The Best Cooling Mattress – Cool, Crisp, and Comfortable

The best cooling mattresses on the market right now are routinely changing people’s lives for the better. A good night of sleep on a cool mattress can take your morning routine from a struggle to reanimate yourself to a hyper-charged, seize-the-day mentality. Temper-Pedic cooling mattresses and memory foam cooling mattresses have been around for quite some time; both feature air cool mattress technology, but the market is expanding, and there are so many options these days!

Whether you’re looking for the best mattress for hot sleepers, the best mattress for hot side sleepers, or just a cool gel mattress, a good cooling bed can make all the difference in the world. Being big fans of a good night of sleep ourselves, we spent the better part of a day researching temperature control mattress options and building a list of the best cooling mattresses available. Let’s take a closer look at the coolest sleeping mattress options!

The Best Cooling Mattress

Zinus 12 Inch Gel-Infused Foam Mattress (BEST CHOICE)

Zinus has not been in the mattress making game as long as some of its competitors but seems dedicated to creating sustainable and comfortable sleep accessories. This 12 Inch Gel-Infused Green Team Memory Foam Mattress ships directly to your house in an airtight box. Once it arrives, slice the vacuum-sealed bag open, and the bed unfurls itself slowly in your bedroom.

Once you’ve got it set up, Zinus thinks you’ll really like the inclusion of green tea, which scents the bed. A 2-inch layer of gel-infused memory foam sits on the top of the foam stack, which helps wick away body heat and keep you cool. Below is 3 inches of regular comfort foam, sitting on top of 7 inches of high-density base foam. This triple foam combo promises a cool night sleep and enough fluff to avoid pressure points, ensuring you’re not tossing and turning all night.

You may also be interested in these top online hybrid mattresses from our list. Don’t miss them.

Purchase

TUFT & NEEDLE – Original Queen Adaptive Foam Mattress

With over a million mattresses sold in the US, Tuft & Needle is a major player in the direct to consumer mattress market. Their Original Queen Adaptive Foam Mattress features the CertiPUR-US seal of approval. This certification means you can feel good about your purchase knowing an independent non-profit has certified your bed as constructed without foam made of ozone depleters.

Built into the Original Queen is T&N Adaptive foam, which is not only quite comfortable, per Amazon reviews, but keeps you cool throughout the night. The foam in this mattress integrates heat-wicking graphite and cooling gel foam to pull heat away from your body. Additionally, if you aren’t over-the-moon happy about your new mattress, Tuft & Needle offer a 100-night trial with question-free returns.

For more amazing products for a good night’s sleep, check out these top-rated mattresses for athletes.

Classic Brands Cool Gel 14-Inch Foam Mattress

Classic Brands Cool Gel 1.0 Ultimate Gel Memory Foam 14-Inch Mattress is a great option for someone new to the world of memory foam. This dense, cooling memory foam mattress features a combination of gel foam and regular foam layered on top of each other to deliver a comfortable sleep. Classic Brands rates this mattress’s density as “Medium Plush,” but several reviewers commented that this is indeed a very dense bed. If you’re on the bigger side or just like a firm mattress, this one’s perfect for you.

Additionally, Classic Brands created foam pillows to compliment the bed, and they’ll give you two for free. Like many of the beds on our list, the Cool Gel 1.0 Ultimate Memory Foam 14-Inch Mattress ships in a vacuum-sealed bag.

Novilla 12 Inch Queen Size Mattress

Novilla is known for its hybrid foam mattresses shipped directly to your doorstep. Their 12-inch Gel Memory Foam Mattress keeps you cool and avoids painful pressure points. They put the firmness at a medium, and many reviews on Amazon confirm that. So if you like a little squish in your bed, this might be the one for you.

Novilla’s construction on this mattress utilizes a lot of different foam technology. The base is a 4-inch super dense foam for a foundation, topped by a 4-inches of air circulating foam, which looks like crocodile teeth. One layer up from that is 2-inches of their Smart Airflow low-density foam, and the closest layer to your body is a gel memory foam. Wrapping the top of the mattress is Novilla’s Bamboo Rayon Fiber material, enhancing breathability and soft touch.

If you want to purchase online without any risk, be sure to browse our list of the best mail order mattresses.

Sleep Innovations Marley Queen Cooling Gel Mattress

Almost 20 years ago, Sleep Innovations brought the first gel memory foam mattress to market, praised as an incredible development in sleep technology. Later, they would introduce the mattress-in-a-box and completely revolutionized the shipping of beds and bed accessories. Their Marley Queen 12 Inch Cooling Gel Memory Foam Mattress is the flagship of their lineup and comes in sizes ranging from twin to California king.

