We are shopping for a queen-size Diamond mattress to replace our current king-size latex (we’re down-sizing).
We LOVE our latex mattress — it is like sleeping on a cloud and is Heaven to get into every night, even after several years.
However, it is HOT. We wake up frequently during the night, tossing and turning to find a cool spot. It seems my sleep pattern drastically changed after we bought this mattress and I believe the warmth of this mattress is the reason. While renovating our bedroom, we moved it into another room just inches from a window which we keep open all night. A cool breeze blows on us during the night, and I haven’t slept like this since before we bought the mattress. I’m sleeping again! But, alas, we must replace it with a smaller one for our own room.
The manager of a local independent furniture store steered us away from the Big S mattresses and recommended a Diamond instead. Diamond uses Cool GEL technology and Cool Touch memory foam for a cooler night’s sleep. We love the comfort of latex, but we’re afraid of another hot mattress. We are fairly tall (5’9" and 6’) but not heavy (140 and 165) and both of us are side sleepers.
In order to avoid a severe case of Analysis Paralysis over every detail of the construction, we’re tempted to just ask for a soft, cool, and durable mattress. We’re willing to pay a little more for one that is soft AND cool. But — do the Cool GEL and Cool Touch really work?
It would be interesting to know the details (or the make and model) or your mattress to see if you can identify the possible reasons why it sleeps hot for you. Post #2 here has more information about the many factors that can be involved in sleeping temperatures and In many cases it can be other materials in the mattress (there are many mattresses that are sold as latex mattresses that have thick layers of polyfoam on top or that only have minimal layers of latex) and the qulting material, the mattress cover, the mattress protector, any mattress pads and toppers, and your bedding can all play a major role in the sleeping temperature of a mattress. Knowing why your current mattress sleeps hot can also provide some useful guidelines for your next mattress purchase.
As you can see in post #1 here and some of the links and guidelines it contains … I would also suggest that you avoid major brands. I would also avoid any mattress where you aren’t able to easily find out the type and quality of all the materials in the mattress. For the most part … gel memory foam (or any memory foam) is less breathable than latex. You can read a little more about gel memory foams here and as you can see the gel can have some cooling benefit for a short period of time when you are going to sleep until temperatures equalize at which point the memory foam will become an insulator that is less breathable than latex.
Most of what you hear about gel (or any other topic about mattresses including durability) is often more about marketing than it is about fact. The goal is always to ask “why” when you hear a specific claim (about cooling or durability or any other “benefit” of a certain mattress) and if the answers you receive don’t make sense or can’t be validated with specifics about the material that produces the “benefit” (in the case of durability for example with the density of the foam in the mattress) then it is more about what someone wants you to believe so they can sell a mattress than it is about educating you about the real differences between diffrent mattresses and materials.
Gel foams can help with cooling on a temporary basis (depending on the gel percentage) but they don’t control temperature over the course of the night. Gel is not as effective a “technology” as moisture wicking and ventilation for regulating temperature over the course of the night and the breathability of a foam is still the most important part of how it contributes (or doesn’t) to temperature regulation along with the other factors mentioned in the previous link that are just as important a part of how cool a mattress sleeps as the foam used in the mattress.