How to Cool a Memory Foam Mattress

CNET

13-06-2025

Memory foam is one of the most popular types of mattresses, as many sleepers enjoy its hugging and pressure-relieving qualities. It also excels at isolating motion, which is ideal if you share the bed with a restless partner who tosses and turns all night. However, one of the main drawbacks of memory foam is its heat retention.
Due to memory foam's viscous, tightly packed structure, your body heat can get trapped inside. The mattress can feel overly warm as you sink into its layers and the foam conforms around you. This can negatively impact your sleep, especially during the warmer summer months. While it may not be an issue during colder seasons, you might experience overheating as temperatures rise this summer.
Don't sweat it; we have solutions. Here are five tips tested by CNET's sleep experts to help you cool down your memory foam mattress.
Tips to cool your memory foam mattress
1. Keep your bedroom cool
Memory foam is a temperature-sensitive material that changes based on your bedroom environment. In a warm room, the foam softens, allowing you to sink deeper into its layers. This creates that cozy feeling memory foam lovers desire, but it also means the foam will retain more body heat, making you warmer. Conversely, a memory foam mattress in a cooler bedroom will feel slightly firmer, keeping you more on the surface. It promotes better heat dissipation, helping you stay cooler while you sleep.
Keeping your bedroom cool is key to a good night's sleep. Experts suggest setting the bedroom temperature to around 65 degrees Fahrenheit (18.3 degrees Celsius) for optimal sleep quality based on our circadian rhythms. You'll probably need to rely on your air conditioning during the summer months to achieve this.
I live in an older home without AC. To combat the warm summer nights, I use blackout curtains, a portable Hisense air conditioning unit and Cozy Earth's cooling silk comforter. It has worked like a charm.
Aly Lopez/CNET
Dr. Caroline Leaf, clinical neuroscientist and Beautyrest partner, explains why this is important. "Your circadian rhythm is your mind's internal 24-hour clock that regulates the sleep-wake cycle. One of the most powerful external cues for this rhythm is temperature. A drop in body temperature signals the mind that it's time for rest. Sleeping in a cooler room helps signal your body to initiate melatonin production -- the hormone responsible for sleep.
When your core temperature drops, it aligns with your natural circadian rhythm, making it easier to fall -- and stay -- asleep. If your sleep environment is too warm, it can delay melatonin release and interrupt your sleep architecture -- leading to grogginess, poor memory consolidation, and even emotional dysregulation," explains Leaf.
If you don't have air conditioning, there are other ways to keep your room cool at night. You can open the windows, use a fan to improve air circulation and add blackout curtains to prevent sunlight from heating the room during the day. With increasingly warm summer months ahead, you may want to consider installing a window unit in your bedroom.
Read more: 8 Expert-Approved Tips to Cut Down Your Gas, Electric and Water Bills
2. Try a cooling mattress topper
There are many great cooling mattress toppers that you can add to your mattress to create a cooler sleep surface. It's important to note that some toppers may slightly alter the feel and firmness of your mattress.
Most toppers are between 2 to 4 inches thick. With the right ventilated material or cooling technology, toppers can cool better than mattress pads and work best with cooling comforters and sheets.
Thinner toppers are generally better for newer beds or those who want minimal change to the feel and firmness of their mattress. A thicker topper is better for older, saggier mattresses or those who want extra plushness and cushioning. Here are a few of our favorite options, tested and approved by our team of sleep and mattress experts.
Latex: A topper with a perforated surface or open-cell structure, such as one made of natural latex, can do the trick. Aside from being durable and supportive, latex foam offers good airflow and won't retain much body heat, unlike dense memory foam.
Our favorite latex toppers include the PlushBeds 100% Natural Talalay Latex Topper and Avocado Eco Organic Topper -- not only are they airy and breathable, but they're also naturally hypoallergenic and antimicrobial.
Graphite: After testing dozens of toppers, we chose Saatva's Cooling Graphite Mattress Topper as the best overall for cooling. It's a 3-inch-thick memory foam layer infused with cooling graphite, designed to pull your body heat away. It's not ice-cold to the touch but does a great job of keeping your body temperature regulated throughout the night.
I am lying on the super cool Helix GlacioTex topper in our testing facility.
Dillon Lopez/CNET
