A contemporary foundation is basically a rigid platform that your mattress sits on top of. In many cases, your current foundation can be used with your new memory foam mattress. This is a great way to save money when buying a memory foam mattress in today's tough economy.

To see if you can use your existing foundation with your new memory foam mattress, you just need to do some very simple detective work. This is not "CSI" kind of detective work - In fact; this may be just about the easiest thing you have ever checked on. Here's all you do –

To test your foundation, remove the mattress and simply press it in a few places. As long as it remains firm and there are no dips or excessive wear, it should work just fine with a quality memory foam mattress.

There! It's that easy! Save by using your existing foundation with your new memory foam mattress. Don't you wish every product made saving money this easy?

To learn how to choose a quality memory foam mattress, check out the short video Choosing a Memory Foam Mattress.

To learn more about the quality memory foam mattresses we offer, go to Healthy Foundation's Memory Foam Mattresses.

We know the economy is tough right now, so to make things even easier when you are buying a memory foam mattress, we are currently offering a $50 or $100 American Express Card with any memory foam mattress purchase.

Even if you get your memory foam mattress home and find out it is not right for you, the American Express Gift Card is yours to keep as our way of thanking you for trying a Healthy Foundations memory foam mattress.

Don't wait, though… The Healthy Foundation's American Express Gift Card Offer is only good through March 15, 2009.

Depending on what size memory foam mattress you buy and where you live, you could save between $75 and $200 on shipping when you buy your memory foam mattress from us.

In addition to free shipping, you also save with no sales tax (except in Colorado) when you buy from us. You also get our 365-day money-back guarantee which allows you to try your memory foam mattress in your own home. That's right! Free shipping…No sales tax…And a full year to try our memory foam mattress to make sure it's right for you! How's that for sticking it to the tough economy??

To try all the quality of the "leading brand" at half the price, check out our Healthy Foundations Memory Foam Mattress.

To learn more about choosing a memory foam bed, check out our video on Choosing a Memory Foam Mattress.

When using a third-party organization, a retailer cannot pick and choose the testimonials you will see like they can on the own site or in their own literature. For example, when you check on a retailer using www.Shopping.com, you get to see everything that the customers write, not what the retailer has picked out for you to see. Third-party organizations also allow you to see how a retailer deals with all of its customers, including those who don't keep their product. How a retailer handles things like returns and money-back guarantees is crucial in deciding where to buy your memory foam mattress or memory foam topper. Knowing a retailer handles returns and money-back guarantees appropriately and in a swift manner allows you to feel comfortable with your memory foam purchase.

The Better Business Bureau is the "big daddy" of all business credibility organizations. Look for it and check out the retailer's rating before you buy any memory foam mattress or topper. I do not buy any significant product or service from any business that is not accredited with the Better Business Bureau or that has an unsatisfactory rating with the BBB.

At Healthy Foundations, we are proud to have a perfect 5 out of 5 stars average rating with www.Shopping.com. (That's right! 5 out of 5 stars is the average of all our ratings!) You can check out our rave reviews at Healthy Foundations Reviews on Shopping.com. We also have earned an A+ rating with the BBB.

For more information on the products our customers rave about, check out our memory foam mattresses and memory foam toppers pads pages.

In judging a warranty, at least 10 years of that 20-year warranty should be non-prorated, meaning you will get 100% of the repair or replacement taken care of for the first 10 years of the warranty. A prorated warranty means that after a designated number of years, the manufacturer will pay a portion of the mattress replacement or repair. A 20-year warranty that has 10 years non-prorated and 10 years prorated means that for the first 10 years, you are covered 100%. For the second 10 years, you will pay a predetermined portion of the replacement or repair.

At Healthy Foundations, both our best selling Healthy Foundations 10" Memory Foam Mattress and our Healthy Foundations 13" Luxe Memory Foam Mattress have warranties of 20 years. Our Healthy Foundations 10" Memory Foam Mattress has an unheard of non-prorated 20-year warranty!

For any memory foam mattress warranty, make sure you read all the details and fine print and stay away from any memory foam mattress that has less than a 20-year warranty.

Most memory foam mattress retailers have only one or two memory foam mattresses that you may be interested in. If you buy one, sleep on it at home for a while, and find it doesn't work for you, what is a store credit going to do for you? If the retailer doesn’t have a memory foam mattress that works for you, you could be up a creek without a paddle… (Or even without a boat!) Up a creek without a paddle meaning that you could be out thousands of dollars and still not have a memory foam mattress that works for you. I have seen this countless times and it doesn't ever need to happen.

How do you make sure you don't lose thousands of dollars and still not have a memory foam mattress that you like? Stay away from "comfort guarantees" and store credits. Only buy from memory foam mattress retailers that offer a true money-back guarantee, and, along with that, give you at least 90 days to try your mattress in your own home. With any guarantee, make sure you check out all the details and read any fine print included in the guarantee.

