Best Cooling Mattresses for Hot Sleepers — Tested by Experts

Our CNET Sleep editors have hundreds of mattress testing hours on their resumes; they know the beds that shine and those that are underwhelming. With so many to test and so few spots on our list, we can’t showcase every quality cooling mattress, but we want to give a few more beds the honorable mention they deserve. 

Purple mattress: The original Purple mattress uses a Hyper-Elastic Gel Polymer grid that has a ton of air pockets. It’s one of the best materials for not retaining heat. We rate it around a medium or five out of 10 on the firmness scale. 

Loom & Leaf mattress: With two firmness levels that sit toward the firm end of the spectrum (medium-firm and firm) and a special cooling gel layer, Loom & Leaf is a great mattress to help with temperature regulation. You sit more on top of the mattress rather than inside, and the cooling gel is actually effective. 

WinkBeds EcoCloud mattress: WinkBeds doesn’t actively cool you, but it’s made with a breathable, non-heat-retaining latex foam material and pocketed coils. This allows for increased airflow, breathability and comfort. Not to mention, latex beds are hypoallergenic and antimicrobial.

Nectar Premier/Premier Copper mattress: These are Nectar’s premium mattresses, made with gel-infused memory foam inside and a cooling cover that helps wick away moisture. The Copper model takes it a step further with added copper fibers that help absorb heat from your body and disperse it throughout the bed. They’re rated around a six to seven on the firmness scale, so you don’t sink into the foam as much. 

Saatva mattress: Saatva is a pillow-top mattress that contains breathable materials and offers firm profiles that help you rest more comfortably at night if you’re a hot sleeper. It’s a luxury mattress available in two different heights and three different firmness levels. That means it can accommodate all body types and most sleeping positions unless you’re a strict side sleeper who wants a plush and fluffy mattress. 

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When we test mattresses, we have an established process that assesses key factors like firmness, feel and performance. We test how strong the edge of the bed is by sitting and lying on the edge. We test motion transfer by rolling across the mattress with a glass of water by the edge. These are things we do for all the beds we test. The best cooling mattresses have a unique testing process. We dive further into the bed’s construction, paying attention to each layer contributing to the cooling process. Read more on how we test mattresses.

Firmness and feel

Firmness and feel are the two main factors that help people decide which mattress to buy. Firmness is how hard or soft the bed is, which relates to your sleeping position. The feel of the mattress describes the sensation while you sleep on it. Does it give you that stuck-in-the-mud feeling that traditional memory foam does? Is it bouncy like latex foam? We evaluate and note the firmness and feel of each mattress we test. 

Cooling technology 

We test the beds to see if they feel cold and look for any specific cooling technology features. We get really hands-on during the process. The last test is actually sleeping on the mattress and using our experience as a guide. Did we sleep hot during the night? How good was the cooling bed at preventing heat retention? We have been known to pull out the thermometer gun, but have found that the best test is having one or two people see how hot it sleeps themselves. 

Many brands will advertise a “cooling bed” that is really just a standard mattress with a mattress pad or cooling gel topper, which might not be enough to provide real relief for hot sleepers. It can be tricky to distinguish between these “cooling” beds and a true cooling mattress if you’re not careful. Be sure to look out for misleading marketing language, and keep a lookout for these different cooling technologies that seem to actually work. 

Cooling cover

Some of the best mattresses I’ve tested have a cool-to-the-touch cover that relieves warmth upon contact. Some brands might call their organic cotton cover cooling, but it won’t exactly do the trick. Instead, look for covers with phase-change material or icy technology.

A cooling layer in the mattress

Rather than just copper-infused foam or gel-infused foam, look for a dedicated cooling layer in a mattress thats sole purpose is to offer relief. If a mattress has a cooling layer and a cooling cover, it’s even better. 

Breathable materials

Other cooling bed models like the Purple are good at what they do because they don’t retain heat in the first place. Beds with latex foam, springs and hyper-elastic polymer offer a cooler sleeping experience than typical foam mattresses and fit the bill for the best cooling mattresses. 

Pair your cooling bed with new accessories that will work to help keep you cooler as you sleep through the night.

• Cooling sheets are made with light and breathable materials that wick away moisture from night sweats better than other warmer-sleeping sheets like flannel, polyester and satin. 
• Cooling pillows use breathable materials for cooler sleep, and some, like the GhostPillow, incorporate a phase-change material to physically feel cool to the touch.
• Cooling mattress toppers work like temperature-regulating foam in that they have materials that absorb body heat and disperse it throughout the mattress.