You can be confident with Sleep Innovations that you are buying from a reputable brand with a long history in the mattress business. Their Marley mattress features three layers of foam with a gel top. Below the gel is a wavey foam that has built-in channels for air circulation. The base is a thick and dense 7-inches of foam to keep the bed stiff. With an excellent reputation, solid innovation, and a great price, the Marley by Sleep Innovations is a great choice.

Classic Brands Cool Gel Ventilated Memory Foam Mattress

Classic Brands introduced Cool Gel to the market way back in 2009, and since then, tens of thousands of people have enjoyed the benefits of the technology. This Ventilated Memory Foam 12-Inch Mattress is on the wallet-friendly side of the Classic Brands lineup and comes in sizes from twin all the way up to the monster California King.

The Cool Gel mattress features infused memory foam designed to disperse heat and create a cooler sleeping surface. Classic Brands have also gone to great lengths in finding the right blend of foam layers to ensure this medium-firm bed keeps you from accumulating too much pressure in one spot. Additionally, to all of these great features, this particular model is also adjustable base-friendly, so if your bed can tilt, this mattress has you covered.

Our guide to the best-selling mattresses for sex offers more amazing options for your home. Take a moment to check them out.

LUCID 10 Inch Gel Memory Foam Mattress

LUCID’s 10-Inch 2020 Gel Memory Foam Mattress is another big value buy on this list. With a 3-inch thick cooling foam at the top of the filling, this bed has the largest gel foam on the list. The bed base has infused bamboo and charcoal into the foam to mitigate odor and keep your bed smelling fresh for years. This mattress is also compatible with adjustable bed frames.

With the firmness of this mattress rated all the way on the plush side, this is a great option for side sleepers that suffer from pressure points.

If you wish to save some space in your home, be sure to invest in a quality folding mattress from our list.

Molblly 10 Inch Cooling-Gel Memory Foam Mattress

Molblly’s 10-Inch Cooling-Gel Memory Foam Mattress is a breathable, supportive sleeper for two. These mattresses are composed of three layers of foam, including a memory foam layer, a comfort foam layer, and a high-density base. With the 2-inch memory foam up top, this mattress may not lend as much cooling to the sleeper as others with thicker top layers. However, Molblly rates this a “medium” in their plush scale, so if you don’t do a lot of turning at night, this mattress should keep you relatively cool and comfortable.

Like all other mattresses on this list, the Molblly models ship in a box with a vacuum-sealed bag inside. The manufacturer offers a 10-year warranty, and they say that if you’re unsatisfied with your purchase, you can contact them at any time.

You may also like some of these cool mattresses for platform beds from our list. Be sure to pick the right one for your home.

AmazonBasics Cooling Gel Infused Latex-Feel Mattress

AmazonBasics always seems to make our list; their products are hand-selected for quality, durability, and price. Their Cooling Gel Infused Latex-Free Mattress is a favorite among the hundreds of people who have reviewed it after purchase. This particular bed only comes in a twin, and the density is firm, so probably best for one smaller sleeper who doesn’t sleep on their side.

With a 10-Year limited warranty and the fact that it comes from Amazon directly, you can be certain that this is a quality buy.

Our guide to the best air mattresses for camping offers some amazing products that provide outdoor comfort. Check them out and pick the right one for your next camping trip.

Novilla 12 Inch Vitality Gel Queen Mattress

The Novilla company is known for premium manufacturing and excellent customer service. Their 12 Inch Vitality Gel Memory Foam Hybrid Mattress makes our list thanks to its multi-layered filling, hybrid design, and edge support. This mattress comprises five layers of comfort, starting with high-density foam wrapped around individual springs. A thin comfort layer of foam sits on top of that and sandwiched between this, and the top Bamboo Rayon layer is Gel Infused Memory Foam designed for cooling.

Edge support on this bed implies that the mattress’s exterior is slightly firmer, making it that much harder to fall out of bed. Each mattress is sold with a 10-year limited warranty and offers a 30-day return policy if you aren’t happy with the product.

Cooling Mattress Buying Guide & FAQ

Features to Look for in Cooling Mattresses

Material – In the early 2000s, memory foam became a hot topic in the sleep business. Mattresses began to emerge with unusual characteristics, and at first experience, felt amazing. The emphasis on new mattress fillings became an obsession of the sleep industry and numerous interior concepts designed to keep sleepers comfortable long into the night. With all of this space-age technology came a new host of sleeping challenges, namely temperature regulation.