At Healthy Foundations we offer our unbeatable 365-day money-back guarantee. Yes! You read that correctly! You get a full year to try your memory foam mattress in your own home. To check out our incredibly comfortable memory foam mattresses and read about our unmatched 365-day money-back guarantee, go to our Memory Foam Mattress page.

A major way to save money on your memory foam mattress is to "Think Outside the 'Leading Brand' Box." If you are even thinking about a memory foam mattress (or even if you're not) you undoubtedly know what the famous "leading brand" of memory foam mattress is. It's obviously the one that spends millions of dollars on its advertising and branding. Does this mean it's the best mattress for your buck? Only if you want your buck to go to "leading brand's" big budget advertising campaign!

You don't need to buy a poor quality memory foam mattress to save money (although are plenty of those out there). Think outside of the "leading brand" box and look at other high quality memory foam mattresses that don't spend millions of dollars on their advertising and name branding.

At Healthy Foundations, we offer two high quality memory foam mattresses at approximately half the price of "leading brand's" comparable memory foam mattresses. Yes, you read that right… We have all the quality of the "leading brand" at half the price! With our 365-day money-back guarantee, why wouldn't you try a Healthy Foundations memory foam mattress?! You have a whole year to try it in your own home, and if you don't like it, you can return it and get your money back. The only thing you have to pay is $75 to help with return shipping costs. Since it is shipped to you free when you buy it, this offer is absolutely unbeatable! You can check out all our mattresses at our Memory Foam Mattress page.

No matter where you choose to buy your memory foam mattress, our goal is to provide you with lots of great information so you can make an informed decision when you buy your memory foam mattress. To read more about choosing a quality memory foam mattress, go to our Picking A Memory Foam Mattress page.

The Healthy Foundations 13" Luxe Memory Foam Mattress is the result of a year of research and testing. We wanted to offer a plush, luxurious memory foam mattress at about half the price of the "leading brand" and now, we do. The Healthy Foundations 13" Luxe Memory Foam Mattress offers the same therapuetic memory foam qualities as our Healthy Foundations 10" Memory Foam Mattress, but has a plusher feel to it for those who want a more luxurious memory foam mattress. And, just like our 10" model, our Luxe 13" model comes with our exclusive 365-day money-back guarantee.

We have had the Healthy Foundations 13" Luxe Memory Foam Mattress on our site for a couple of months now and, so far, the response and feedback have been great. We are certain that we have found the plush memory foam mattress that many of our customers have been requesting.

Click here to check out our 13" Luxe Memory Foam Mattress .

Happy New Year!

If you want to check it out, here's a link to the video:
How To Compare Memory Foam Mattresses.

For more information on our mattress, see our Memory Foam Mattress page

"My husband and I have just one word for our new mattress - WOW! Let me rephrase that - WOW! Here is our mattress history: 1991 Husband brings home new mattress - claims that it's the Cadillac of mattresses, feels like the hood of the Cadillac! 2002 This time I pick out the mattress, A 'memory' foam not Tempur-Pedic, we spend the entire night pushing away from each other- mattress sinks in the middle- I cry, bed is returned. 2002 Couldn't get cash back - exchange bed from hell for Sealy pillow top. Still not comfortable. 2006 Mattress sinks from our body impressions 3" deep-I return according to warranty - exchange for top of the line, $1200 firm mattress, Can't sleep, wake up with stiff necks, buning headaches etc. 2008 Searched web for something less expensive than TP mattress, find your web - site, READ EVERY WORD including testimonies. So impressed by info, the price, and the 365 day return policy, decided totake a chance. Received mattress in just 3 days! Had three teen-aged boys take our old bed set to the garage, we'll haul it to a dumpster - we wouldn't wish that bed on anyone! We put our new HF mattress right on the floor. First night - COMFORT Second night - DEEP SLEEP From now on I guess we'll have to set the alarm instead of being awakenedby back and neck pain.We haven't slept good for years. I suffer from frequent migrains and get spinal adjustments from a chiropractor. I expect all that to change now that we've found our dream bed. Summary - No way are you getting this mattress back.

-- Thank-you from L. and G. Emery"

For more information about our mattress, see our Memory Foam Mattress page.

We recently had a customer, though, who received his mattress in the winter who experienced a much longer time frame for the mattress to come back to it full height . After he opened the mattress, it recovered almost to its full height within a short time, but it took the top layers several hours to fully recover. He called to let us know his experience was different than that we showed on our video on our site -- and while we hadn't thought about this we immediately knew why it took longer for his mattress to recover. Winter was the reason.

