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For people who sleep hot, a good cooling pillow is a must. Beyond discomfort — which is a good enough reason to upgrade — overheating can actually affect the quality of your sleep, according to Dr. Janet Kennedy, a clinical psychologist and founder of NYC Sleep Doctor. “The temperature of the head regulates core body temperature,” Kennedy explains, and “the body needs to be cool to fall asleep and stay asleep.”
While I’m not an especially warm sleeper myself, I do live in the hot and humid South, and waking up with sweat-soaked hair is among my least-favorite experiences, so I intimately understand the appeal of cooling pillows. I’ve tested dozens of different pillows throughout my career as a sleep writer, many of which claim to be cooling, and I’ve found there are two main ways a pillow can deliver on that promise: It can either be breathable, which allows your body heat to escape through the cover and/or fill, or it can feel physically cold (or at least cooler than the average pillow), which I usually describe as feeling cool to the touch. So to put together this list of the best cooling pillows, I looked for options that incorporate breathable fabric and fill or cool-to-the-touch components, like phase-change materials — and in the best-case scenarios, both. I also polled other Strategist staffers for their recommendations and personally tested every single pillow that made the cut to assess just how cool they feel and how comfortable they are. For more great pillows, you can also check out our guides to the best bed pillows of all types and the best pillows for back sleepers and side sleepers.
Update on November 19, 2024: Updated prices and checked stock for all products.
What we’re looking for:
Fill type
Because a pillow’s fill makes up the bulk of the pillow, it will be the primary factor in determining how cool or hot it will be. The most common fill types are memory-foam, latex-foam, down, and down-alternative fills. Memory foam is typically the hottest; the dense material absorbs heat to contour around you and has little room for airflow. For foam that doesn’t trap as much heat, I prefer latex, which offers a similar amount of support as memory foam but tends to stay cooler than memory foam. Note that both memory and latex foam will be more breathable if they are cut into small pieces, instead of used as a single slab of foam. Perforations can also make a slab of foam more breathable. Down and synthetic down alternatives also generally allow for more airflow than a solid piece of foam.
Cover material
A pillow’s cover will also make a difference in how cooling it feels. Some are made from breathable, natural materials like cotton. Some are made from fabrics that are known to be temperature-regulating and moisture-wicking, like bamboo viscose or Tencel. Others genuinely feel cool to the touch, and may contain polyethylene (a type of plastic) or phase-change materials (PCMs), which are usually tiny fibers or gels that absorb or release heat depending on your body temperature to “literally temperature-regulate,” says textile expert and educator Deborah E. Young.
Firmness and loft
Any time you purchase a pillow, you need to pay attention to its firmness and loft. Firmness is how soft or stiff a pillow feels; loft is just pillow terminology for height. While everyone has personal preferences to consider, a good rule of thumb is that side sleepers need firmer, higher-loft pillow, stomach sleepers need softer, lower-loft pillows, and back sleepers need a medium firmness and medium loft. No matter your go-to sleeping position, you don’t want your pillow to lift your head too high or let it sink too low; instead, you want the right balance of firmness and loft to keep your head and neck in a neutral alignment with your spine. As I tested each pillow on this list, I tried them in different sleeping positions and made sure to include pillows that can work for back, side, stomach, and combination sleepers.
Best cooling pillow overall
Fill type: Shredded latex and kapok | Cover material: Organic cotton | Firmness: Adjustable | Loft: Adjustable
The Avocado Green pillow is filled with a mix of shredded latex and a natural fiber called kapok (so named because it comes from kapok trees), and you can add or remove fill to adjust the loft and firmness. Latex is one of my favorite pillow fills because it provides similar support to memory foam, but I find that it stays cooler. Even better is when the latex is shredded, as it is here, because it allows for more airflow than a single piece of latex. The kapok adds even more lightness and breathability — it’s like a natural version of fiberfill, which is commonly synthetic. Finally, in keeping with the breathability theme, the pillow also has an organic cotton cover.
While the Avocado Green pillow doesn’t feel cool to the touch, I’ve found it stays at a pleasantly neutral temperature. I like that it doesn’t use heat-trapping materials, so unlike other styles of pillow that have to counteract how hot they get with cool-to-the-touch add-ons, this one just doesn’t get too warm in the first place.