In this era, the first mattress was primarily dense foam that had a unique feel. The problem with this design was that the foam’s cells (interior pockets) were too tight, and as heat radiated off the sleeper, the energy didn’t make its way away from the body. As memory foam evolved, the race to find foam blends with large pockets was on. The next evolution was to cut strategic slits in the foam that would allow airflow and channels to allow the good stuff in and the bad stuff out. This contour method also allowed for the foam to have more density in certain areas where a sleeper might be heavy, like their hips.

Reticulated foam was eventually adopted into most beds, even the ones you see on the market today. This Swiss cheese-like structure of foam was traditionally found in outdoor patio furniture, stereo systems, and air filtration systems.

Latex eventually entered the cooling mattress scene and, like foam, primarily creates pocketed layers of soft material. Many manufacturers will utilize a layer of foam and Latex to create more venting and cushion for the sleeper. However, some consumers aren’t amenable to the Latex concept, especially because a new mattress can “off-gas” for a while after out of the box.

Gels and gel foams have become a staple in the cooling mattress business, as well. Gels and gel foams are higher density and warm slower than a traditional all-foam mattress. Adding a gel layer to the top of a traditional memory foam mattress will give the sleeper the feel of a cool bed. However, it’s hotly debated whether this combination of technologies nets a cooler sleep throughout the night, or just initially. One benefit of gel that is unrelated to heat absorption is that it can help people avoid pressure sores. This design is a big reason you see more gel beds in hospitals than other fillers.

Mattress Type – Cooling mattresses are delineated by their construction material. Foam, gel, latex, and gel foams all make up the most common construction for cooling mattresses. Foam mattresses have been around the longest and are the most widely available, which also means you’re going to find a great price. Gel foam came on the scene next and have also been around quite some time; many of the ads you see online for foam mattresses are actually a gel foam hybrid. Latex and gels entered the cooling foam mattress world last and are some of the more premium options, but many sleepers swear by them as the best option for keeping cool at night.

Firmness – How firm your bed feels under your body can play a major role in your comfort, and it can even play a role in your temperature regulation. If you turn over a lot due to pressure from firmness, your body is naturally going to create more heat simply from the exertion. The best way to determine your preferred mattress density would be to visit a mattress store and test drive a few models to help you evaluate and make a more informed purchasing decision.

Temperature Regulation – One of the most cost-efficient and effective ways to regulate your temperature while you’re sleeping would be your sheet and comforter combination. There are a lot of great fabrics on the market now designed specifically to help people stay cool while under the sheets. Combine this strategy with a great cooling mattress, and you’ll be cool as a cucumber even through the warmer months.

Cooling Mattress  FAQ

Why do we get hot while sleeping?

Your body temperature changes often throughout a 24-hour period. This phase change occurs both naturally, without external input, and as a result of your heart rate elevating, stepping into a room that is too hot, and many other factors. As the sun sets and you begin to wind down for the day, your body temperature will naturally lower as you get ready for sleep. Naturally, as you begin to wake up, your body temperature comes up.

Can your mattress cause night sweats?

Contrary to popular opinion, the Night Sweats aren’t just an incredible band ensemble backing Nathaniel Rateliff. Sometimes your mattress material can cause unnecessary heating throughout the wee hours of the night. The early models of memory foam were particularly bad in terms of breathability. Most modern mattresses have addressed this issue, but if you’ve got a bed that is a little long in the tooth, you might consider replacing it for this very reason.

What is a cooling mattress?

Cooling mattresses ensure that the sleeper stays cool throughout the evening. These mattresses create a heat transfer environment through various sleeping technologies that allow the sleeper’s natural body temperature to migrate away from their body, ensuring the temp doesn’t rise too dramatically. Some cooling mattresses use foam with large cells that trap heat away from the sleeper, and others have integrated channels cut into the filling of the mattress, ensuring that the airflow has a clear exit when things start to heat up.

Do cooling mattresses really work?

Yes and no. Many cooling mattresses use gimmicks to make the sleeper feel as if he or she is cooler when they first lay down, which allows them to fall asleep, but the bed warms back up later in the evening. Some mattresses have effective channels that allow airflow in and out of the bed, but the total net cooling effect of the bed is really dependent on how much heat the person is producing and whether the ambient temperature in the room is low enough to allow heat transfer to happen properly. A great cooling mattress, in a cool room, without a ton of blankets that trap heat, is the best-case scenario for someone trying to stay cool. Consider all the factors playing into your sleep situation for best results.

Sources:

What Happens to Your Body When You Sleep? – WebMD