GlacioTex: If you're looking for a topper that will actively keep you cool, check out the Helix GlacioTex Premium Mattress Topper. GlacioTex is Helix's proprietary technology used in its cooling mattresses and toppers. The cover is super chilly and has a smooth, slick sensation. Its unique hybrid design with micro-coils makes it a great option for heavier individuals and couples seeking extra support and durability.
3. Use cooling sheets and pillows
Cooling pillows and sheets are designed to help you temperature-regulate throughout the night using moisture-wicking and breathable materials.
The best pillows for sweaty sleepers are noticeably cool to the touch and made of materials that will dissipate heat. Our team chose Casper's Sleep Hybrid Snow Pillow as the best cooling pillow. It includes phase-change materials and "HeatDelete" bands that provide a refreshingly cool sensation for your head and neck all night.
Through our years of testing mattresses and bedding, our team has found that few sheet sets are genuinely cooling. Often, sheets marketed as "cooling" are good at helping your body stay temperature-regulated, but won't actively make you cooler.
The Citizenry
The best sheets for hot sleepers are airy and breathable, wicking away moisture as you generate sweat throughout the night. Some of our tested and approved recommendations include Cozy Earth's Bamboo Sheet Set, The Citizenry's Stonewashed Linen Sheet Set and Brooklinen's Percale Core Sheet Set.
Read more: Here's How Frequently You Should Wash Your Sheets
4. Sleep in breathable pajamas
Wearing light and airy pajamas to bed is best if you're a sweaty sleeper. Fabrics made with cotton, bamboo and linen are naturally moisture-wicking and breathable and will help you temperature-regulate better than materials like polyester or fleece. Ditch those flannels and sweatpants for cooler pajama materials, such as:
Eucalyptus
Bamboo
Silk
Linen
Cotton
While it may seem counterintuitive, sleeping in the nude isn't always the best solution for hot sleepers. With no fabric to absorb or wick moisture away, sweat can accumulate on your sheets and bedding -- and no one wants to sleep on a warm and damp sleep surface.
Breathable and moisture-wicking pajamas can help you sleep cooler.
Caroline Igo/CNET
Check out our list of the best cooling pajamas of 2025, tested by CNET sleep expert Caroline Igo.
5. Buy a new mattress
If you tried the tips above and still struggle to sleep because your mattress is too warm, it may be time to invest in a new one. If you love the feeling of memory foam and are hesitant to give it up, I have good news: Bed manufacturers often add specific cooling features to help combat the heat-retaining nature of dense memory foam. These features include:
Gel-infused memory foam
Copper-infused memory foam
Graphite-infused foam
Cooling fibers such as Tencel, bamboo or eucalyptus
Phase-change materials
Perforated latex foam
Hybrid design for airflow and breathability
Many mattress brands use proprietary materials designed specifically to keep sleepers cool, such as Purple's GelFlex Grid, Casper's Heat Delete Bands or Tempur-Pedic's Pure Cool Material.
"Investing in a mattress with cooling technology, like the Beautyrest World Class mattress, is more than a comfort decision -- it's a cognitive and mental support tool. This mattress features a cool-to-the-touch surface and InfiniCool MAX Technology to actively move excess heat away from the body while encouraging airflow through its natural lux fibers. It helps your brain and body stay in the optimal temperature range for deeper, more restorative sleep," says Leaf.
If you're not fully committed to a memory foam mattress, consider a more breathable polyurethane foam or latex mattress. Poly foam has an open-cell structure, allowing for better airflow. Latex foam is another good choice for hot sleepers, as it's perforated for increased ventilation.
Be aware of signs that you need a new mattress, such as sagging or waking up sore and achy. If you experience worsening allergy symptoms or difficulty breathing at night, it might also be time for an upgrade. Over time, dust mites and other allergens can accumulate in your mattress, leading to the growth of bacteria, mold and mildew.
The average mattress lasts seven to 10 years, depending on its construction and how well it's maintained. Hybrid mattresses with coils and high-density support foams generally last longer than all-foam beds, as these materials are slower to break down than cheaper foams. Latex and memory foam typically outlast poly foam.
Too long; didn't read?
The bottom line is that no magic solution exists for cooling a memory foam mattress. However, combining several strategies can improve your sleeping experience during warm summer nights. These include keeping the bedroom temperature cool, using breathable bedding and pajamas, taking a cold shower before bed and investing in a cooling topper, cover or mattress.
Read more: Stop the Night Sweats: 4 Ways to Stay Cool