Memory Foam Gel Mattresses Do They Work

The big boys on the block these days are iComfort® a revolutionary new Sleep System by Serta®. Their claim its “Smarter. Cooler. Better.™”  There are literally hundreds of mattress manufacturers trying to copy or reinvent their improved Tempur-Pedic® type design which brings us to the question, Memory Foam Gel Mattresses Do They Work?

Memory Foam Gel Mattresses Do They Work

So What makes the iComfort® better than other memory foam? I am no engineer or scientist, but I have an opinion and a long history in the bedding industry with my family bedding business and along the way have seen many strategies to sell beds and Memory Foam Gel Mattresses are one of the most interesting ones I’ve witnessed.   Are gel beads and gel swirls, and every other way they have found to introduce gel into a memory foam mattress nothing more of a sales gimmick? Or is it truly an effective way to help get a more restful night of sleep by keeping sleepers cooler throughout the entire night? I am not so sure that the iComfort® is better than other memory foam beds like Tempur-Pedic ®. It is my opinion not much if anything is really that different other than the fact the memory foam has been infused with gel. Like any other mattress business, I was shopping for solutions to the heat issues of heat-reactive or temperature-responsive memory foams. It seems to be implied that sleeping cooler is a result and these gel memory foams are better than other comfort materials and foams used to build mattresses.

Memory Foam Gel Mattresses Do They Work?

Fancy Trademarks like Cool Action™ Gel Memory Foam are impressive and hats off to their marketing team, but do their point of purchase materials show or prove that the infused gel will help my customers sleep cool? I believe the answer is no which is why I have elected to go against the grain and not offer it to consumers in my store. I would only add that I feel the same way about the hundreds of copycat models who have jumped on the gel bandwagon to reap some of the monetary rewards of Serta’s marketing efforts.

Does Gel In Memory Foam Make You Sleep Cooler?

My belief is that the gel used in mattresses, whether it is infused with beads or swirled can’t pull down body temperature and make person sleep cooler.  While yes gel will always be at ambient room temperature which is often in the low to mid-70-degree range, it never comes into contact with the sleeper’s body which is 98.6.

For argument sake, surface temperatures vary throughout the body and the point is this, anyone who has hopped into an 80-degree swimming pool can acknowledge that it doesn’t feel exactly hot. In the case of gel if the gel were to come into contact with the body it could indeed pull down the surface body temperature for a period of time in the same way pool water cools off a swimmer. The problem is to my knowledge none of these gel memory foam mattress makers put the gel in the actual surface of the mattress where the body can make contact with it. As a matter of fact, the majority of gel memory foam beds bury the infused layer in the mattress. That’s right not in the surface foam layers but actually further down where the gel would seem to have no effect what so ever.

I would only add that all of these beds including the ones that infuse gel in the foam and place that layer of foam above all of the others still do one thing, add a thick layer of quilted fabric over the top of the gel foam to complete the mattress surface, affectively making the gel useless from the point of cooling the sleeper.

Gel Memory Foam Summation

People may prefer a memory foam mattress for its antimicrobial and dust mite resistant qualities. They may swear to its pressure-relief and comfort and ability to support. They may say nothing else conforms or offers better motion isolation. So it is my opinion that Memory Foam Gel Mattresses are not changed much from traditional memory foam technology it just seems to have slicker marketing.