Best Cooling Memory Foam Mattress for Hot Sleepers (2020)

People who sleep hot need breathable mattresses with cooling technologies to regulate their body’s temperature. Some mattress materials, like poly-foam and memory foam, will absorb body heat, causing the sleeper discomfort and sleep disruptions. Other materials, like cotton and gel memory foam, wick away heat and moisture, allowing for better sleep.

In this article, we recommend cooling mattresses and discuss why people overheat in their sleep. We will also explore how to select the best cooling mattress by looking for breathable materials and other cooling features.

Best Cooling Memory Foam Mattress for Hot Sleepers

1. Amerisleep AS3

The Amerisleep AS3 has a medium feel and 12-inch height. The mattress offers responsive pressure relief and contours to the body’s natural curves.

The cover is soft and wicks away heat to regulate body temperature.

The Bio-Pur® comfort layer is more breathable and responsive than traditional memory foam. It contours the body while relieving pressure points.

The Affinity layer with HIVE® technology is a 5-zone support system with hundreds of hexagonal-shaped cut-outs. It offers firm support to the head, back, and legs, while the shoulders and hips have a softer feel to alleviate pressure. Between the cut-outs, air can circulate, wicking away heat to make this mattress even cooler.

The final layer is a high-density Bio-Core® foam. It distributes weight across the sleep surface and deters sagging, prolonging the mattress’s lifespan.

Amerisleep offers a 20-year warranty, a 100-night sleep trial, free shipping, and free returns with every mattress purchase.

2. Zoma Mattress

The Zoma Mattress uses cutting edge technology and high-quality materials to boost sleep quality. The mattress is 11 inches tall and can bear up to 800 pounds.

The elastane-polyester cover stretches to increase air circulation through the mattress.

The first layer is 2 inches of gel memory foam with Triangulex™ technology, which keeps you sleeping cool. The foam is bouncy and contours closely to relieve pain and pressure.

The Triangulex™ technology is a 3-zone comfort system where the memory foam is solid in the middle, but segments into triangular-shaped cut-outs at the head and feet. The triangular-shaped cut-outs are spaced widely apart, so your legs and shoulders can sink into the materials—this alleviates pressure points and pain.

The second layer is 2 inches of latex-like Reactiv™ material, which relieves pressure by buffering between the comfort and support layers.

Below, 7 inches of Support+ foam prevents premature sagging, prolonging the mattress’s longevity.

The Zoma Mattress comes with a 10-year warranty, a 100-night sleep trial, free shipping, and free returns.

3. Vaya Mattress

The Vaya Mattress is 12 inches thick and can withstand up to 300 pounds. It’s made of hypoallergenic and CertiPUR-US® certified materials, making the Vaya Mattress an excellent option for allergy sufferers.

The rayon blend cover increases airflow through the mattress, encouraging temperature regulation.

The Vaya Foam comfort layer contours to the body and relieves pressure without becoming a heat trap. It’s both cushioning and responsive to offer comfort while keeping you lifted in healthy alignment.

The 9-inch high-density support layer prevents lasting indentations to extend the mattress’s lifespan.

The Vaya Mattress comes with a 10-year warranty, a 100-night sleep trial, free shipping, and free returns.

4. Muse Bed

The Muse Bed is 12 inches thick and comes in three firmnesses: soft, medium, firm. Muse combines cooling technology and gel memory foam to keep its mattress at room temperature.

The knit phase-change cover regulates your temperature for a good night’s sleep. The cover is also machine-washable.

The plush top layer conforms to the body, relieving pressure. The foam promotes airflow, decreasing the risk of night sweats.

Below, 2 inches of gel memory foam draws heat from your body while offering more conformability and pressure relief.

The transition layer is 2 inches of poly-foam, which reduces motion transfer and buffers between the soft comfort and firmer support layers.

The last layer—6 inches of polyurethane—prolongs the mattress’s longevity by deterring premature sagging.

Muse offers a 10-year warranty, a 120-night sleep trial, free shipping, and hassle-free returns.

5. Bear Mattress

The Bear Mattress fosters cooler and more comfortable sleep. This mattress has a 12-inch height and a medium firmness.

The Celliant® cover recycles body heat into infrared energy and increases local blood flow to promote cellular repair.

The graphite-gel foam wicks away heat while conforming to the body and alleviating pressure points.

Below, another gel memory foam layer wicks away body heat to keep you from overheating.

A transition layer of foam buffers between the comfort and support layers.

The high-density support layer deters sagging for a long-lasting mattress.

Bear offers a 100-night sleep trial, a 10-year warranty, and free shipping and returns.

