While you may be thinking of buying a memory foam mattress, it may be the cost that is discouraging you from actually doing so. Despite the stories of the great sleep and excellent support, and the way the foam contours to the sleeper's body at night and returns to its own shape in the morning, it may just be too expensive for you to acquire a memory mattress like that. But all may not be lost. It's possible for you to experience all those benefits with a mattress topper made of memory foam placed over your own mattress.

Before looking at any memory foam mattress toppers or pads, do some research. To begin with, you need to be sure that your own original bed is in good enough shape to accommodate a memory foam mattress pad or topper. Your underlying mattress needs to be of moderate firmness (neither too soft nor too hard) and above all it must be very flat, with no dips in it and no "hammock" in the center. This is important because of the properties inherent in the visco memory foam of the topper itself.

A memory foam bed consists of millions of small cells that soften with a sleeper's body heat, changing shape to contour around the person. But the heat only extends about 3 inches down into the mattress, meaning that the memory foam underneath remains cool and retains its shape, providing support. It's is because of this factor that your original mattress will need to be both firm and flat, so it can provide similar underlying support when you place the mattress topper on it. And that's also why the toppers should be in the vicinity of 3 to 5 inches thick, although when you reach 5 inches the expense will begin to rise.

Buying a mattress topper of memory foam should allow you to experience most of the benefits of a full bed, provided you take heed of all these important factors. If you've got a flat, firm underlying mattress, combined with a topper of good thickness (not to mention the density, which should be about 5 pounds per cubic foot of mattress), then you should be able to enjoy the gentle contouring of the foam mattress enhancer, along with good underlying support.