What are THE ULTIMATE cooling sheets/duvet cover out there?

September 16, 2022 11:37 AM

We're sleeping really hot, especially with a new memory foam mattress. Googling reveals a voluminous industry dedicated to cooling bedding products. I've come across fabrics like tencel, bamboo, and linen, and some kind of fancy phase-change cooling material (Outlast). Which of these work and are durable? My husband doesn't like the texture of linen, and my skin can't handle pilling. Help?
posted by ClaireBear to Home & Garden (13 answers total)

Have you tried simple cotton percale? People/companies sometimes confound "smooth" with "cool," and it's not necessarily the case.

Also, what about a non-memory foam mattress topper? To me, no mere linens are going to minimize the heat retention of memory foam.
posted by praemunire at 11:49 AM on September 16, 2022 [2 favorites]

If the mattress is too hot, what about a latex topper?
posted by TWinbrook8 at 11:50 AM on September 16, 2022

Response by poster: I realize I'm being very difficult here, but I have very sensitive and difficult skin that finds generally percale scratchy (for reference, before I met my husband, I basically could only sleep in jersey sheets). If anyone has recommendations for softer percale, I'd be keen to try though. Basically, I like very soft, and my husband likes smooth, and those intersect in certain fabrics but not in all, so I realize we're in a Goldilocks situation here! We are planning to have separate bedding except the bottom sheet (i.e. separate duvet covers), so separate recommendations are fine, actually: if anyone knows cooling things that would be smooth but not necessarily soft, that could work for my husband.

Re. getting a topper: unfortunately I think we're going to try to make the current top of the mattress work for a while before investigating other toppers. I have looked into a latex topper and it looks promising, but we want to give the Tempurpedic thing a try for a while first, since we have it now. It may be that it turns out later that we admit defeat and concede that we're not Tempurpedic folks. I'm also hoping that as the weather cools down the situation might improve.
posted by ClaireBear at 11:59 AM on September 16, 2022

Wool is durable - you would put it just under your sheets. You can either do a blanket or a sheepskin kind of mattress cover. It helps with both temperature extremes!

I have not tried any other fancy materials.
posted by Acari at 12:04 PM on September 16, 2022 [1 favorite]

You're better off trying a cooling gel topper than just changing sheets, for memory foam is the devil's material and I hope mattress tech moves on quickly. I've tried a couple and I've found them equally only a little helpful, but better than nothing. I only tried less expensive types, so there may be better ones out there for more money. But none of my linen or cotton sheets have been able to overcome my hot helix mattress.
posted by wellifyouinsist at 12:09 PM on September 16, 2022 [5 favorites]

If you’re too hot reconsider the need for a duvet as opposed to a sheet to cover yourselves. You need heat to move away from your body not be kept near it. If you like more weight than a sheet add a very light cotton blanket or throw over the sheet. I sleep hot and spent the summer sleeping with just a sheet on top of me. Night time temps are now starting to go down here so I added a very light blanket to the sheet. In time, I’ll add a second light blanket or switch to a warmer blanket as we move into winter.
posted by koahiatamadl at 12:39 PM on September 16, 2022 [3 favorites]

I agree with wellifyouinsist: memory foam holds onto heat because it is dense, body-hugging and there are no connecting channels inside the foam for the heat to move away. Different sheets won't change these properties.

You might try an all cotton (including fill) mattress pad. They are hard to find, but the Company Store makes one.

And as a person who roasts even on our latex mattress, I'm thinking of trying these SlumberCloud Performance sheets. They let you have a 60 day trial and free returns if purchased from their site (not Amazon).
posted by oneirodynia at 12:49 PM on September 16, 2022 [1 favorite]

For material - those tencel sheets are hotter and damper than anything I have ever slept on. Strong disrecommend.
posted by Bottlecap at 1:28 PM on September 16, 2022 [2 favorites]

First thing to look at is the mattress protector. I got one of those Tempurpedic mattress toppers and put my old mattress protector on it - bad idea. I immediately roasted. Purchasing the Tempurpedic ProCool mattress protector made a huge difference.

For summer, I used a bamboo fitted sheet, no flat sheet, and a summer weight duvet in a cotton duvet cover. This is warmer than my non-memory foam setup but still comfortable. In the fall I add a flat sheet, and in the winter I layer a wool blanket.
posted by shock muppet at 1:57 PM on September 16, 2022 [1 favorite]

I personally love my memory foam topper, despite the heat. I recently bought Hush brand sheets, after seeing a bunch of ads, and I like them. They’re bamboo, woven not jersey. I find them not quite as soft as my old bamboo sheets, from Maholi, but way cooler.

My husband disliked our old sheets, but likes these.

And about hot memory foam: I’ve bought and returned all the cooling ones (gel, wool…) and none are as comfortable to me as the slab of memory foam I got from Costco 15 years ago.
posted by Valancy Rachel at 2:01 PM on September 16, 2022

I don't know if I can predict whether you'll like the texture, but my husband and I have had these for about 3 weeks, including a week of heat wave where it wasn't getting anywhere near as cool as I want it overnight and we're currently in a tiny house that has a mini-split AC nearish the bedroom doorway but not IN the bedroom. Air circulation seems to help it move heat away even faster.

They're super slippery, and at least every other night I had to retrieve it from at least half on the floor, but I'm also a very active sleeper.
posted by Lyn Never at 2:44 PM on September 16, 2022 [1 favorite]

FWIW I've found bamboo somewhat cooling... until it starts to pill.
posted by oceano at 8:27 AM on September 17, 2022

I'd get a cotton mattress protector to have one thin breathable layer between you and the memory foam. I know you said no linen, but I switched to linen sheets when my hot flashes got bad and they made a real difference. Linen may feel a bit stiff initially, but it softens up quickly and the lightness of the material against your skin is just so pleasant. If not linen, I would just go with 100% cotton in whatever weave feels good to you. In the summer, the sheet is all we use. I recently invested in a lightweight wool/cotton mix comforter that was specifically designated for "cool" sleeping. I was skeptical, but in fact it does sleep cool for a comforter, so you can still get snuggly without it becoming unbearable. For colder months we have a wool blanket that we add in between. I find the key is having multiple layers that you can move on an off to adjust for temperature at different points in the night.
posted by amusebuche at 4:59 AM on September 18, 2022