A cool, comfortable sleep environment is essential for a restful night, but research has shown that 57% of Americans report sleeping hot at least some of the time. One way to combat this is considering a mattresses with a cover made using GlacioTex, a material with high conductivity fibers that absorb body heat to keep hot flushes at bay during the night.
Since many brands behind this year's best mattresses for all sleepers and budgets feature this cooling technology, it's likely that you've seen the term GlacioTex if you're on the hunt for a new mattress. But how does this material actually work, and is it effective?
If you're a naturally hot sleeper or you experience hot flashes, finding the right mattress is essential for an undisturbed and comfortable night's sleep. So, is GlacioTex the right material for you? Let's take a closer look.
What is GlacioTex?
GlacioTex is a fabric made of fibers with high thermal conductivity. What this means, in practical terms, is that it quickly and effectively pulls heat away from your body, to help you stay cool and comfortable while you sleep.
That's not all. GlacioTex is also hypoallergenic and waterproof, meaning it will help protect you and your mattress against a whole host of issues, from dust mites, to bacteria, spills, and stains.
While there isn't much information available about who created GlacioTex, it is a common feature in mattresses from brands under the 3Z umbrella, including Brooklyn Bedding, Nolah and Helix, and is typically used in these brands' mattress protectors or within cooling covers that are sewn onto the top layer of mattresses.
Cooling mattresses with GlacioTex covers
While our best cooling mattress of the year all use different materials and cooling methods to help deliver a better, cooler sleep experience, these are our top-performing mattresses and mattress protectors that include GlacioTex:
- Brooklyn Bedding Aurora Luxe mattress
- Helix Midnight Luxe mattress (optional GlacioTex Pillow Top upgrade)
- Nolah GlacioTex Cooling Mattress Protector
- Bear GlacioTex Protector
How does GlacioTex keep you cool?
As part of our natural circadian rhythm, a drop in body temperature signals to the body that it's time to sleep. This means that a cooler bed can help you fall asleep faster and lead to a more restorative night's rest (who wants to be tossing and turning at night trying to escape the hot areas of the bed, after all).
The high thermal conductivity fibers in GlacioTex work to transfer heat away from the air and your body, which means GlacioTex fabric remains cool to touch. As well as creating a sleep surface that feels comfortably cool as soon as you lie down. This also helps to prevent you getting hot through the night.
GlacioTex alternatives in cooling mattresses
While GlacioTex is included in some of our top-rated cooling mattresses, it isn’t the only effective cooling method. Here are five other materials and mattress constructions we recommend hot sleepers consider while choosing a mattress:
1. Spring and hybrid construction
Innerspring mattresses generally sleep the coolest out of all mattress types, as the empty space between coils promotes the most airflow. Yet despite a structure that allows for the cooling flow of air, innerspring mattresses are not known to be the most cushioning, or all that good at isolating motion.
As more people are looking to invest in a luxury sleep experience at home, and brands are upping their game to provide the most cutting edge offerings, hybrid mattresses have become more popular. These offer a combination of the sturdy support and strong temperature regulation of springs and the cradling comfort of foam.
The best hybrid mattresses are naturally cooler than all-foam mattresses thanks to open coil structures that allow for airflow. The coil layers in these mattresses help to dissipate heat that would get trapped in their all-foam counterparts.
2. Smart cooling technology
Smart beds don't come cheap, but they do offer high-end technology designed to give you the best quality sleep possible. Independent, automatic temperature regulation is the one of the outstanding features you can find in smart bed systems like the Eight Sleep Pod 3.
This bed has advanced temperature control technology that can track the body temperature of two sleepers independently throughout the night, adjusting the warmth of each side of the bed accordingly to make sure you remain at the optimal sleep temperature recommended by experts (between 20 and 25 °C / 68 and 77 F).
3. Breathable materials
Alongside GlacioTex, there are many breathable materials that are naturally cooler than others. For example, organic materials, 'cool-to-touch' textiles and moisture-wicking fabrics.
Natural mattress fillings, such as wool in sprung mattresses and cotton coverings, rather than their synthetic counterparts, like polyester, are less likely to trap heat. This is because natural materials tend to have breathable, open-cell structures, whereas synthetic materials often have closed-cell structures. Moisture-wicking fabrics, meanwhile, draw moisture away from your body, which can aid a cooler night's sleep. These include the likes of Tencel, viscose and lyocell.
Phase change materials (PCM) which efficiently absorb and release thermal energy by changing from one 'phase' to another, are also used in cooling mattresses to help regulate body temperature.
4. Copper-infused foam
Memory foam mattresses typically have a reputation for holding on to heat, but the brands behind the best memory foam mattresses are working hard to find solutions that make their all-foam offerings cooler.
One solution that is becoming increasingly popular is infusing foam with elements that have high thermal conductivity, like copper. When copper particles are embedded in mattresses, they can act as a conduit to draw heat away from your body.
The result? Hot sleepers don't have to miss out on the blissful pressure relief and hugging comfort of memory foam and can still sleep cool.
5. Cooling gel
Foam acts like a sponge, soaking up body heat and warm air. To keep hot-sleeping memory foam lovers happy, sleep brands often add heat-dissipating polymer gel to their foam mattresses and cooling gel mattress toppers.
When you lie on the gel-infused mattress, the gel absorbs body heat, preventing it from building up on the mattress surface. The absorbed heat is then distributed across the mattress, helping to maintain a more even temperature.
Does every cooling mattress need GlacioTex?
As we've explored here, there are many ways mattresses can offer a cool, comfortable sleep. GlacioTex is certainly one effective method of regulating body temperature during the night, but it sits alongside a raft of other options.
It's important to consider the mattress qualities that are most important to you, and if cooling is right at the top of the list, then be sure to check the structure and materials of the bed you're considering before investing.
