Sleep is more than just a basic function of the human body – it’s quite literally a state of mind.
For many people, going to sleep has come to be seen as a simple necessity at the end of a tiring day, or worse, as an inconvenient interruption to our busy schedules (does the phrase ‘I’ll sleep when I’m dead’ sound familiar?)
However, getting 8 hours of unbroken sleep every night is one of the most effective acts of self-care you can perform for your physical and mental health.
As the benefits of getting enough sleep (and the dangers of getting too little) have become more common knowledge, the prevalence of advice surrounding what’s known as ‘sleep hygiene’ has also increased. Unfortunately, there’s only so much following a sleep schedule and eliminating blue light from your bedtime routine can do if you’re making do with a substandard mattress.
With the advent of memory and gel foam technology, mattress brands all over the world have come forward with their new and improved mattress designs, each promising the best night’s sleep of your life.
One mattress that stands out amongst the rest, though, is Nectar’s Memory Foam Mattress, which has won awards for both product quality and eco-friendly production. The mattress was designed with the intention of minimising back pain and overheating during the night, which are commonly reported sleep problems. So, how well does the Memory Foam Mattress carry out Nectar’s ambitions? Let’s find out!
The Nectar Memory Foam Mattress
Main Features
The construction of the Nectar Memory Foam Mattress is made up of 4 separate layers. In order to provide the most in-depth review possible for this mattress, we’ll be reviewing each layer individually.
Cooling Cover
As we’ve mentioned, overheating is a significant issue when it comes to sleep hygiene and comfort during the night. If you, like so many other people, find it difficult to get to sleep at night because of the heat or find yourself waking up in the night covered in sweat, that’s a sign that you probably need to take some measures to regulate your body heat during the night.
Unfortunately, the most obvious solutions in this respect (such as opening a window, making sure the heating is turned off or using thinner covers) don’t always go to plan. It’s all very well going to sleep with the window open and your covers thrown off when you’re too hot, but this still leaves your body temperature unregulated and susceptible to sudden changes in accordance with your environment.
Thanks to the innovative and highly effective cooling cover built into the top of the Nectar Memory Foam Mattress, you can now leave all of these frustrating struggles behind you!
The polyester cooling cover of the Nectar mattress is one of our favourite things about this product. The cover uses Nectar’s Adaptive Cooling Technology to detect and respond to changes in your body temperature. As heat radiates from your body, the cover absorbs and draws that heat away from you, into the mattress.
Sometimes, when potential customers hear about the cooling properties of a mattress, they’re sceptical. Does it really work? Won’t I get too cold in the winter? We can confirm that Nectar’s cooling cover really does work, and what’s more, it functions at the perfect level to provide a soothing, cooling effect without stripping you of all your bodily warmth. It’s much like baby bear’s porridge in Goldilocks: just right!
Yet another reason why the cooling cover makes the perfect top layer for the Nectar Memory Foam Mattress is its soft pillowy texture. In terms of pressure and texture, you’ll barely even know it’s there – but you’ll definitely benefit from it.
Smart Memory Foam
The first foam layer incorporated in the construction of the Nectar Memory Foam Mattress is the smart memory foam layer.
The layer of smart memory foam is the top foam layer of the mattress. Now, of course, this foam performs the basic functions that you’d expect from a layer of memory foam: it moulds to the shape of the sleeper’s body and distributes weight based on the pressure and heat exerted on it.
However, the smart memory foam layer on top of the Nectar mattress also performs an additional function. As well as contributing to the mattress’s overall level of comfort, the smart memory foam’s open-cell construction allows it to facilitate healthy airflow.
The open-cell foam structure also lends a moisture-wicking quality to the smart memory foam layer, which is crucial since the cooling cover will be drawing excess heat, humidity, and moisture away from you as you sleep. The breathability of the smart memory foam layer ensures that you won’t have to worry about any adverse effects of heat retention on your mattress, and also allows you to enjoy a cool, airy night’s sleep.
Pressure-Relieving Memory Foam
Moving down through the layers of the Nectar Memory Foam Mattress, we come to the second layer, which is made of pressure-relieving memory foam.
While the primary function of the first layer of memory foam is to provide surface-level comfort and optimal air circulation, the pressure-relieving layer is designed to take the strain off your spine while you sleep. This helps to eliminate some of the back pain that commonly ails users of competitor mattresses.
This memory foam layer is still very soft and will mould to the contours of your body just enough to create a comforting sensation. However, the pressure-relieving foam is higher density than the smart memory foam, meaning it provides more support.
The balance struck in this central layer of the Nectar Memory Foam Mattress between comfort and support is perfect for inducing relaxation while providing proper support, particularly in the lumbar area.
