Visco foam mattresses have been associated with sleep apnea and asthma relief. For sleep apnea, the claim is that modifying your head’s position while you sleep will reduce the cause of your sleep problems. For asthma sufferers, one thing that aggravates breathing problems is dust mites. The claim for asthma relief is that dust mites can’t live in visco foam, making a visco foam mattress a healthy choice for those with allergies to dust mites.
Health Benefits of Visco Foam Mattresses
There is no doubt that visco elastic foam mattress beds have attracted thousands of satisfied customers who sleep more soundly at night because memory foam beds reduce pressure points on the body and people don’t toss and turn as much at night. Plus, memory foam absorbs movement caused by your partner when they get up or move about. You’re sure to get a better night’s sleep when you combine greater physical comfort with less jostling. But what about other health benefits such as alleviating sleep apnea and allergy relief from dust mites?
Sleep Apnea:
Relief of sleep apnea is more a function of head angle and support than overall bodily comfort. Therefore, the comfort afforded by a memory foam mattress itself won’t help sleep apnea but memory foam pillows have been known to help apnea sufferers.
Some people find relief by using the memory foam pillow to keep their heads at an angle — not on its side and not facing up. Other people use the memory foam pillow by cutting a C shape in the foam to make room for the sleep apnea mask and hose. And others find relief from sleep apnea by elevating the surface of their pillow by placing a foam wedge under the pillow.
Memory foam pillows in and of themselves aren’t the solution to sleep apnea but they certainly don’t worsen the problem and often can give relief. Since comfort and relief is unique and subjective for every person, testing a good quality visco elastic foam pillow that has high density and heat responsiveness is your only way of knowing for sure whether your sleep apnea can be relieved using memory foam.
Allergy Relief:
Some memory foam beds are sold with the claim that the beds are dust mite free, which will greatly help reduce allergies and asthma symptoms. Research suggests, however, that these claims have no substance and are just marketing hype.
Every home has millions of dust mites that live in visible dust around your house and in cushions, pillows, blankets, carpet, and other soft places. Most people don’t even realize that dust mites exist because they are microscopic and don’t bother anybody except for asthma and allergy sufferers who are painfully aware of their existence.
In mattresses and bed pillows, dust mites are related to skin that naturally sloughs off our bodies every night. It has been suggested that since memory foam beds contain millions of open cells, it’s possible that even more dust mites can be found in memory foam beds than in conventional closed-cell beds. However, memory foam doesn’t promote dust mites because foam is not a food source for the dust mites. Regardless of what bed you have, whether it be visco elastic foam or a traditional boxspring bed, dust mites cannot be prevented because they are a natural part of life.
The surest way for you to know whether your sleep apnea will be relieved using a memory foam pillow is to test it yourself. It may take several nights of testing and a bit of patience, but there’s a chance that your apnea will be relieved. As for the dust mites, there’s no way to eliminate them from our lives and following the advice of your doctor too help your asthma and allergies is a better bet than a memory foam mattress.