The first thing you should notice is the smell.  The smell that comes from genuine memory foam is quite distinctive. True memory foam should have a faint chemical smell, fake or cheaper memory foam seems to have a much stronger chemical odor. If you are sensitive to these chemical smells you may not be able to tolerate the odor and can find that it give you headaches. Airing it out for a few days seems to get rid of that smell with real memory foam, not so with the fake, cheaper version. The smell can last a few weeks or a few months, sometimes never really going away.

A fake memory foam mattress topper will also be hot, almost as if it is reflecting your body heat. Memory foam is supposed to absorb your body heat where there is the least pressure. Shoulders and feet are a good example. The heat will make you perspire leading to an uncomfortable night’s sleep.

A fake memory foam topper will not hold its “memory”. When you press your hand into the memory foam it should leave an indentation where you hand was and it will be very slow in returning to its normal position. Fake memory foam either will leave no indention, or will bounce back very quickly. This is a sure way to figure out that this is a fake imitation. Because of its lack of memory, this will cause you memory foam mattress topper to become hard and lumpy quickly.

Often times if a memory foam mattress topper is not real it will change color with age. A combination of sweat and use will cause it to turn a dark orange color. It will retain odors and dirt that have collected inside the porous holes in the mattress.

You should not feel “swallowed” by the mattress topper. With a cheap topper, depending on the height, it will feel this way. True memory foam will have a much higher density than a cheaper, fake version. The memory foam mattress topper should feel soft to the touch and not a coarse foam feeling.

Although you may well be tempted to purchase an inexpensive memory foam mattress topper believing you will get most of the benefits of the more expensive versions you may well just be risking wasting your money entirely as the topper you end up with may not only not provide you with what you are looking for, but might actually be worse than before.

Memory foam is more properly known as visco-elastic memory foam.  It was discovered in the 1960’s by NASA as a consequence of their space programme. Initially the foam was used to cushion astronauts from the stress of launch and re-entry, but it was quickly discovered that the memory foam had many more potential uses.  It did not take long for big business to capitalize on the extraordinary characteristics of this foam.

The mattress topper made from memory foam is essentially a strip of memory foam that is approximately 2 inches thick.  The effect of the topper is that the foam molds around the shape of you when you lie on it giving you the feeling of luxury and restful relaxation.  The benefits you get from this type of sleep are many, especially if you suffer from back or neck pain.  Indeed the benefits are so good from just this mattress topper that you really do not need to spend hundreds of dollars buying a full memory foam mattress as the memory foam mattress topper provides almost all the benefit for a fraction of the cost.

The memory foam mattress topper sleeping experience is different from that achieved with almost any other type of mattress topper.  They really make sleeping on them feel like you are sleeping on a cloud, or a sensory deprivation tank.

The effect of memory foam is activated by the temperature in your body when you lie down on it.  The foam literally shrinks when heated and as a result creates the effect of moulding itself to the shape of your body.  The evenness of the redistribution of the foam means that your body does not have particular pressure points in contact with the mattress.  These lack of pressure points means you are less likely to toss and turn while sleeping as your body is comfortable in the sleeping position it finds itself.  The experience can be so comfortable that some describe it like sleeping on air, or on a cloud.

The memory foam mattress topper is inexpensive to purchase but at the same time is capable of creating dramatic changes in the quality of your sleeping experience.  So if you are having disturbed sleep, or you are suffering from back or neck pain then the memory foam mattress topper is highly recommended.

If you want to purchase a memory foam mattress topper then there are many great online offers which you should take advantage of.  As you know the deals you can get online are often better than those you can achieve in a store, so why not check out the deals online first.