Tempur Pro Plus SmartCool mattress review: a dream for your joints or too soft for comfort?

This premium all-foam mattress delivers serious softness and pressure relief – but not everyone will love the sink

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Let’s get the Nasa thing out of the way first. Memory foam, so the internet tells me, repeatedly, was developed by the US space agency in the 60s to cushion astronauts during flights. Nice story, but there’s no extreme G-force in my bed, just a pair of middle-aged people wanting to sleep. Do we really need Nasa’s pricey wonder material for that?

It does help, in small doses. I’ve found that a layer or two of memory foam can turn a good mattress into a great one. This soft, cosy material moulds to your body and does a brilliant job of tempering the solidity of springs in hybrid mattresses, such as the Simba Hybrid Pro and Otty Original Hybrid. It also absorbs bounce so well that it’s helped me and my husband sleep in peace despite each other’s fidgeting.