Credit:
Reviewed / Betsy Goldwasser
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Credit:
Reviewed / Betsy Goldwasser
Reviewed's mission is to help you buy the best stuff and get the most out of what you already own. Our team of product experts thoroughly vet every product we recommend to help you cut through the clutter and find what you need.
Learn more about our product testing
The GhostBed Luxe has the best cooling properties that we've tested to date—if you sleep hot and like a firm mattress, snap this one up. Read More
The Lull Original has a firm sleep surface, great edge support, and sleeps cool—all around, it's a great option for most. Read More
The Purple Mattress lives up to some of the marketing hype—it's cool and supportive. The only thing it really lacks is adequate edge support. Read More
Bear Hybrid combines layers of foam and coil to create a sturdy but soft mattress that diffuses heat well but may not isolate motion from a partner. Read More
The Nectar Mattress is a good quality mattress that doesn’t hold onto heat and is pleasant to sleep on, but some will find it’s too soft. Read More
Many factors contribute to how warm or cold you sleep, from whether you’re running air conditioning or fans to the type of comforters or bed sheets you’re using. But one of the most important things to consider if you sleep hot is what type of mattress you’re sleeping on. With so many mattress companies claiming their beds help with temperature regulation, it can be difficult to cut through the advertising to find one that actually helps you sleep comfortably.
With that in mind, we tested popular mattresses to see which ones will keep you coolest. Our winner, the GhostBed Luxe (available at GhostBed) , impressed us with the best scores we’ve seen on our lab’s heat-dispersal tests. In addition to feeling firm and supportive, it isolated motion (from, say, a restless partner) exceptionally well.
The Best Cooling Mattresses for Hot Sleepers of 2023 Many factors contribute to how warm or cold you sleep, from whether you’re running air conditioning or fans to the type of comforters or bed sheets you’re using. But one of the most important things to consider if you sleep hot is what type of mattress you’re sleeping on. With so many mattress companies claiming their beds help with temperature regulation, it can be difficult to cut through the advertising to find one that actually helps you sleep comfortably.
With that in mind, we tested popular mattresses to see which ones will keep you coolest. Our winner, the GhostBed Luxe (available at GhostBed) , impressed us with the best scores we’ve seen on our lab’s heat-dispersal tests. In addition to feeling firm and supportive, it isolated motion (from, say, a restless partner) exceptionally well.
The Lull Original is surprisingly firm and provides great edge support for an all-foam mattress.
Comfortable
Cool
Noticeable motion transfer
Potential durability concerns
Cradles body
Stays cool
May be good for side sleepers
May be too soft
Felt warm at times
Limited edge support
Good balance of support
Good edge support
Doesn't sleep hot
Took a long time to expand
Some untidy stitching
Affordable
Great motion isolation
Excellent cooling
Iffy edge support
Firm
Not as hot as some foam mattresses
Poor motion isolation
Feels cheap
It's surface is soft
It has good edge support
It smells after opening
Not as cooling as claimed
We subject every mattress we write about at Reviewed to standardized tests in our Cambridge, Massachusetts lab. Our scientists have developed tests for a range of criteria, from motion isolation to edge support to, yes, how well they disperse heat.
We curated this list based on heat diffusion data from our lab tests, while also taking care to incorporate other important factors to ensure a comfortable night’s rest.
We use a barbell in lab tests to assess how well a mattress does (or doesn't) curve up under pressure.
Mattress testing—like mattress shopping—is no small undertaking. Several Reviewed writers, editors, and scientists contributed to this testing.
I’m Chris, Reviewed’s mattress writer, and I was charged with selecting the products that performed best in the cooling tests to pull together these recommendations. I love nerding out about mattresses. In fact, before I started at Reviewed, I tested 10 mattresses before I actually purchased one for my home. Others at Reviewed have tested mattresses over the years, but some recent testers include Sara Tabin and Lindsay Vickers.
At our lab, mattress tests are created and supervised by Reviewed’s chief scientist Dave Ellerby. “To test how well a mattress diffuses heat, we warm silicon heating pads to body temperature and place them on the mattress under a cozy blanket,” Ellerby says. “Temperature loggers placed under the heated pads measure how quickly they cool down.”
This helps replicate how our bodies might release heat throughout the night. It gives us an idea of how that heat makes contact with our mattress, and how it spreads throughout the surrounding area. “The faster the pads lose heat, the better the mattress is at moving heat away from your body and keeping you cool,” he says.
Cooling attributes aren’t the only measure of a good bed, so we also factored in the scores on our litany of lab tests to give a full picture of how well each mattress works.
The surface of the Lull Original could prove too firm for some.
It’s well known that temperature plays a role in sleep quality, and for most people, cooler is better. If you know you sleep hot, it can be a rude awakening to find out that the mattress you just purchased contributes to the problem.
A mattress’s ability to diffuse heat often comes down to the material it’s made of. Traditional innerspring mattresses typically sleep coolest, because there’s plenty of breathing room around the coils to allow heat to dissipate.
Foam mattresses compress well for shipping, putting them at the heart of the mattress-in-a-box world. Unfortunately, foam is too dense to really allow much air circulation. Foam is also known for conforming to your body, and while that can be great for pressure relief, it may also mean even more of your body heat gets trapped against your skin.
There are two main ways to alleviate this. Foam mattress manufacturers often include a cooling layer to help prevent overheating. Those layers may consist of gel beads or pods that absorb heat and draw it away from the sleeper.
The other big option is a hybrid mattress, which combines foam and innerspring layers. This gives you the cradling effect of a foam mattress alongside the cooling benefits of an innerspring.
Of course, no single material or combination of materials is going to guarantee cooler sleep. That’s why it’s so important to us at Reviewed to actually test each mattress’ cooling capabilities.
Another thing to consider: We recommend using a mattress protector to preserve your mattress’ longevity and reduce the dust and mites that can contribute to allergies. However, using one (or even using a mattress topper for comfort) may interfere with any cooling properties of the mattress itself.
Chris Panella is a staff writer covering sleep, style, and other lifestyle areas. Previous bylines include The Daily Beast, Film Cred, Film Daze, and The Tufts Daily.
Our team is here for one purpose: to help you buy the best stuff and love what you own. Our writers, editors, and lab technicians obsess over the products we cover to make sure you're confident and satisfied. Have a different opinion about something we recommend? Email us and we'll compare notes.
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