6. Nest Bedding Alexander Signature Series® Flippable

The Nest Bedding Alexander Signature Series® Flippable features dual comfort sleep surfaces—a medium firmness on one side and a firm sleeping surface on the other—allowing you to choose your firmness.

The medium feel side of the mattress is encased with the breathable organic cotton cover. The Cotton cover is quilted into CoolFlow™ foam, which offers conformability and pressure relief.

The gel memory foam comfort layer wicks away heat while conforming to the body to alleviate pressure points and back pain.

Below, 2 inches of transition foam buffers between the comfort and support layers, preventing you from bottoming out on the high-density foam underneath.

The base foam is 7 inches thick and deters sagging to prolong the mattress’s lifespan.

On the other side of the high-density base layer, 1 inch of CoolFlow™ foam cushions sleepers who prefer a firmer mattress feel.

Nest offers a Lifetime Warranty and a 100-night sleep trial with their mattresses.

SEE ALSO: Mattress Size and Dimensions Guide

Reasons Why You Overheat While Sleeping

During sleep, your body emits heat. If you sleep with insulative materials, body heat can become trapped, causing you to overheat. You can avoid overheating if you sleep with breathable materials and fewer layers.

Why Do Mattresses Become Hot?

Two factors impact a mattress’s ability to circulate air and keep the sleeper cool: the mattress’s firmness and the sleeper’s body weight.

Firmness

Firmness refers to how soft or firm the mattress’s sleep surface feels. We rate bed firmness as soft, medium-soft, medium, medium-firm, or firm. Choosing the right firmness can improve your sleep quality; however, it’s not an exact science. Your personal preferences and sleep position can help you estimate which firmness level is best for you.

• Side sleepers need a soft, medium-soft, or medium mattress to alleviate pressure points and avoid chronic pain.
• Back sleepers need a medium to medium-firm mattress to maintain spinal alignment.
• Stomach sleepers need a medium-firm to firm mattress to limit back stress and encourage correct spinal alignment.

When soft mattresses compress, air circulation is cut off, leaving heat to build up. Firm mattresses don’t conform as deeply as soft beds, so air can travel through the mattress and wick away heat more easily than soft beds.

Body Type

Heavier people emit more body heat and place more pressure on a bed’s surface than lighter people. The further an individual sinks into the mattress, the more materials wrap around the body, increasing the risk of trapping heat. Plus-size people also use more energy than smaller people to move, increasing body temperature.

What is a Cooling Memory Foam Mattress?

A cooling memory foam mattress actively cools you down by pulling heat from your body,  encouraging airflow, or both.

Some manufacturers incorporate materials to wick away heat from the sleeper. Other mattresses contain materials to promote air circulation.

• Aerated foams have small holes built into the foam to promote air circulation and wick away heat.
• Cooling gel, copper, graphite, and titanium are conductive materials often infused with memory foam. Conductive materials pull heat from the body, allowing people to sleep cool.

The best mattresses contain both special textiles and conductive infusions to encourage enough airflow to offer a very cool sleeping experience.

Cooling Mattress Materials

Some mattress types are cooler than others. Cool mattresses are made with breathable material or technologies, while hot mattresses tend to retain body heat.

Memory Foam Mattress

A memory foam mattress is generally made with a memory foam comfort layer, poly-foam transition layer, and poly-foam support layer. Memory foam has a porous structure, so air can circulate through the foam particles. Mattress companies aerate memory foam to increase air circulation. Other times, mattress manufacturers add conductive material infusions to pull heat from the sleeper.

If you overheat during sleep, you may consider including aerated foams and conductive materials in your new mattress.

Hybrid Mattress

Hybrid mattresses are constructed with pocketed coil systems and at least 2 inches of memory or latex. This type of mattress relieves pressure by conforming to your body. Hybrids also isolate motion, so you can get out of bed without disturbing your sleep partner.

Pocketed coils are coils wrapped in fabric. The support system has space between the coils, allowing air to circulate through the mattress and wicking away heat; however, thick transition and comfort layers may decrease the mattress’s breathability.

Innerspring Mattress

Innerspring beds, or traditional mattresses, have coil support systems. Some innerspring mattresses are built with Euro or pillow tops—these extra comfort layers can increase heat retention if made with non-breathable materials. Look for natural fibers if you want a breathable pillow top.

Latex Mattress

There are several types of latex: natural, blended, synthetic.

Natural latex is manufactured in one of two ways. The Dunlop process produces a dense, firm latex foam with antimicrobial and hypoallergenic properties. Talalay latex also has antimicrobial and hypoallergenic properties; however, the Talalay process produces a light and springy latex.

