Coop Eden Cool Plus Pillow
Best customizable cooling pillow
The 12 Best Cooling Pillows of 2023 – CNET
I’m an especially hot sleeper, and before I switched to cool bamboo sheets and a lighter comforter, I would wake up sweating in the middle of the night. If you sleep hot like me, you know the struggle. Unfortunately, switching up everything on your bed can be a hassle and expensive. However, swapping out your pillow (especially a really old one) can make a huge difference.
Hot sleepers can benefit from a cooling pillow made of materials that don’t retain body heat and provide a cooling or temperature-neutral sensation. I personally tested and rounded up the best cooling pillows on the market.
The best overall cooling pillow
The Casper Hybrid Pillow with Snow Technology made the top of my list due to its high-quality materials, comfort and truly cool-to-the-touch feel. I tested about 25 pillows from 20 different top brands. The 12 pillows that made this list are the best cooling pillows on the market. I also included a few honorable mentions in case one of those might fit you better.
The pillowcase you use will affect the cooling sensation of any pillow. If you are a hot sleeper and use flannel or heavy material pillowcases, I suggest switching to silk, bamboo or cotton if you want the most out of your cooling pillow.
Now that you have the right pillowcase in mind for summer, here are the best cooling pillows for hot sleepers.
How we chose the best cooling pillow
GhostBed is known for its comfortable, cooling mattress, and its cooling Gel Memory Foam Pillow is no different. It’s made with a perforated gel memory foam core, a layer of phase-changing materials, an inner aerated mesh and a cover that’s truly cool to the touch. I like how the pillow shapes to my head and neck and feels cool on my face.
The Nest Easy Breather is one of the more supportive pillows on this list. The cover is cool to the touch, and the pillow is filled with shredded foam. If the pillow arrives too firm or too high for you, simply remove some of the filling and fluff it back up. When it was filled to its maximum, I found that it supported my neck and head from sinking into the surface — which is great for side sleepers that don’t like the feeling of sinking memory foam.
The Bear Pillow is another great pillow for back sleepers. Its machine-washable cover is cool to the touch and made with what Bear calls Double Ice Fabric. At both ends of the pillow is a mesh that allows for more airflow. It’s also hypoallergenic and helps to stop mold, bacteria and dust mites. At its core, the Bear Pillow is made with a hybrid foam, which I consider halfway between bouncy latex foam and slow molding memory foam. I think it’s right down the middle of too firm and too soft. It’s also supportive enough for both back and side sleepers. .
Pillows for stomach sleepers are sometimes hard to come by. They need to be supportive and low enough that you don’t overextend your neck at night. The Cozy Earth Silk Pillow is a great example of a pillow that supports the neck and is low enough for strict stomach sleepers. Made of bamboo fabric and filled with 100% mulberry silk, this Cozy Earth pillow uses the lightest and coolest of materials to keep you from overheating at night. And you can feel it! I love how soft it feels to the touch.
If you are conscientious about your bedding and the places in which the material comes from, look no further than Birch. This brand is organic, eco-friendly and natural. Birch’s Organic Pillow is made with a 100% organic GOTS-certified cotton cover, and while it isn’t cool to the touch, it’s breathable. The core is made of a 100% organic cotton outer layer, filled with shredded latex. That core is then wrapped with 100% organic, GOTS-certified wool that helps to wick away moisture.
The softest and thinnest pillow on this list belongs to the Saatva Latex Pillow. It is available in two lofts: standard and high. Back and stomach sleepers should go with the standard loft, while side and combination should choose the high loft. For this review, I tested the standard loft.
Here are my honorable mentions. While these pillows didn’t make my initial list, I still wanted to highlight these five for some of their cooling features. One of these pillows might work best for you.
The Nolah Squishy Pillow is my favorite of my honorable mentions. The pillow is made of shredded foam that can be taken out and adjusted to your liking. Its cover is soft, machine-washable and made of Oeko-Tex certified, bamboo blend fibers. The best part is that one box comes with two queen-sized pillows.
I sleep on Brooklinen sheets every night, so I’m a huge fan of the brand. However, this was the first Brooklinen pillow I’ve ever tested. The Marlow Pillow is made of memory foam and polyester fiber, and the outside cover is made of 100% cotton. While you can’t remove any filling to adjust the firmness to your liking, the pillow comes with two zippers (one at the top and one at the bottom) that do just that. However, you won’t notice a huge difference.
The Sijo Support Pillow is for those who like pillows that are firmer, bouncy and supportive. It is not for memory foam lovers — like myself. The inside is made entirely of perforated Talalay latex foam, and the outside shell is made of a blend of eucalyptus fibers. The pillow is Oeko-Tex 100 certified, hypoallergenic and made of environmentally sustainable materials.
While some cooling pillows claim to stay cool all night, this is rarely the case — even for those that feel cool to the touch. However, the material inside the cooling pillows is what works. These types of pillows use material that won’t retain body heat and remain temperature-neutral. The cool-to-the-touch cover is an added bonus and may keep you feeling cool for a while, but it will eventually fade. Its filling will keep you from sweating during the night.
Out of all the pillows that I tested, I found that the Casper Hybrid Pillow with Snow Technology is the coldest pillow on the market. It made the top of my list due to its high-quality materials, comfort and truly cool feel.
While there is no such thing as a pillow that will stay ice cold all night long, there are a few things you can do to ensure it stays as cool as possible at night. One, make sure your cooling pillow has the right pillowcase on it. I suggest using a bamboo, silk or light pillowcase in order to truly feel the cool cover. This material also won’t retain body heat. Secondly, you can freeze your pillowcases and even your sheets before you go to bed. Lastly, choose a pillow that is made of perforated foam, gel, latex, bamboo, silk or cotton.