The adjustability of this pillow is another big plus. It arrives with a medium firmness and high loft; since I mainly sleep on my back, I had to unzip the pillow’s inner case and remove some filling to get the right loft, which was easy enough to do. Or, if you want a loftier and firmer pillow, you can add more filling — the pillow comes with an extra bag of fill. Additionally, because the fill isn’t solid, you can mold the pillow and shape it around your head and neck just the way you want. This adjustability, combined with high-quality breathable materials and a fair price of just over $100 per pillow, make the Avocado Green pillow my top pick for a cooling pillow.
Best memory-foam cooling pillow
Fill type: Memory foam with gel pads | Cover material: Cotton | Firmness: Medium-firm | Loft: High
Lots of memory-foam pillows use infusions of gel, graphite, copper, and other materials to counteract the foam’s tendency to trap body heat. I typically don’t find these infusions to be noticeably effective, but Tempur-Pedic’s Tempur-Cloud Breeze Dual Cooling pillow is a major exception. The pillow has large gel pads on both sides that span nearly the whole surface and genuinely feel cool to the touch. And because there is a gel pad on each side, you can always flip the pillow over if you still start to feel too warm.
I also really like the feel of the memory foam in this pillow (Tempur-Pedic uses its proprietary foam, called Tempur Material), which is a nice balance between support and cushioning. The foam is deeply contouring and cradles your head to provide comfortable neck support. The pillow also has a fairly high loft, making it a great pick for side sleepers in particular. When Strategist writer Brenley Goertzen, a stomach-and-side combination sleeper, tested the Tempur-Cloud Breeze, her first impression was that it was quite tall compared to other pillows she’s slept on, especially since she often needs a lower-loft pillow. But Goertzen reports that after lying down, the pillow slowly molded around her neck and head, and it was especially comfortable when lying on her side. As someone who often goes to bed feeling a bit cold but wakes up drenched in sweat, Goertzen says this pillow does an excellent job of regulating her body temperature throughout the night.
My only major con for this pillow is the price — $200 is a lot for a single pillow. But for that price, it provides very effective cooling on memory foam, a material that easily traps heat.
Best adjustable cooling pillow
Fill type: Cross-cut gel-infused memory-foam and microfiber | Cover material: Polyester-bamboo blend | Firmness: Adjustable | Loft: Adjustable
The EdenCool pillow from Coop is adjustable with breathable fill that blends crosscut memory foam with microfiber. Crosscut memory foam is extremely similar to shredded; both result in a bunch of small pieces of foam, but crosscutting produces more evenly sized chunks for an ever so slightly more consistent feel (though, realistically, most people won’t notice the difference). The EdenCool pillow is pretty similar to our top-pick bed pillow and Coop’s flagship product, the Coop Sleep Goods Original — the main differences are the gel infusion in memory foam and a mesh gusset, which allows for some additional airflow and gives the pillow a slightly more square shape, compared to the Original. Compared to the Tempur-Cloud Breeze Dual Cooling pillow, I wouldn’t say the cooling effect is as noticeable when touching the gel-infused foam inside the EdenCool, but if you prefer an adjustable pillow, it’s a good option. (It’s also worth noting that you can buy Coop’s gel-infused fill separately, if you want to try adding it to an adjustable pillow that you already have.)
Best latex cooling pillow
Fill type: Talalay latex foam | Cover material: Nylon-spandex blend with moisture-wicking treatment | Firmness: Medium | Loft: Low, medium, or high
The Purple Harmony is my personal favorite pillow — I named it our best latex pillow and our best pillow for back sleepers, as I am primarily a back sleeper and this is the pillow I’ve been most happily sleeping on for over a year. In addition to comfort, one of its greatest qualities is how cool it stays, thanks to its perforated-latex core and Purple’s signature gel grid, which promotes additional airflow. Latex generally stays cooler than memory foam, and after the lengthy test period that I’ve been sleeping with this pillow, I can confidently say it doesn’t trap heat. I often get a nice initial blast of coolness when I lie down for the night, after the pillow has gone untouched all day, and even as that initial coolness dissipates, I do not overheat.
The Talalay latex fill gives the Purple Harmony a buoyant, responsive feel and a medium firmness that can work well for a variety of people. (The pillow’s gel grid still gives it some of the contouring feel of memory foam, but overall the pillow is not as sinky feeling as many memory-foam pillows.) It also comes in three lofts, so you can choose the height best suited for your primary sleeping position and body size.
