Best Cooling Mattress

Posted on Friday, November 05, 2021

To keep this site free for consumers, we receive compensation for customer referrals.


Whether you live in a perpetually warm climate, are suffering through hot flashes, or tend to be a heavy sweater while you sleep, cooling mattresses can be a great investment. People sleep better when they’re cooler, according to researchers. An ideal sleeping temperature is between 60 to 70 degrees, but unfortunately, it’s not always possible to keep your bedroom that cool.

When you want to stay chilly enough while sleeping but don’t want to crank the air conditioning, a cooling mattress can help. It can be a year-round solution for comfortable sleeping.

woman feeling hot at night

What is a Cooling Mattress?

This type of mattress uses cooling technology to transfer heat away from your body. By drawing hot air away, you won’t feel as warm as you normally would while sleeping.

Does this mean you’ll feel like you’re sleeping in a 65-degree room when it’s 95 degrees and you don’t have the air conditioning running? No, but the features on a cooling mattress can give you some relief.

They help you feel chillier when you crawl into bed and as you sleep by using a variety of technologies including:

  • Cool-touch materials: Certain fabrics or materials, such as a phase change material, can draw heat away from you on contact for a quick cooling feel.
  • Breathability: Cooling mattresses focus on breathable construction, allowing more natural airflow to stop you from feeling so hot.
  • Gel features: Cooling gel is used for certain pillows and mattresses. That chilly-feeling gel can take the edge off of the heat you feel as you sleep.
  • Plug-in features: Although these are higher maintenance and do require electricity to operate, some mattresses use pumped air or cool water continuously cycling through a mattress for even more of a cooling sensation.

For a mattress to be considered cooling, it should have one or more of these features.

When choosing a cooling mattress, you should pay attention to the material that’s used, the construction of the mattress, and how thick it is. You need to focus on the total package – not just the cooling features. Remember, you’ll be sleeping on this mattress every night for years, so comfort matters.

hand pushing down on a mattress

More Cooling Tips

Avoiding that hot, sweaty feeling when you sleep isn’t just about the mattress you choose. While that’s an important piece of the puzzle, you can do other things that will add to the cooling effect you’ll get with the right mattress.

Use cooling sheets

Breathability doesn’t just matter for mattresses. Your sheets should also let airflow circulate and wick away moisture. Great fabric choices for breathability include eucalyptus, bamboo, silk, and cotton.

Turn on a fan

Many people don’t relish the high bill they’d get from running their air conditioning low enough to make their room a comfortable sleeping temperature. A fan can help with that by circulating the air, and as a bonus, it will produce white noise that may help you sleep.

Keep your shades closed

It’s a good idea to keep your bedroom shades closed during the day, especially in the summer, so all that sunshine doesn’t stream in. Heat from the sun can make your bedroom hotter, which may make it harder for you to sleep well.

closed blinds

4 Great Cooling Mattresses

If you’re looking for a cooling mattress but are feeling overwhelmed by the choices, here are some top brands to consider.

Puffy

Puffy mattresses are a wonderful choice for those looking to cool down while they sleep. One of their models, the Puffy Original Mattress, uses a five-layer sleep system that focuses on cooling, support, and comfort. Part of that system employs Cooling Cloud foam to beat the heat.

It uses a cooling gel cloud layer that is breathable and helps with temperature control. You’ll get that instant cooling feeling when you climb into bed. And the mattress won’t absorb your heat, meaning you’ll feel colder all night.

Puffy has other cooling models to consider as well – the Puffy Lux mattress and Puffy Royal mattress.

Saatva

Another mattress that offers cooling along with a hybrid memory foam and coil construction is Saatva’s Classic mattress. It’s an excellent alternative for those who aren’t a fan of cooling gels. It uses naturally breathable organic cotton for a natural cool feeling.

Cocoon

Technology is put to work with Cocoon's Chill Memory Foam mattress. The stretch-knit cover uses a phase change material that sucks away your heat and dissipates it, so you get that soothing cooling sensation.

Nectar

Those who want to try eucalyptus for its cooling potential might like Nectar’s Memory Foam mattress. It uses a cooling Tencel cover. For those of you who aren’t sure what Tencel is, it’s made of eucalyptus trees, which gives it a superior cooling feeling.

The Nectar mattress also features a gel memory foam which helps with heat absorption.

refreshed woman

Stay Cool

Beating the heat while you sleep will help you rest more soundly and comfortably. By looking for cooling features like the right materials, fabrics, technology, and construction while mattress shopping, you’ll stay cool at night and feel refreshed in the morning.