The Best Mattresses for Hot Sleepers

According to experts, each one of us produces about 26 gallons of sweat in bed each year — and if you tend to be a hot sleeper, that might be a conservative estimate. Even if you keep your bedroom between the recommended 65 and 72 degrees Fahrenheit, our bodies are set permanently to 98.6 degrees.

If the mattress you have now feels like it’s trapping your body heat (or turning it into an inferno), it’s time to swap that old model for one designed for better air circulation and breathability. Your sleep is golden, and any mattress that doesn’t help you keep your cool the whole night through is stealing from your sleep bank.

We’ll help you understand how your mattress can help alleviate those hot, sleepless nights and tell you about our favorite (and most affordable) mattresses for the job.

How do materials affect mattress temperature?

Mattress construction — in essence, the materials that make up your mattress — is the biggest factor determining whether it sleeps cool and whether you’ll sleep cool on it.

There are two big factors to consider in material construction: first, breathability; second, heat conductivity and retention.

The more breathable your mattress materials, the better your mattress will be at allowing air in, out, and away from your body. As for conductivity and retention, these are measurements of whether your materials absorb and keep heat, or whether they dissipate heat and help it to move on (and away from your body).

An important thing to remember is that how hot or cool you feel on your mattress can also be impacted by the mattress cover or pillow topper you use, the sheets and bedding you use, and the clothes (if any) that you sleep in. So if you buy a mattress that claims to sleep cool and then add a down pillow topper, you’re going to negate the benefits of that mattress’s cooling technology.

What materials should hot sleepers look for in a mattress?

Let’s examine the materials found in most online mattresses, and find out what makes them good (or less good) for hot sleepers.

Innerspring

Since “traditional” innerspring coils are thin, there’s a lot of air that can circulate between each coil, even if those coils are wrapped with fabric. And since coils are made of steel, they’re not great at absorbing or retaining body heat—a good thing—and are great at transferring it away from you. The best innerspring mattresses for hot sleepers are those with individually-wrapped coils.

Note: many modern mattresses, even those with inner springs, also contain a memory foam top layer. If two or more inches of memory foam are in an innerspring mattress, it’s considered a “memory foam hybrid.”

Latex

A latex mattress will generally keep you cool thanks to aeration—the tiny air holes punched into the material. Natural latex (made from rubber-tree sap) has greater cooling properties than most synthetic products, which might not have the same breathability and aeration properties. But even synthetic latex isn’t known to absorb heat, unless (like above) it’s combined with memory or poly foam.

Gel-Infused Foam

Infused with tiny gel beads that take a long time to rise to a body’s heat, this foam generally allows you to sleep cooler than memory foam. But if they do heat, these gel beads won’t provide enough heat transfer to make a difference. When inserted in greater-than-usual quantities, or paired with conductive materials like copper or graphite, we find they do better.

Memory Foam and Poly Foams

These foams are great at relieving pressure — which is why they’re so prevalent — but unfortunately, they’re famous for insulating your body, soaking up your natural heat, and trapping it close to you. On its own, memory and poly foams ranks the lowest on our “best materials” list for hot sleepers. However, when combined with breathable top layers (like those made of latex) or coils or gel beads, these foams begin to let go some of their heat-retention properties. Additionally, a heat-transferring fabric cover can do wonders (more on that later).

Why we love it

The Brooklyn Aurora is a luxury hybrid mattress by Brooklyn Bedding known for its superior cooling technology. When we had this mattress in the mattress lab, it was cool to the touch even weeks after unboxing.

GhostBed Luxe

Why we love it

GhostBed takes pride in keeping their sleepers from coming down with a bad case of the night sweats. In fact, they’ve even described the outer cover of their mattress as “Ghost Ice Fabric.” We’re here to tell you, it’s true. The cooling tech found in the GhostBed mattresses is effective and just what hot sleepers need. We’ve experienced it for ourselves

The GhostBed Luxe happens to be one of our favorite models GhostBed has to offer. It is a gel memory foam mattress made with four core layers of cooling foam and wrapped in a cooling topper. The surface of the GhostBed Luxe is designed with phase-change technology that captures heat to help regulate body temperature. Although traditional memory foam has been known to trap body heat, the foams used in the GhostBed Luxe are designed to promote breathability and transfer heat away from the body.

The GhostBed Luxe is also known for its extremely responsive surface that adapts to the curvatures of your body while also keeping your spine in alignment.

TEMPUR-Flex Supreme Breeze

Why we love it

The moment we brought the TEMPUR-Flex Supreme Breeze into our mattress lab, we noticed how cool the surface felt. We soon learned the cooling properties of this mattress had everything to do with the materials use to build it.

The cover of the Supreme Breeze is lightweight and breathable. It’s also infused with cooling technology to create a cool sleeping surface. Additionally, the memory foam in the Supreme Breeze is infused with a substance called PureCool™ which is designed to transfer heat away from the body.

The TEMPUR-Flex Supreme Breeze is a luxury hybrid mattress by TEMPUR-Pedic so be ready to pay top dollar for this bed.

Purple

Why we love it

The Purple mattress is one of the most popular brands on the internet. What’s unique about this mattress is not only the proprietary purple material used to craft the bed, but also its grid design. In fact, its the Smart Grid™ construction of the Purple mattress that keeps air flowing and your body temperature from rising. You see, when you have a big block of foam, there is nowhere for the heat to go. That’s why you need alleyways for air to travel; so it can disperse from underneath you. That’s exactly what the Purple mattress does.

Tuft & Needle Mint

Why we love it

The Tuft & Needle Mint mattress is Tuft & Needle’s premier mattress model. Next to the original Tuft & Needle mattress, the Mint stands out for it’s cooling properties that lie within the Adaptive™ foam layers. This patented foam designed by Tuft & Needle is made with heat-wicking graphite that pulls heat away from the body. It’s also infused with ceramic gel beads that absorb five times more heat the conventional blue-gel products. Additionally, the cover of the Tuft & Needle Mint is lightweight and breathable so air can easily escape.

Freya by Brooklyn Bedding

Why we love it

The Freya mattress by Brooklyn Bedding was designed specifically to keep hot sleepers cool throughout the night. This is done with proprietary foam designed by Brooklyn Bedding that’s infused with a phase-change molecule designed to regulate your core body temperature while you sleep. Throughout the core of the mattress, you’ll find ventilation systems that enhance breathability and air flow to prevent body heat from being trapped.

If you’ve spent a lifetime identifying as a “hot sleeper,” a mattress that helps you consistently sleep cooler isn’t just a game-changer, it’s a life-changer. Imagine waking up every morning feeling refreshed, relaxed, and recharged — without sweaty feet, a clammy back, or a damp pillow. Bonus: longer sleep, unbroken by periods of sheet-thrashing and pillow-flipping.

Don’t you deserve a mattress that will help you get the sleep you’ve always dreamed of? Of course, you do. Let us know which mattress works out best for you. You might be helping others seeking the same relief.