Best down-alternative cooling pillow
Fill type: Recycled plastic down-alternative fill | Cover material: Tencel | Firmness: Soft, medium, or firm | Loft: Varies
Down-alternative pillows are meant to mimic the feeling of down pillows without the actual animal product. They can be filled with a variety of different materials to conjure the fluffy feel of down, but most are some kind of synthetic fiber. The Buffy Cloud pillow puts a more ecofriendly twist on synthetic fill by using PET fill made from recycled plastic bottles. The filling is also certified by the Global Recycled Standard to verify the content and is certified to be BPA free. Another ecofriendly addition to this pillow is the cover, made of moisture-wicking Tencel, a natural fiber derived from wood pulp. When I tested this pillow, I found that it maintained a pleasantly cool feel.
This pillow comes in three firmness levels. I tried the soft model, and it is super plush and compressive — ideal for stomach sleepers. It had a low loft, which was also great for stomach sleeping, but the medium and firm models will be slightly taller and better for back and side sleepers, respectively, as they contain more filling (26 ounces for the soft, 29 ounces for the medium, and 34 ounces for the firm).
Best natural down-alternative cooling pillow
Fill type: Mulberry silk | Cover material: Bamboo viscose | Firmness: Soft | Loft: Low
Silk is one of the most luxurious — and cooling — materials out there. The fiber, derived from the cocoons of silkworms, is breathable and often feels cool to the touch. I sleep on a silk pillowcase every night in hopes of added hair and skin benefits, but also for the pleasantly chilly feeling of the fabric. This pillow from Cozy Earth is actually filled with mulberry silk, so it is not only incredibly plush and soft, it also stays quite cool. Encasing the silk fill is a cover made of bamboo viscose — a great fabric for temperature regulation and wicking away moisture. Senior editor Simone Kitchens regularly sleeps with this pillow and says the silk fill is very breathable, particularly because it isn’t very dense. “You really get a sense of that when you fluff it around,” she says, and reports that the cover feels supersoft and breathable too.
After testing this pillow myself, I agree with Kitchens — the entire pillow feels cool and airy. It is extremely soft and compresses a lot beneath my head and neck, which I found makes it very comfortable for stomach sleeping. I tend to sleep on my back, so I tested it in that position too; I think it could work for some back sleepers, but I had to fold and scrunch the pillow to get the level of support that I was looking for. Kitchens, who swaps between sleeping on her back and on her side, stacks the Cozy Earth Silk pillow on top of a firmer pillow to get the optimal level of plushness and support. She also uses it like a body pillow sometimes, hugging it when sleeping on her side.
While silk is a nice natural alternative to synthetic fiber fills, it’s worth noting that silk is an animal product, so this pillow is not a great choice for vegans or others who want to avoid buying animal products.
Best hybrid cooling pillow
Fill type: Polyurethane foam and recycled plastic fiber fill | Cover material: Nylon, Spandex, and polyester blend with phase change material | Firmness: Medium | Loft: Medium-high
Casper’s Hybrid Snow pillow is something of a foam sandwich (yum!) with two slabs of polyurethane foam as the bread and synthetic fiber fill in between. This “hybrid” construction makes the pillow supportive, without being overly firm, and plush, without being too solid or dense. The Casper Hybrid pillow was originally recommended to me by chiropractor Dr. Jordan Duncan when I reported on the best pillows for back sleepers, but I’ve since tried this “Snow” version of the pillow, which has a phase-change material cover to give the pillow a cool-to-the-touch feel and Casper’s “HeatDelete bands” of gel on the outer foam layers. When I first lay down on the Casper Hybrid Snow, I was impressed with how noticeably cool it felt against my face. I slept with it for a few nights, and while my pillowcase slightly limited the cooling effect, I still didn’t overheat. Aside from the cooling cover and gel, I think the hybrid construction is more breathable than a fully foam pillow, as there’s some room for air to flow through the fiber fill.
Just like the non-cooling version of this pillow, the Casper Hybrid Snow is a great pick for back sleepers as well as some side sleepers. The medium firmness provides plenty of neck support, but it still has enough give to squish a little. The pillow’s loft is somewhat high, at six inches tall, but the pillow compressed enough under the weight of my head that it kept my neck in alignment.
Some more cooling bedding we’ve written about
Our experts
• Brenley Goertzen, Strategist writer
• Dr. Janet Kennedy, clinical psychologist and founder of NYC Sleep Doctor
• Simone Kitchens, Strategist senior editor
• Deborah E. Young, textile expert and educator
Additional reporting by Latifah Miles and Brenley Goertzen.
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