Why does winter make it take longer for the mattress to recover? The answer is due to the nature of memory foam. Memory foam is temperature sensitive, which means that unlike ordinary foams it responds to temperature. Memory foam will get firmer at cold temps and softens at warmer temps (like your body temp, which is why memory foam conforms to your body in a way that ordinary bedding materials don't).

Ther is roughly 3.5" of our mattress, and this layer will get firmer during shipping during the winter to parts of the country in coulder climates (such as New Hampshire, where the customer described above resides). The cooler temperatures can affect the characteristics and responsive of the memory foam layer - it gets firmer. So it may take longer for the mattress to recover in the winter -- but once the mattress gets back to room temperature and the memory foam layers get warmed our memory foam mattress will recover back to its full height.

For more infomation on our beds, see our Memory Foam Mattress page.

"When snow, ice and frigid weather blast into town, watch out, says the American Chiropractic Association (ACA). Winter recreational activities and chores can pose problems for the outdoor enthusiast whose body is not in condition. Winter sports like skating, skiing and sledding can cause painful muscle spasms, strains or tears if you're not in shape. Even shoveling snow the wrong way, clambering awkwardly over snow banks, slipping on sidewalks and wearing the wrong kinds of clothing can all pose the potential for spasms, strains and sprains.

Simply walking outside in the freezing weather without layers of warm clothing can intensify older joint problems and cause a great deal of pain. As muscles and blood vessels contract to conserve the body's heat, the blood supply to extremities is reduced. This lowers the functional capacity of many muscles, particularly among the physically unfit. Preparation for an outdoor winter activity, including conditioning the areas of the body that are most vulnerable, can help avoid injury and costly health care bills.

"Simply put, warming up is essential," says Olympic speedskating gold and silver medalist Derek Parra. "In fact, when pressed for time, it's better to shorten the length of your workout and keep a good warm-up than to skip the warm-up and dive right into the workout. Skipping your warm-up is the best way to get hurt." Parra, who took both the gold and silver medals during the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, UT, adds that, "You can complete a good warm-up in 15-20 minutes. And believe me, it will make your workout more pleasant and safe."

Derek Parra and the ACA suggest that you start with some light aerobic activity (jogging, biking, fast walking) for about 7-10 minutes. Then follow these tips to help you fight back the winter weather:
a.. Skiing - do 10 to 15 squats. Stand with your legs shoulder width apart, knees aligned over your feet. Slowly lower your buttocks as you bend your knees over your feet. Stand up straight again.
b.. Skating - do several lunges. Take a moderately advanced step with one foot. Let your back knee come down to the floor while keeping your shoulders in position over your hips. Repeat the process with your other foot.
c.. Sledding/tobogganing - do knee-to-chest stretches to fight compression injuries caused by repetitive bouncing over the snow. Either sitting or lying on your back, pull your knees to your chest and hold for up to 30 seconds.
d.. Don't forget cool-down stretching for all of these sports - At the bottom of the sledding hill, for instance, before trudging back up, do some more knees-to-chest stretches, or repetitive squatting movements to restore flexibility.

Shoveling snow can also wreak havoc on the musculoskeletal system. The ACA suggests the following tips for exercise of the snow shoveling variety:
a.. If you must shovel snow, be careful. Listen to weather forecasts so you can rise early and have time to shovel before work.
b.. Layer clothing to keep your muscles warm and flexible.
c.. Shoveling can strain "de-conditioned" muscles between your shoulders, in your upper back, lower back, buttocks and legs. So, do some warm-up stretching before you grab that shovel.
d.. When you do shovel, push the snow straight ahead. Don't try to throw it. Walk it to the snow bank. Avoid sudden twisting and turning motions.
e.. Bend your knees to lift when shoveling. Let the muscles of your legs and arms do the work, not your back.
f.. Take frequent rest breaks to take the strain off your muscles. A fatigued body asks for injury.
g.. Stop if you feel chest pain, or get really tired or have shortness of breath. You may need immediate professional help.

After any of these activities, if you are sore, apply an ice bag to the affected area for 20 minutes, then take it off for a couple of hours. Repeat a couple of times each day over the next day or two.

If you continue to feel soreness, pain or strain after following these tips, it may be time to visit a doctor of chiropractic. "I've always believed in chiropractic care," says Parra. "I've used a lot of other treatments for injuries and pain, but the problem doesn't get fixed until I go to a doctor of chiropractic."

For more information on our mattress, see our Memory Foam Mattress Page.

