Best Cooling Mattress Topper for Hot Sleepers

Whether you’ve just invested in a brand-new memory foam bed, or you’re trying to eke a little more life out of your existing older mattress, finding a topper that can soften the lumps and bumps as well as cool down your sleep surface isn’t as hard as you may think. In fact, there are a number of toppers on the market that offer enhanced air circulation as well as cooling materials to keep you feeling comfortable all night long.

Best Cooling Mattress Toppers

What is a Mattress Topper?

A mattress topper is an additional layer of comfort and cushioning used on top of mattresses. These mattress toppers can be made from many different materials and filling types.

Understanding what a mattress topper is not a big deal, but one mistake many people tend to make is mixing up toppers with padding.

What Makes it Different from a Mattress Pad?

As mentioned before, a mattress topper is an additional layer added to the mattress for cushioning. This makes the mattress top softer and plusher. A mattress topper can either be the final layer/covering for your mattress or an individual layer of comfort meant to be placed underneath your covers.

A mattress pad is not used for cushioning, but protection. These are thinner layers that are placed over the mattress in order to protect it from stains, odors, sweat, and more. These are more fitted sheets rather than extra layers, but don’t think all fitted sheets are pads. Some toppers come with fitted skirts to ensure they don’t move around at night.

Materials

The type of toppers we have evaluated in this article is referred to as passive cooling toppers. These toppers are constructed with specific materials in order to regulate air efficiently. They can also absorb and transfer body heat away from the surface, so the surface remains cool at night.

Some of the materials you can find are:

• Natural Latex. Made from the sap of rubber trees, this material stays cool even after long periods in contact with body heat
• Gel Infused Memory Foam. This material is chemically treated to make it soft and highly responsive to the temperature around it. Using cooling beads or swirls, it transfers heat from the top of the topper, and moves it away through ventilation to keep you cool and prevent sweating.
• Feathers. The feathers you may see being used as stuffing are duck and goose down feathers.

Benefits of a Mattress Topper

A mattress topper can help you make your bed softer. After a while, the stuffing in your mattress will begin to deflate and compress, which means it becomes firmer. For many people, this is a cause for great discomfort. Luckily, a topper will act as the soft top layer you sleep on without having to purchase an entirely new mattress.

Temporary and one-layered mattresses aren’t the most comfortable, but sometimes there isn’t much choice. The right mattress topper can make your mattress so much more comfortable and cooler if they regulate temperature.

You can also find portable models in case you travel often. Sleeping on the same topper even if it isn’t the same mattress can help create a feeling of familiarity which will help you sleep sounder sooner.

If you and your partner have different preferences in firmness, toppers can help make the mattress a comfortable environment for both of you.

There is also the chance of coming across memory foam mattress toppers that help support and relieve pains. Toppers made with latex or memory foam conform to your shape, therefore, they can de-stress your pressure points, create better alignment, and distribute your weight evenly over the surface of the mattress.

Finally, there is the factor of control. With mattresses, there isn’t much control. Each mattress comes with their own firmness and limitations in customization. Using toppers can take your customer experience of sleeping to a whole new level. Make your mattress cooler, softer, plusher, and more supportive all with the right topper.

Disadvantages of a Mattress Topper

While there are a number of advantages to come across with toppers, there are also disadvantages to keep an eye out for.

Fitting may sometimes be an issue, especially if you are purchasing a memory foam or latex topper. These toppers are put in place with the cover you use over it. If there is a shuffle room underneath the cover, then the topper may move around at night.

There will be less support around the edges of the mattress since toppers are typically a little smaller than the actual mattress.

The more extensive the damage is to the actual mattress, such as sagging and clumps of filling, the fewer chances there are that your topper will make any improvements. In these situations, the topper is rendered useless, so the only solution after this is to purchase a new mattress. Placing a topper over a damaged mattress can even ruin the composition of the topper.

The off-gassing of polyfoam and memory foam toppers can take quite a bit of time. They will have an unpleasant chemical smell which, if not aired out, can stuff up your room.

Memory foam, latex, and polyfoam mattress toppers are usually harder to maintain. This is because they cannot be machine washed. Instead, they have to be spot-treated or dry cleaned. Feather-based toppers may come with the option that they’re machine washable, but they’ll also have to be constantly fluffed back into shape.

Finally, there is the first stage of all mattress toppers. They have to be aired out, so they fluff up to their maximum potential. The best option is to leave them out in the sun.  This can take time, and in some rare cases, they don’t properly fluff up at all.

What to Look for When Buying a Cooling Mattress Topper

— Construction

While mattress toppers come in many thicknesses, fabrications, and with/without covers, it’s important to decide on what exactly you need it to do for you, before you invest. If your intent is to soften an uncomfortable bed surface you’ll want something that’s thick enough to provide a decent buffer and that rules out anything less than 3-inches. If you’re looking for contouring support, it should include a solid (versus fill) layer of memory foam. And if you want a topper that can alleviate some of the heat your memory foam mattress is generating, you’ll want something with gel-infusion, open-cell construction, or that is made from latex.

— Ease of Use

While this may sound like an odd consideration, the bottom line is that you want to gain a more restful sleep from your new topper and you don’t get that if it constantly shifts in the night. Look for good quality elasticized corner retainers that won’t lose their shape over time. And if it’s skirted, check for either deep pockets or a 360-degree elasticized edge that hugs the mattress and keeps all four corners in place regardless of how often you move. Some even offer a textured base to help grip the mattress surface. And if you’re considering a slab-style memory foam topper, be sure it includes a cover. Not only will it make it easier to turn over in the night, but it will help prolong the life of your topper and because a cover can be removed for washing, will help keep your sleep surface clean and hygienic.

Conclusion

A good quality cooling mattress topper is an effective, affordable way to improve the sleep surface of your current bed or to extend the life of a new mattress. Today’s designs deliver not only effective cooling for those who sleep hot, but can inhibit odors, soften a too-firm sleep surface, or simply help to even out the top of an older, lumpy bed. And because they’re typically manufactured using the same quality components as your mattresses – such as high-density foams, gel-infusion, hypoallergenic fill, and breathable covers – you never have to sacrifice quality to get the sleep surface you need.

Recent Updates

October 19, 2021: The ViscoSoft 4-Inch Topper with Copper-Infused Memory Foam and the Maxzzz 3-Inch Dual-Layer have each been removed due to unavailability and decreased popularity, replaced with the highly rated LINENSPA 3-Inch Gel Infused Memory Foam Mattress Topper and the LUCID 3 Inch Gel Memory Foam Mattress Topper.