When it comes to sleep, everyone deserves the best — and that means the best mattress. The mattress you sleep on is arguably the most important factor determining how restorative your night will be. The right choice can have you waking up on top of the world, while the wrong one might leave you with achy mornings and restless nights.
That’s why it’s key to know what’s what when it comes to sleep products. Two widely popular choices, yet still often misunderstood, are gel memory and traditional memory foam. Let’s take a look at what makes these two types of mattresses different — and what qualities they share!
What Stays The Same
Gel memory foam and its traditional counterpart do indeed have some similar traits. For starters, they’re both made from the same material: a special type of plastic polymer called polyurethane! This versatile polymer is actually quite common, and it has dozens of applications that go well beyond the scope of sleep. You might find some form of it in your furniture, insulation, and in many other instances. However, as we said earlier, memory foam is made from a special type of polyurethane. It’s made by adding a precise combination of additives to standard polyurethane — since the polymer is so robust, it can change its form based on what substances interact with it.
As their names might suggest, both gel-based products as well as typical memory foam products are designed with the same base material. What’s commonly referred to as memory foam, however, is actually a special form of a universal plastic polymer; its scientific name is viscoelastic polyurethane. All that really means is that this foam is especially low-resistance relative to external pressure that might be applied to it — like when you sleep!
Shared Benefits
So what kind of benefits do these mattresses share?
For starters, they both offer the signature stability and support that’s become a hallmark of memory foam. Since its low resistance, memory foam takes a long time to change its shape or transfer energy beyond itself. It also returns to its original shape quickly after any pressure that was being applied has been released. That makes it uniquely effective at learning the shape of your body and its contours, offering you maximal levels of comfort throughout the night. That means your head and neck stay thoroughly supported, and your back rarely has to deal with aches.
Another relevant benefit that’s partly a result of its viscoelasticity is memory foam’s ability to offer pain relief. Since it reinforces the structural integrity of your spine and neck, sleeping on a gel-based mattress or a standard one can really relieve pent-up stress and tension from your upper body. By shaping to your unique nuance of you, memory foam brings a variety of sleep benefits.
What’s The Difference?
The key difference between these two favored mattress options is one simple design choice: gel. The latter is nothing more than polyurethane, while its counterpart is all that plus more. Gel-based products are produced with a special layer of particles instilled within the upper layer of their structure.
These gel beads are usually either thermal or phase-changing, both of which function differently yet achieve the same results. The point of gel-based memory foam is to take everything that’s good about its core material, and then bolster its shortcomings through a subtle update.
Minimize Sweating
Gel foam mattresses offer cooler beds that actually stay cool, unlike their counterparts. The top layer of gel actually transfers heat away from you, keeping you nice and cold.
If you’re someone who prefers to sleep in a refreshingly cool bed, then a gel-based mattress will serve you right.
Better Bounce
Compared to memory foam, gel-based mattresses are designed to bounce back to their original shape faster. The gel beads add a bouncy quality to the top layer that will quickly mold your body and reshape just as fast once you leave the bed.
Another key difference is that gel memory foam offers improved levels of bounce relative to conventional choices. The upper layer of gel promotes structural integrity and thus enables your mattress to get back into its shape faster. That effect also applies when you’re sleeping on it, which means better support, too.
Final Thoughts
After a close look at what differentiates gel and typical memory foam, it’s evident that gel-based mattresses take the cake. They give you the best of both worlds, while standard foam lacks in temperature regulation and rebound. If you’re looking to find gel memory foam products of the highest quality, then you need to check out Dynasty Mattress. Their broad collection of mattresses combines best-in-class design with unheard-of value — and they’ve got an option that’ll fit every sleeper’s needs.