"Healthy Foundations has outstanding customer service! I was amazed at the quick return emails I received from Brian answering all my questions with detailed explanations. I received my mattress in under a week and it was extremely easy to set up. I noticed absolutely no smell at all. I bought this mattress in hopes of elimating low back pain from sleeping. I previously could not sleep more than 6 hours without waking up to low back pain (due to herniated discs). It took about a week to adjust to the new memory foam, but I am happy to say that I have been sleeping much better, sounder, and most of all longer. I haven't been waking to the back pain as before. I purchased this mattress in hopes of improving my overall sleep and was a bit skeptical at first. Knowing I could return the mattress if I wasn't satisfied is what help me decided to give it a go. As of today about 3 weeks or so of sleeping on the mattress I don't think I will even want to return it. So far I believe it has been a reasonable and good investment into one third of my life (sleeping)! Thanks Healthy Foundations! For all you skeptics, go for it, you have nothing to loose!" Sandy in Daytona Beach, FL

For more information on our mattress, see our Memory Foam Mattress Page.

The Greek word "apnea" literally means "without breath." There are three types of apnea: obstructive, central, and mixed; of the three, obstructive is the most common. Despite the difference in the root cause of each type, in all three, people with untreated sleep apnea stop breathing repeatedly during their sleep, sometimes hundreds of times during the night and often for a minute or longer.Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is caused by a blockage of the airway, usually when the soft tissue in the rear of the throat collapses and closes during sleep. In central sleep apnea, the airway is not blocked but the brain fails to signal the muscles to breathe. Mixed apnea, as the name implies, is a combination of the two. With each apnea event, the brain briefly arouses people with sleep apnea in order for them to resume breathing, but consequently sleep is extremely fragmented and of poor quality.

Sleep apnea is very common, as common as adult diabetes, and affects more than twelve million Americans, according to the National Institutes of Health. Risk factors include being male, overweight, and over the age of forty, but sleep apnea can strike anyone at any age, even children. Yet still because of the lack of awareness by the public and healthcare professionals, the vast majority remain undiagnosed and therefore untreated, despite the fact that this serious disorder can have significant consequences.

Untreated, sleep apnea can cause high blood pressure and other cardiovascular disease, memory problems, weight gain, impotency, and headaches. Moreover, untreated sleep apnea may be responsible for job impairment and motor vehicle crashes. Fortunately, sleep apnea can be diagnosed and treated. Several treatment options exist, and research into additional options continues.

Go to this link: http://www.sleepapnea.org/resources/pubs/treatment.html, for treatment options for adults with obstructive sleep apnea, to discuss with your physician.

For more information on our mattress, see our Memory Foam Mattress Page.

"The customer service was excellent. They responded to my concerns very quickly. The shipping time was super fast and the mattress I received was just as it was described on their website. I researched many mattresses and this site backs their product more than any other mattress on the market today. Most mattress companies have a short return policy and it is very complicated to get to return your mattress if you don't like it. Healthy Foundations stands behind their product because they know it is great. We got the mattress set it up is a few minutes. The first morning I got up I did not ache! It was the first time in forever that I had a sound sleep and was not sore when I woke up! The mattress is a little more firm than most other memory foam mattresses I have tried, but it does not matter as long as I sleep good. I have had my mattress for over a month and still sleep great! I would recommend it to any one."

To find out more about our mattress, see our Memory Foam Mattress page.

"Originally I wanted to buy tempur-pedic mattress, because I had bad experiences buying cheap imitations and no name products. I was not ready to pay 2000+ at once, so I decided to try with financing. fortunately I got turned down due insufficient credit history (never had any loans or payments), and that's when I started looking for alternative solution.I forgot to mention, I have really bad morning stiffness in my back and neck, and sometimes my back hurts so bad that I can't sleep at all! I've tried with memory foam topper, inversion rack to relieve tension in my back, but over the time it was just getting worse. Somehow I came across healthy foundations web site, and to be honest, your site didn't impress me much at first. I used to be a graphic designer interested in web design, and your site was too cluttered and blog-like for my taste. just my opinion though, I came across your site many times during my research before I finally decided to check your BBB rating and reviews at epinions.com (I don't believe in testimonials ;-). Finally after reading almost 100% positive reviews and no complaints at bbb.com I decided to give a try. I ordered queen size on Sunday or Monday, expecting it to arrive around Friday or Saturday. I was surprised when I tracked my order on Wednesday and it was out for delivery! I had to take day off at work because I was too anxious to try it out and didn't wanna miss delivery (this is not a complaint though ;-). Long story short, mattress decompressed before my eyes as promised, there were some traces of odor, but not as much as my mattress topper had, and overall mattress fulfilled my expectations. My back pain is not completely gone, but it doesn't wake me up in the morning anymore and I have really good night sleep. I like it's firmness and softness in the same time. My girlfriend likes it too, even though she never had any sleep or back problems. I would recommend this mattress to everyone. ..."

For more information on our mattress, see our Memory Foam Mattress Page.