When combined with the smart memory foam layer (see above), this layer makes 9 cm in total of memory foam. This is really impressive considering that most competitor memory foam mattresses only incorporate about 4 cm of memory foam into their construction. This means that, on average, the Nectar Memory Foam Mattress boasts over double the depth of memory foam of a typical competitor mattress – and you can absolutely tell the difference.
7-Zone Supportive Base
The bottom layer of the Nectar Memory Foam Mattress, also called the base, may be the furthest from the sleeper in terms of proximity, but it’s one of the most fundamental features of this mattress in terms of support.
Although this is one cohesive layer, it’s actually made up of 7 individual support zones that work together to provide exactly the right amount of support in each area of the mattress.
Nectar’s recognition that each area of the body requires a different, yet consistent level of support is something that sore sleepers everywhere are sure to appreciate – we know we did!
This support layer is thicker than the first two layers, measuring 16 cm in depth. The depth and higher density of this foam layer not only helps to keep the spine in perfect alignment, but also reduces motion transfer across the mattress. If you sleep with a partner and find that their tossing and turning regularly keeps you awake, this could be a life-changer for you!
What we will say, though, is that this thicker, denser layer of support foam brings the overall firmness of the mattress to medium-firm. While this is often considered the optimal firmness for relieving the symptoms of spinal pain, it’s usually not the preferred texture for people who prefer to sleep on their fronts. Therefore, the Nectar Memory Foam Mattress might not be the best choice for front sleepers.
Positioning Base
The Nectar Memory Foam Mattress features an additional, tray-shaped layer of material that acts as a kind of position anchor for the mattress itself.
This base keeps the mattress firmly in position throughout the night, so you can reposition yourself as often as you like as you drift off – your mattress will stay exactly where it’s supposed to be.
One of the best things about this base is that it allows the mattress to be used on virtually any bed frame or base, whether it’s solid or slatted. Compatibility is key when it comes to something as personal as a mattress, and Nectar’s commitment to this is really refreshing.
Size Range
The Memory Foam Mattress design from Nectar comes in an inclusive range of size. No matter how much space you’re working with at home or how big or small your bedframe is, you too can benefit from Nectar’s sleep-enhancing mattress construction.
The Nectar Memory Foam Mattress is available in single, double, small double, king, and super king.
Additional Features
Eco-Friendly Production
We’ve already touched on Nectar’s commitment to environmental friendliness, as exemplified by the company’s receipt f the Good Housekeeping ‘Getting Greener’ award. However, in today’s climate, eco-friendly methods of mass-production are so crucial that we felt this point was worth expanding on in a section of its own.
Nectar works alongside ClimatePartner, which is an organisation dedicated to helping manufacturers to reduce their carbon footprints. Currently, Nectar’s offset CO2 emissions stand at 3.8 million kg, and as a result, the company’s finished products are completely carbon-neutral.
Nectar only uses CertiPUR-certified and FSC-approved materials in its mattresses to ensure that no heavy metals, ozone-depleting substances, or other harmful chemicals find their way into the products. Any products sourced from forests are sustainably sourced.
The company even recycles its old mattresses by donating them to the British Heart Foundation or disposing of them through AnyJunk, which diverts 96% of items from landfills.
It’s also well worth noting that this mattress is 100% vegan-friendly, meaning it hasn’t been manufactured using any animal-derived products such as down. This attention to detail for environmental and ethical issues (veganism is still primarily associated by many with exclusively dietary requirements as opposed to lifestyle changes) further proves how deserving Nectar is of holding the ‘Getting Greener’ title for 2021.
Rolled-Up Delivery
One of the main factors of general mattress-buying that often puts people off investing in a new and better mattress is the delivery process.
Some mattress manufacturers still deliver their mattresses uncompressed, making them very cumbersome and heavy to manoeuvre into and around the home. For many, the idea of lugging a fully expanded mattress upstairs to the bedroom (or paying someone else to do it) is less than ideal, to put it mildly.
Even when mattresses are delivered compressed or rolled up (as the majority seem to be nowadays), there’s the waiting time to think about. Some mattresses can take up to 24 hours to fully decompress and be ready to sleep on once they’re unrolled. Even worse, the use of chemical materials and packaging can cause a nasty smell to linger in the fabric of a mattress long after delivery.
This is another area in which Nectar’s mattresses have a leg up on the competition. Nectar mattresses arrive fully rolled up in packaging that, while strong enough to sustain the pressure of an entire mattress, is delightfully easy to open up. Once you’ve removed your new mattress from its packaging, all you need to do is leave it in a safe and sufficiently spacious area for it to decompress.
And the best part? Unlike some other competitor mattress models, the Nectar Memory Foam Mattress only takes between 3 and 5 hours to decompress, so even if it’s delivered in the afternoon, it should be soft, springy, and ready to sleep on by bedtime!
