How To Keep Cool On A Memory Foam Mattress

*This is a collaborative post on how to keep cool on a memory foam mattress

If you have a regular memory foam mattress, you might find it makes you overheat on warm nights. This is because memory foam is a brilliant insulator – it retains body heat, making it great for winter but a nightmare in summer.

Memory foam retains heat because it is dense with low breathability. Modern mattresses use open cell foam, which is more breathable than closed cell foam, but it still isn’t perfect because the tiny air pockets can only do so much.

If you want a new mattress, memory gel (memory foam infused with cooling gel beads) is a superior technology.

But what if you want your current mattress to sleep cooler? In that case, try these tips for a more comfortable night’s sleep:

Breathable mattress protector for your memory foam mattress

A mattress protector with a cotton or wool filling will keep you cooler by putting a breathable layer between you and your mattress. It will soak up much of your body heat and let it escape, helping you stay comfortable.

A waterproof mattress protector is also a good idea on unseasonably warm nights, such as the record-breaking day of 2022.  

Avoid memory foam mattress protectors – these are not breathable and will make you sweaty on hot nights. Some unscrupulous products claim to be breathable but, in fact, only have a thin layer of breathable fabric.

Cooling mattress protector

An alternative to a breathable mattress protector is a cooling mattress protector. These have thousands of tiny gel capsules incapable of holding onto heat, transforming the heat retention qualities of the memory foam.

The good thing about these mattress protectors is they let you enjoy memory foam without turning into a sweaty mess when the temperature cranks up.

However, remember that a mattress protector that is firmer or softer than your mattress will change how your mattress feels. This could be good or bad, so always check whether it is rated soft, medium, or firm before buying.

Breathable pillow for your memory foam mattress

On hot nights you’ll ditch the duvet and reach for a sheet or nothing at all – job done, but you are missing a trick if you don’t have a breathable pillow.

The only breathable pillows have a hollowfibre or cotton/wool filling –air can penetrate these fibres to keep your head cool. Memory foam is the worst pillow material because it traps heat, just like your memory foam mattress.

We sleep with hollowfibre pillows, which rarely need flipping to stay cool – best of all, they are cheap and available in all firmness levels.

Create a through draught

Opening a window at night won’t cool down your bedroom unless hot air is pushed out, and the best way to do that is with a through-draught.

You can make a through-draught by opening your bedroom window and door and opening another window on the same floor as your bedroom. Like magic, air will rush through these spaces, replacing hot air with the cooler night air.

Even if the temperatures inside your bedroom and outside your house are similar, rushing air creates wind chill – the cooling effect of wind blowing on a surface.

Invest in air conditioning

Air conditioning is cheaper than you think! A portable air conditioner will quickly cool your bedroom and cost less than £400, or you can use a wall-mounted split air conditioner to cool two bedrooms with one system.

Split air conditioners cost £500 to £800 for the hardware and an additional £300 to £400 for installation, letting you cool two spaces affordably.

The downside to air conditioners is they cost a fair whack to run (with recent energy price cap rises, you are looking at around 20p per hour). With portable air conditioners, you also need to vent them, which can require ingenuity.

Portable air coolers which use ice to cool down air with evaporation can also work well, but only when your house has low humidity.