eli5 Why Mattresses need frames and box springs for (stability) when the floor is a fully flat surface?

Question

I haven’t found anything scientific about this, but box springs are wooden slats sideways for even distribution of weight, but wouldn’t the floor be better? Does it damage the bed or affect sleep?

Or are box springs a solution to the manufactured problem of raising beds on bed frames?

In: 1254

Answer 1

Box springs used to actually have springs in them and would compress a bit. This provided a softer base for your coil spring mattress, so the mattress itself would last longer (the box spring would help absorb blows). Pretty rare to see that these days though…