Mattress

In order to achieve good flexibility in the longitudinal direction, a central region (6) of the mattress core (1), which is bounded by head, foot and side parts (2, 3, 5), is subdivided by recesses (9) on both lying surfaces into individual foamed material blocks (7) which are spaced apart. The side parts (5), like the head part (2) and foot part (3), consist of substantially compact pieces of foamed material, but they have incisions in the transverse direction starting from the lying surfaces. The core (1) is provided with an expandable covering. The friction between the covering and the core (1) is reduced by means of intermediate layers of low-adhesion fabric. As a result, the mattress can be bent in the longitudinal direction over a large area without a large bending moment and is thus readily adapted to the shape of the base without the lying properties being adversely affected by bulges, creases, etc.