A memory foam mattresses might just be the best kind of mattress ever invented, at least in the opinion of some people. If your body really needs support when you sleep, yet you have a problem sleeping on a hard or stiff surface, then a mattress made of visco memory foam mattress may finally bring you both the support and the comfort you need. It's the special properties of this type of foam that make these mattresses so comfortable.

Visco elastic memory foam is comprised of tiny, spherical, weight and temperature sensitive cells. As the cells heat up, they soften and spread pressure, which means that as you lie down on a memory foam mattress, your body heat makes the initially firm substance of the foam relax and conform to your own shape. Once your heat is removed, the tiny cells firm up again and return to their original shape. This, as you might imagine, is where memory foam gets its name.

There's more to the support than that, though. The visco memory foam only heats up and becomes elastic down to a certain depth. So the top layers of cells will soften and adapt to your body shape, yet the foam farther down remains as cool as before, and therefore doesn't change. So it retains its shape and provides extra underlying firmness, meaning that memory foam mattresses give you both the contoured support above and the firm support below.

Another factor in both the support and the shape of the mattress is its own density. You might find inexpensive memory foam mattresses with a density of 1.5 pounds per cubic foot, and another of 8 pounds. A higher density will provide more support and relief for those with hip or back problems. Additionally, there are single, double, queen or king size memory foam mattress choices available, as well as memory foam contour pillows.

What a memory foam mattress may ultimately do for you is relieve the pressure points on your body that make you stiff even after a supposedly good night of sleep. These are the points, like the hips or elbows, which press harder into the mattress than other body parts. For bedridden people, it's these points that ultimately cause bedsores. With a mattress made of memory foam providing equal support to each part of your body, you might end up experiencing the best nights of sleep that you had only dreamt of in the past.