10 Best Cooling Pillows for Home 2023

Aug 02, 2023

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Yes, they do make a difference.

Feeling hot in the middle of the night is its own version of hell. In the comfort of the 21st century, we'd like to advocate for avoiding hot sleep as much as humanly possible. Maybe you sleep hotter in the warmer months, or maybe your body's proclivity for overheating knows no seasonal bounds. Either way, you can now set yourself up for a cool night's rest with a cooling mattress, airy sheets, and, the latest: Cooling pillows.

Pillows can feature a few details that make them more or less cooling and the best ones often have a combination of properties that really make it work. Brands are playing around a lot right now with fabric and textile innovation to make new pillow makeups and designs that excel in cooling. Some microfiber fills mimic an airy down with less upkeep. Others have aerated memory foam, gel layers, or carbon and buckwheat, which have natural heat-dissipating properties.

Some pillows come in a single size and others you can choose from the size and amount of firmness or height. Others are made so that you can adjust how much support and cushioning your pillow has by taking fill in and out—good for combination sleepers and anyone who isn't sure quite how their body is going to feel when it crawls into bed that night. Need more convincing? Here's 10 of the best.

SlumberCloud's UltraCool pillow uses a down alternative fill that keeps you nice and supported while the outside is made with Outlast, the mother of all that is cooling. The high-tech fabric is meant to pull heat from your body and release it so your body temperature stays regulated throughout the night.

If you've listened to any podcast in the past year, you've probably heard an ad for Eight Sleep, which makes a mattress and topper that has cooling you can control. The pillow version is a pricey one but it will last far longer than the standard. It's made with a ventilated carbon-infused foam, which absorbs body heat and moves it away from your head. The cover is a Tencel mesh, which is silky and breathable.

Brooklinen's Marlow pillow is one of our favorites for a well-priced cooling option. It's made with aerated memory foam to give you the support of a foam without its tendency to trap heat. It's wrapped in a cotton shell for all around breathability. The filling is adjustable, too, which makes it good for people who want control over how much support (or not) they're getting.

Purple's Harmony pillow brings its signature stretchy latex honeycomb to its pillow, giving you a squishy feel that is underlaid with support. You can choose from a standard or king size and a low, medium, or high support height. The honeycomb is something you'll be able to feel through your pillow case, though. I have had a Purple mattress for years, and quickly got used to the feeling but it's not everyone's cup of tea.

For those who only want a cooling pillow sometimes and other times are looking for the regular soft squish of a standard pillow, this Leesa one has one quilted side and one cooling gel side.

Pillows, especially ones with any sort of upgrade like a cooling feature, can really get up there in terms of pricing. This Casper one is made with a microfiber fill and breathable cover. The gusset on the side is two inches wide, rather than just sewn together, to make for a fluffier feel.

Allswell puts a layer of cooling gel over its memory foam inside to make for a cool sensation every time you lay down on it. The knit cover is removable and machine washable, so you can get that clean, cool feeling every night.

Cozy Earth makes a cooling pillow with a mulberry silk inside and bamboo Viscose cover. It's silky and cool to the touch—ideal for creating that kind of hotel bed atmosphere at home. It looks as luxe as it feels.

Buffy's Cloud pillow feels like, ahem, a cloud. But actually. The whole brand was founded on making duvets that don't trap heat and it brought that penchant for coolness to its pillows. Choose your size (standard or king), firmness (soft, medium, heavy), and stack it with a set of three pillows for a whole set.

Listen, we told you brands have been getting real creative in their textile designs and this is exactly what we mean. Some super-hot sleepers swear by buckwheat pillows, which naturally lets air move through it rather than stick in one place and contribute to your overheating.

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