Synthetic latex is made with a chemical compound to mimic latex properties. Synthetic latex is hypoallergenic and safe for latex allergy sufferers but does not have antimicrobial qualities. We don’t recommend buying latex mattresses with synthetic latex as the material may contain chemical additives. If you decide to buy a synthetic latex mattress, make sure the materials are CertiPUR-US® certified.

Blended latex is a combination of natural and synthetic latex. It has some antimicrobial properties.

Latex is a breathable material. Its porous structure allows air to flow through the foam instead of trapping heat.

The Mattress Cover

Thick, quilted, or non-breathable covers insulate the mattress, raising the risk of heat retention. A thin, breathable mattress cover keeps you cool by increasing air circulation through the mattress.

Phase-change materials: Phase-change materials are cool-to-the-touch. The material absorbs body heat and then releases it when your body becomes cold, allowing your body temperature to remain consistent.

Breathable fabrics: Covers made from breathable materials increase the mattress’s ability to circulate air. Many online mattress brands use covers made from Lycra®, bamboo, cotton, Tencel®, and performance polyester as these materials encourage airflow.

Non-quilted covers: Quilted covers retain heat because the material is compressed together. Non-quilted cover encourages airflow through the material, which increases the mattress’s ability to keep the sleeper cool.

Bedding Accessories

If you don’t have the budget to buy a new mattress with cooling features, there are other ways to decrease heat retention in your mattress.

Bed Sheets

Just like the mattress cover, non-breathable bed sheets can trap heat. We suggest using a set of natural fiber bed sheets as these materials are more breathable than man-made fabrics.

Bed sheets made with long-staple cotton and linen threads are very cool. Tencel® and bamboo are cool to the touch, making them great cooling options.

Synthetic fibers are not as breathable as natural fibers. Synthetic bed sheets insulate warm temperatures and prevent air from circulating, so they’re a bad choice for hot sleepers.

Gel Mattress Toppers

If your mattress is hot, you can try a gel memory foam topper. A gel memory foam topper acts as a cooling barrier between you and the mattress. The gel infusion wicks away body heat, so your temperature remains constant.

If you’re experiencing joint or muscle soreness, you may also consider a topper to adjust your mattress’s firmness. You can make a firm mattress softer or a soft bed firmer.

Cooling Pillows

Pillows can retain heat if they don’t contain breathable or cooling materials.

Loose-fill pillows (feather, down, shredded memory foam, and buckwheat) encourage air circulation to cut down on heat retention; however, if you want a solid memory foam or latex pillow, we recommend aerated foams or conductive material infusions to keep a cool head.

Other Things to Consider

Do memory foam mattresses sleep hot?

According to Sleep Like the Dead, only 8 percent of memory foam mattress owners say they overheat on their memory foam mattress. If you’re considering a new memory foam mattress, look for cooling technologies and aerated foam to ensure undisturbed sleep.

Can you flip a memory foam mattress?

You should not have to flip a memory foam mattress, although it may need rotating. See the manufacturer’s care tag to learn how to care for your mattress correctly.

How do you cool down a memory foam mattress?

Even if your mattress doesn’t contain any cooling technologies, there are still ways to get cooler sleep. We suggest adding a cooling mattress topper to serve as a breathable layer between your body and the bed. We also recommend buying breathable sheets, like cotton or Tencel®, to prevent heat from being trapped within your bedding.

Lastly, turning down the thermostat helps, too. If you prefer your home or apartment to be warmer during the day, just crank the heat down at night to enjoy cooler sleep until morning. Then, you can adjust the thermostat back in the AM.

What mattress is best for hot sleepers?

There are plenty of mattresses designed for hot sleepers, but many of the best mattresses for hot sleepers contain both cooling technologies (i.e. cooling gels, latex, or plant-based foams) and aerated channels to promote better airflow. Foam beds with these channels are a good option, or hybrids with an open pocketed coil system are great, too. Don’t forget to check the materials of a mattress’s cover, too. Look for breathable fabrics like cotton and avoid synthetics like microfiber.

Why does my mattress get so hot?

Most people struggle with foam mattresses retaining heat, while beds with coils generally have better airflow. Foam mattresses can become a heat trap because they absorb your body heat throughout the night and, if this body heat cannot escape the bed, it’s reflected back at you.

Conclusion

The best cooling mattress for hot sleepers is constructed with materials that both encourage airflow and pull heat from the sleeper. Look for memory foam mattresses with air passages or conductive materials. If you have a memory foam mattress that sleeps hot, try placing a gel memory foam topper on top to create a breathable barrier between you and the bed.