One reason memory foam mattresses are so popular is that they mold to your body’s shape, providing personalized support and comfort. Many people choose memory foam for this very benefit, but they’re sometimes surprised when it doesn’t feel perfect right away. A brand-new memory foam mattress often feels firmer than the one you tried in the showroom, but with use, it will gradually soften and adapt to you.
Related Blog: How to Choose the Right Mattress for Your Sleep Style
Some patience is essential to let it naturally adapt to your body. However, if it's not yet fully comfortable enough for you, there are ways to speed the process up. After nearly 50 years of experience, our sleep experts at the Land of Sleep mattress stores in Sarasota and Venice have compiled the following tips to condition memory foam mattresses a little faster.
How Long It Will Take to Adjust
Memory foam will eventually soften without you having to do anything, besides sleep on it. The compression from your body alone will be enough to soften the foam, and you won't have to wait very long.
Memory foam breaks in after only a few days or a couple of weeks at most; in most cases, the mattress will soften up in under a week.
1. Avoid Using a Mattress Topper
While a mattress topper might make your mattress feel extra plush and cozy right away, it kind of acts like a barrier. This means the memory foam underneath doesn't get to squish down like it needs to, which helps it soften up faster. Without feeling your weight directly, the foam can't shape up as it's supposed to, taking a bit longer to hit that perfect level of comfort.
2. Walk or Crawl On It
This is an effective way to condition your mattress. Walking on it or kneading it with your knees is the method we sometimes use to soften new display mattresses for our Sarasota and Venice showrooms. You can gather the entire family on it to read or play board games if you're helping your children enjoy screen-free activities before sleep; and it might even be the perfect excuse to start a pillow fight, for a light workout before bed!
3. Warming the Memory Foam Up
Memory foam is temperature-sensitive and reacts to your body heat. At higher temperatures, it will react by becoming more viscous and flexible, and then become firmer as the temperature drops. As a result, a memory foam mattress feels harder until it is warmed up.
Adjust the Temperature of Your Bedroom
Raising the temperature in your bedroom can soften the foam and make it mold to your body more readily. During hot summers in Sarasota and Venice, FL, we normally strive to keep our bedrooms as cool as we can; but when you are trying to speed up your memory foam's conditioning process, it's helpful to let the room be a little warmer.
Heat Devices
Try using an electric blanket, hot water-filled heat packs, or other creative ideas of your own to keep the mattress warm before kneading, stepping, and rolling around on the now-loosened material.
Supporting & Improving Sleep
If your new mattress is causing some initial discomfort, try the tips above to help it break in faster. Many new memory foam owners experience this adjustment period, but most find that any issues fade once the mattress has had time to conform to their body. Remember, the mattress you fell in love with in our Sarasota showroom was once just like yours. Give it a couple of weeks to fully adapt, and you’ll be sleeping soundly in no time.
Land Of Sleep is a family-owned mattress store in Venice and Sarasota, that's been dedicated to improving sleep quality since 1974. We're committed to helping you find the deep, restorative sleep you deserve. For a restful, perfect night's sleep, download our free guide to better sleep for today!
