Best Mattresses for Hot Sleepers

To test whether a mattress traps heat, we run our assessments in a chamber cooled to 32° F. We place a copper plate warmed to 98.6° F on each mattress, simulating average body temperature. Each side of the plate is insulated except for the side in contact with the mattress. Over an 8-hour period, we measure how much energy the plate uses to maintain its temperature. If the mattress retains heat, the plate will need less energy because it won’t need to generate additional heat to keep itself warm. If the mattress doesn’t retain heat, the plate will need more energy to keep itself warm—and it’s those mattresses that end up being the best for hot sleepers.

From our tests, we’ve found that you’re more likely to sleep warm on an all-foam mattress than on hybrids (which combine foam layers over steel coils) and innerspring mattresses. That makes sense given that the coils provide more space for air to flow, and the more airflow that passes through the mattress, the less body heat is trapped. Meanwhile, our tests show that foam mattresses touting “cooling” gel don’t always help. “A larger percentage of these foam mattresses still retain warmth,” says Chris Regan, the senior test project leader who oversees Consumer Reports’ mattress tests. What’s more, gels (or any other mattress materials, for that matter) won’t actively cool you; only fans and other mechanical devices will. You can find these devices in the pads featured in our round-up of cooling mattress toppers as well as in the Eight Sleep Pod 3 Mattress, which features a special cover. (This bed is pricey, though, and while it offers impressive support for back sleepers of all sizes and petite side sleepers, its Overall Score just misses the cut-off for our list of CR Recommended Mattresses.)

To pick the best mattresses for hot sleepers, Regan identifies the mattresses that are best at keeping cool in our heat-trapping lab test, described above. He then combs through that list and picks out those with the highest Overall Score. This Overall Score takes into account how the mattress rates in all our tests, including those for back-sleeper and side-sleeper support, stability (how well it isolates motion), and durability. That score also includes how well the mattress’s brand and type do in terms of comfort and owner satisfaction, according to our member surveys on nearly 67,000 mattresses.

The two-step selection process ensures that the chosen mattresses, listed below in alphabetical order, provide support and stability without retaining heat. In our mattress ratings, you can filter for mattresses that won’t make you feel hot to see how they fare for other criteria. To learn more about how we test and rate mattresses, check out our mattress buying guide.

These mattresses earn high marks for support, durability, and stability, and—based on our lab testing—trap less heat than the other mattresses we’ve rated.