Motion Isolation and why a good sleep depends on it?
Most intelligent buyers make decisions based on technical data available and look through the marketing jargon thrown by various marketers to them (Example while purchasing a car people ask for mileage, power, finance options, etc). Of the various products purchased by buyers few product choices have a such a large impact on buyers yet received such subtle recognition for them as mattresses do. Mattresses are expected to have a minimum life span of 3 to 5 years and are used by their buyers for more than 6 hours a day. That’s more time than other consumer goods like your smartphone or car. Having a good mattress also affects your sleep and even your long term health. Factors like rigidity of the mattress affect spinal health, Good Liquid absorption (sweat absorption) prevents skin diseases, etc.
In this article to help you make a decision while purchasing a mattress right for you let us educate you on certain technicalities of a mattress so you can apply them while making a purchasing.
While manufacturing a mattress all manufacturers are faced with the dilemma to find the Goldilocks zone. Goldilocks zone is the right ratio a manufacturer must decide on where the mattress is rigid enough to maintain shape yet it should be soft enough to be comfortable. The mattresses rigidity is necessary or you could end up with body pains and it could lead to spinal issues in the future, but make it too rigid and it could have poor cushioning and make your sleep uncomfortable.
A soft mattress gives good cushioning. Softness in a mattress can be achieved by various methods the engineering metric for it is Motion Isolation. Mattress Isolation is the ability of a mattress to absorb energy and isolate the spread of vibrations. This factor is extremely important in large mattresses often used by more than one person, where if one user tosses and turns in his sleep it should not affect the sleep of the other. To do the following the 3 common methods used are mentioned below with their advantages and disadvantages.
Coir
Coir based mattresses is the oldest technology and has the longest life and most cost effective. On the negative side they are the most stiffest of mattresses and nowadays mixed with latex to produce rubberised coir which is more comfortable. The mattresses are 100% biodegradable and good for the environment.
Spring Based
They are rarely used alone in mattresses and are often combined with foam or coir. The have excellent stiffness and shock absorption, On the negative side they can be noisy and cause tears in the mattress if handled roughly
Foam Based
Foam based mattresses can be either latex foam in case of cost effective mattresses or hi-tech material like memory foam in case of high end mattress. They have interesting properties where they shape themselves around your body based on body heat. They are soft and absorb vibrations effectively. Most mattresses found in the market are hybrids of the following types mentioned above types But the general hierarchy in Motion Isolation quality is Memory foam> Spring, Foam> Latex foam> spring, coir> Coir.