Cooling Materials In Mattresses
Your mattress plays a crucial role in regulating your temperature while you sleep. Some materials trap heat, which, if you're a hot sleeper, means you can end up tossing and turning and struggling to get comfortable.
There are two ways a mattress can regulate temperature – cooling materials like gel that dissipate heat and breathable fabrics like graphite memory foam that allow airflow into the mattress to wick heat away.
This article provides a guide to cooling materials in mattresses, helping you understand your options for an incredible night's sleep.
Let's jump in!
Memory gel
Memory gel is memory foam infused with thousands of tiny gel capsules. The capsules improve breathability by opening up the foam and the gel material so it cannot retain heat, so you get a cooling effect when you change position.
Memory gel substantially improves mattress breathability without needing additional breathable layers, and it doesn't feel significantly different from standard memory foam. It's an excellent option for hot sleepers.
Interested? Check out the Sleepeezee Pocket Gel Poise (£949, king).
Graphite memory foam
Graphite memory foam is infused with shredded graphite, the crystalline form of the element carbon. Graphite has unrivalled heat conductivity, so a mattress helps draw heat away from your body to keep you cool.
The graphite also opens up the memory foam's cell structure, helping it breathe, but not to the same level as memory gel. The critical difference is graphite draws heat away from you, and memory gel provides a cooler sleep surface.
Interested? Check out the Sleepeezee G4 (£1,099, king).
Giltedge Beds Ice Chill 1000 Mattress
- 1000 pocket springs for zoned comfort and support
- The core gel layer moulds perfectly to your body shape, while the gel helps to regulate body temperature.
- Dual-sided mattress: one side for winter /one side for summer
- Cool knit cover for a soft touch sleep surface
- Medium feel for those who prefer to sink slightly into the mattress
- The tufted finish helps to keep all the mattress fillings evenly spread throughout the mattress
- Handles to aid in turning (not available on 3FT single version)
- Flexi-edge support keeps the edge of the mattress firm
Interested? Check out the Giltedge Beds Ice Chill 1000 (medium-firm, £438, king).
Latex foam
Latex foam (the natural variety) is highly breathable without ventilation, with the foam's porosity letting heat and moisture escape. This makes it an excellent realistic option for hot sleepers wanting a supportive foam mattress.
Latex foam is superior to memory foam for edge support, and it provides resistance to your body, helping you move around in bed. The bouncier feel of latex also improves mobility – a worthwhile benefit if you switch positions regularly.
Vented borders
Vented borders provide an air channel between a mattress's top comfort layer and mid-layer. As you move, the mattress sucks cool air in from one side and vents hot air from the other, keeping you cool.
In reality, vented borders don't keep you cool but prevent moisture from building in the mattress. Most sprung mattresses have a vented edge – they are easy to engineer and help to extend a mattress's lifespan.
Natural materials
It would be best if you took the cooling qualities of natural materials should be taken with a pinch of salt. Cotton, wool, and coconut fibre are highly breathable but absorb moisture, making a mattress borderline unusable after a humid night.
For natural materials to provide cooling qualities, the mattress needs a vented border and a pillowtop filled with latex foam or breathable fibre.
Which is the best cooling material?
You can't go wrong with memory gel – memory gel dissipates heat and provides a traditional memory foam sleep experience. However, graphite memory foam pulls heat away, which can cool you down more.
It provides a cool surface and pulls heat from you.
If you don't like the squishiness of memory foam, go for a latex foam mattress and don't look back – latex foam is bouncy with elastic properties, bouncing back immediately after deformation while giving you a plush sleep surface.