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6 Best Cooling Mattress Covers of 2026 for Chiller Sleeps
Jan
If you’ve ever tossed and turned as sweat trickled down your back, you can likely stand in unity with the following: Heat is the worst. The best cooling mattress covers, however, are the solution to sweaty nights. Heat ruins your REM and slow-wave sleep (those responsible for dreaming and helping you wake feeling rested), and it wildly increases the amount of time it takes to go to sleep. Plus, it’s responsible for plucking you from your slumber and thrusting you into the cold, hard consciousness of this world. An alternative: Thrust yourself into a cold, (fill-in-the-blank firmness) mattress with the addition of new bed-tech that cools your bed on demand and sends you into a deep, restorative slumber.
More and more research seems to validate that staying cool is a cornerstone of good sleep, and sleep is a cornerstone of, well, everything else. It’s how our bodies recover from intense fitness routines and how we keep our brains sharp. Enter the mattress cooling pad revolution, which keeps your bed between a cool 55°F and 115°F depending on the model that you acquire. We put them to the test to see if they were able to affect our slumber and impact our Z’s in a meaningful way.
The Best Cooling Mattress Covers, According to GQ
In This Guide
Best Cooling Mattress Cover Overall: Eight Sleep Pod 5
When we tested the latest from Eight Sleep, we expected a lot. After all, the brand is hailed by athletes, Silicon Valley elites, and those in the know—you know? The experience delivered. The reconfigured cooling system disappears on your bed, yet somehow enables double cooling power to drop temperatures to 55°F. “Everything on the new system was well thought-out,” says Ali Finney, former associate commerce director at GQ. “You can control the bed by tapping it—rather than via an app, like the previous version—it operates completely silently, and it has sensors integrated into the topper that help it go on autopilot and adjust coolness settings throughout the night to optimize your sleep.”
Now, Eight Sleep has the Pod 5 Ultra. It comes with a temperature-controlled blanket for those who just have to be under the covers no matter the surrounding weather, a snore detector that actually stops you from that pesky habit, and surround sound to enjoy the sleeping soundscapes all around you. If you prioritize sleep even a little, this is the investment for you.
The Most Versatile Cooling Mattress Cover: Chilipad Dock Pro Sleep System
SleepMe’s Chilipad Dock Pro provides a near-equal experience to the Eight Sleep at a much cheaper price point. It uses a thermal-based, water-cooling grid technology, and fits nicely on top of your mattress and underneath your standard top sheet, dropping temps to 55°F and raising them to 115°F. “People seem to be cognizant about having too many apps for too many devices. The nice thing about the Dock Pro is that you don’t need your phone, or Wi-Fi, to operate any of it,” says former GQ contributor Katarina Kovac. “On the actual device, there’s a screen, an up and down button to regulate temperatures, and a power button to turn it on and off.” With an optional sleep tracker, the Chilipad can adjust to your body’s unique needs and insights (like the Eight Sleep) but if you want to keep costs low and can live without that, you can just procure the basic system. Either way, we love this option. “The gradual cooling feels luxurious, and I don’t need to crank my AC to lower temps to compensate for the heat this summer, which has been a nice change.”
The Best Budget Cooling Mattress Cover: Bed Jet
Mattress-cooling technologies are often fairly pricey, so it’s nice to have a cost-effective option that still does the job. We weren’t sure what to expect when testing an air-based system rather than water-based system, but this option delivered. The unit comes with a 100% cotton “cloud sheet” that connects to the air chamber, allowing air to diffuse gently on your body through the sheet rather than directly on you. Temperatures for this unit range from 66°F to 104°F, and increase or decrease quite quickly in comparison to other water-based units. “The unit itself is so easy to use and feels like a light breeze just above my sheets,” Kovac says. “Softer than a fan on full blast in the corner of my room, but more direct via the temperature controls, the ability to change the location of where the air came from was key. I moved mine to the bottom of my bed, which provided perfect airflow.”
The Best Amazon Cooling Mattress Cover: AquaPad Breeze Water Cooling Mattress Pad
Neat
AquaPad Breeze Water Cooling Mattress Pad
Pros
- Inexpensive
- Ships overnight via Prime
- Cheaper than running the AC all night
- 3 coolness settings
Cons
- Reviewers say that it takes a bit of adjustment to get the right temperature settings
- Have to frequently fill the water tank
If your sleep is compromised enough that you’re looking to change it this very minute (if not sooner), then rest assured, we’ve got you covered. With Amazon Prime shipping, the AquaPad can be at your doorstep overnight, and though it doesn’t have quite the oomph that some of the other options do, it’s still powerful enough to ensure that you stay cool throughout your slumber. Choose from three cooling capabilities depending on how hot you sleep, and easily adjust with a fairly manual remote. We didn’t get to test this one IRL, but reviewers like that it’s quiet and does the job of the AC without needing to crank down the AC at night.
More Cooling Mattress Covers We Love
What to Look for in a Cooling Mattress Cover
Cooling function: A lot of bedding that promises “cooling capabilities” just mean that they’re made with fabrics that help you feel cooler—special materials like Tencel or bamboo. However, we wanted to find cooling mattress covers that actually cool you, whether through water or fans. The cooling mattress covers we used are all on the more tech side of sleep gear, just because we found that they work the best to keep you cool rather than being cool to the touch for a minute before you start to overheat.
Comfort: You love your mattress, so do you really want to add a layer between your body and that sleeping beauty? Look for a cooling mattress cover that’s not too thick, lest you need to learn how to parkour into your bed. Also, thinner cooling mattress covers, like the Eight Sleep, will still allow you to enjoy the perks of your pricey bed, while something like the Sleep Number DualTemp Layer can offer the feel you’ve been looking for in your mattress, all while keeping you cool.
