvey and Lindsay Wagner are their known spokespersons. Granted, "sleeping on air," sounds wonderful, but can we truly get the support we need on an air mattress?
Some airbed manufacturers claim that since they baffle (separate) the air into multiple chambers that these mattresses have a great ability to conform to the shape of the human body. Upon prudent examination, however, an investigator might find that even though the mattress contains baffles, that all chambers are connected via holes between the baffles, thereby using common air and in essence, acting as one large air bladder. It is our opinion that this merely emulates a situation, not unlike a common swimming pool raft. In more recent times the premium airbeds have begun to incorporate a top layer of competitor visco-foam that, in our opinion, merely supports the theory that the airbed cannot really do the conformation necessary to properly support the body. They too must understand the superiority of visco-elastic memory foam.
The other apparent benefit of an airbed would be the ability to adjust one's side of the bed differently than a partner's side. Although this would be a nice feature, it allows one to adjust to one's perceived comfort, which in our experience is often not consistent with proper support. This is similar to the common finding that a lot of folks will take comfort in the thought of falling into a big overstuffed easy chair, although most of us now know that this type of chair is not supportive and can be destructive to our spine.
We spend 1/3 of our lives in bed, and to do this without proper support can be very destructive to our overall health. Additionally, we have found that decreasing the poundage on an airbed to mid or lower values allows a possibly dangerous hammock effect to be applied to the spine. This makes it somewhat impractical to even offer the opportunity to make adjustments in airbed inflation. Of course this is purely the opinion of our quality assurance team at Back Be Nimble and Nimble-Pedic™.
- coil springs? For many years while in private practice as a chiropractic physician, I, Dr. Brad Lustick, was often was called upon to advocate a good mattress. Being that I retired 10 years ago when foam mattresses and airbeds had very little of the market share, I often recommended Simmons Beautyrest Mattresses because with their individual coil construction, they offered the best ability for conformation to the body surface available. Although I think they are probably still the best coil spring mattress available, I still strongly feel that the NimblePedic® mattresses offer the most extensive level of support available.
As far as coil spring mattresses without individual coils, I truly can't see the value in them. These manufacturers also seem to be noticing the deficit, which is perceived in association with their consistent efforts to add pillow tops and overlays to their coil spring mattresses in an attempt to compete with foam mattresses like the Nimble-Pedic™ Mattress."
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How does the Nimble-Pedic™ Mattress compare to the Tempur-Pedic® Mattress
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Nimble-Pedic™ VS. Tempur-Pedic®
| Features |
Nimble-Pedic™ |
Tempur-Pedic® |
| Visco Top Foam Thickness |
3 5/8 Inches (same in deluxe) |
3 1/2 Inches (4 in. in deluxe) |
| Forming Process |
Poured Individually in a mold. |
Poured Individually in a mold. |
| Visco-Elastic Foam |
5.3 lb. Per Cubic Ft
With Plush Touch Advantage |
5.4 lb. |
| Plush Touch Advantage |
Softer, Luxurious Feel perceived by some due to (Lower ILD factor) |
Perceived as a Harder Feel by some due to (Higher ILD factor) |
| Pricing (King Size) |
$500 less |
$500 more |
| Air Flow Layer |
Polyfoam Super Air Flow Enhancer |
AirFlow System™ |
| Muslin Inner Liner |
Included |
Included |
| Edge Support |
Yes |
None |
| Velour Mattress Cover |
Breathable Cover |
Breathable Cover |
| Warranty |
o20-Year Limited |
20-Year Limited |
*** NOTE: Our Nimble-Pedic™ mattress meets the California TB-603 standards for fire retardency.
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But, I've tried a similar mattress at a Brookstone Store and I'm not sure that I'd like the feel; are there any other good alternatives?
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If the mattress shapes itself to my body will it envelop me and make me hot?
- Actually, for most folks this has not been a problem. As a matter of fact, TEMPUR® material was tested in the burn center of the V.A. hospital because of its ability to relieve pressure on sensitive skin and the fact that the material breathes. This is because it is an open-celled material through which air passes easily. To help dissipate heat, several years ago, Nimble-Pedic™ added a Porous Polyfoam Super Air Flow layer between the base foam and the visco material that serves to improve airflow through the mattress. This is present in both the 8.5" thick Traditional and the 10" Deluxe Mattress.
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Does the Nimble-Pedic™ Mattress last like a coil spring mattress?
- In all honesty, the Nimble-Pedic™ mattress material has now been around long enough to know it truly has a long life. In the 11 years the mattresses have been on the market, there have been few complaints under warranty. Nimble-Pedic™ has a strong 20 year warranty (10 years non-prorated and the next 10 years prorated). The warranty has been theoretically tested by taking a 220 pound roller and rolling over the memory foam mattress 125,000 times to simulate a 220 pound man using it for 10 years. Upon completion of this testing the material lost only 2% of its memory ability. This type of minimal loss is non-perceivable by human senses.
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Do I need a box spring (foundation) with this mattress and if so, what kind?
- Actually, regular coil box springs are not recommended nor do they qualify under the manufacturer's warranty. Due to the fact that this mattress is purely made up of foam, it doesn't require that it be matched with a particular foundation. The mattress can be placed on a firm flat surface like a wood box foundation, waterbed frame, European wooden slatted or solid frames or the floor. This does not include any existing coil box springs that you might have with a current mattress because Nimble-Pedic™ does not consider springs firm enough to provide the proper support for the mattress. It should be noted that your mattress would probably last longer on the proper foundation like that offered by the Nimble-Pedic™. Therefore, we do recommend the wood box foundation offered by Nimble-Pedic™. Its cost is very reasonable. Additionally, this foundation is totally noiseless.
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Do you have a have trial period, and what happens if I don't like this mattress?
- Yes, we offer a 60-day trial period. The trial period begins when you receive your mattress and although we have an extremely small return rate, if you should decide to return your mattress, we'd like to delineate terms of the policy as follows:
- In order to initiate a return, you must either call or email us with your request to do so.
- At that point, we will contact the shipper with the request and they will arrange the pickup process. The pick-up process may take from 2.5-4 weeks.
- Please keep your original box and plastic bag that comes with the mattress when delivered at least until the time you make your final decision.
- We recommend that when the carriers pick up your mattress that you obtain a written confirmation from them.
- Once picked up from you, it generally takes from 1-2 weeks for us to receive written confirmation from the warehouse that they have the mattress back.
- Upon receipt of this written confirmation, we will promptly apply your refund as follows:
- Although we may not have charged any outbound freight on your mattress set, if you return it, then we must go back and charge you the cost of any previous unpaid outbound and/or return freight.
- If you took advantage of one of our limited time pillow offers with your mattress order, then due to the fact pillows are not returnable, we must also go back and charge you 1/2 of the retail price of our pillows.
- Therefore outbound and return freight cost + 1/2 the price of the pillows (if applicable) will be subtracted from your total credit on your original purchase.
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What is the difference between the more popular Deluxe 10" Mattress and the Traditional 8.5" Mattress?
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