Help. I am in terrible pain. I bought a “Prana Sleep Karma Sky Luxury Firm” at City Mattress. It supports me well, but after only 2-3 hours, my body actually hurts from the warmth. The whole mattress becomes warm to the touch. I have MS and the warmth makes me feel very sick. I was told there is no memory foam in it, and it would be cool. I was told in City Mattress that it is Talalay latex . The store said it " features a comfort layer of Everlast™ 400 and CertiPUR foams along with layers of PranaSleep Performance Talalay latex" . A salesman in another store looked up the stats and told me it’s 11" of layers contain the following: 2" quilt layer,1"soft HD polyfoam, 1" Firm HD polyfoam, and the Comfort layer contains: 1" latex , and 1" 4 lb density Everlast cooling layer. So the latex is deep within the mattress. The mattress was represented to me as one that does not get hot. The salesman in other store, thought it odd that the latex was buried so deep. I was told in City Mattress that the mattress was talalay latex and did not generate the heat. I have tried a gel pad, a cotten pad, and 2 wool blankets all covering the mattress. Sometimes all of these together. Nothing works. I wake up feeling ill like I am sleeping on a heating pad. It makes my body ache for hours during the day, and my brain not function. I have not slept for weeks. Is there any product with which I can block the heat.? The mattress is worthless to me.
I bought it on sale as a previous store return, and thus cannot return it. It supports my bad back very well. Is there anything I can do? Thank you very much ahead of time for your suggestions. Frances
I’m sorry to hear of the difficulties you’re having and pain your experiencing due to heat issues. While it’s unfortunate that there may have been some communication problems or inconsistencies with what the salespeople told you about the mattress, at least you find that it is supporting your bad back very well so the only issue you have to resolve is that of the heat.
One thing to realize is that the mattress is not actually generating heat but rather building up and reflecting the heat from your body. So given that you bought it with the understanding that it cannot be returned all you can do is to pursue finding a topper of some type that will more effectively absorb and dissipate the heat from your body rather than reflecting it. There are some mattress protectors which are specifically designed with temperature regulating materials to do just that, but of course they work to varying degrees (no pun intended!) of effectiveness for different people.
It would be ideal to find a product that is sold with a money back trial period, and one such protector I’m aware of is the Nest Bedding Cooling Mattress Protector. Nest is a current member of this forum and this protector is sold with a 100 night guarantee as stated on the linked product page. A product like that might be worth a try to see how effectively it will work for you which is the bottom line. There are other similar products on the market designed to help dissipate body heat buildup but most are not sold with a return privilege. I hope this helps and that you’re soon able to find a solution to your problem!
Hi Sweet Dreams, thank you very much for answering. Can you tell me what you think the difference is between the Nest Bedding protector that you recommend and the BedGear Vortex 6.0 for $250. Someone told me they used the Vortex 6 one, and it did not work at all after 3 hours.There is also a Vortex Dry tech 5.0 for $129. I bought another perhaps less good for $100 at Target. It worked for 2 hours, but is returnable.
I am sleeping with cotton sheets and few blankets in a cool climate, and I wake up freezing on top of my body and burning on the bottom of my body. The places where my body heats up has residual pain for about 4 hours into the morning. With more heat in the air it is unbearable.
Is there a way to cover the mattress with a barrier like many wool blankets (Ive tried 2 blankets) or use a DOWN mattress protector ? - a friend recommended that. But it seems to me the built-up heat with be “held” in by the down…
I am thinking of buying a new mattress if I can afford it. But I am afraid this will happen again. One salesman said the only inexpensive mattress besides Talalaly is to buy a cheap coil one with hardly any foam on it. (Old fashioned.) I like firm mattresses.
My new Prana Sky Firm one seems to be slightly soft on top.Are you familiar with the Prana Sky Firm? Do you work for Nest Bedding? Thank you for your immediate reply. I’m quite desperate and sleep deprived. BTW there was no miscommunication in the store. They asserted strongly that it was not a “hot” mattress. I asked multiple times, and they said it was Talalay…When I told them later how hot it was, they said that was “impossible” . Thanks so much for your interest and reply.
I do not work for anyone in the mattress industry, just a consumer who has become a bit ‘mattress obsessed’! I don’t have any first hand experience with the Nest Bedding protector I mentioned as a possibility for you to consider, just recalled that it has some cooling properties in its design objectives and is sold with a return option. I am also not familiar with the Prana mattress that you have, nor do I have any knowledge about the BedGear products or how they would compare to the Nest.
Sorry I can’t be of more help, but I’m sure that Phoenix will be better qualified to address some of your issues more specifically. I’ve heard that wool is used by some to provide a bit of comfort and a layer which can allow some air circulation for a cooling effect, but personally I find wool to be very hot to sleep on as it seems to reflect my body heat. So I avoid any wool products in my mattress covers or quilts, but everyone can have different reactions to various materials.
I’m sorry I can’t be of more help to your specific issues and hope you’re able to find a solution in short order!
I’m sorry to hear about your pain and how sleeping warmer negatively impacts your MS.
The specifications I have on hand for the PranaSleep Karma Sky Luxury Firm are as follows.
Quilt Panel:
FR layer
1" plush 1.5 lb polyfoam
1" firm 1.5 lb polyfoam
Comfort layers:
1" Talalay latex
1" 4lb Everlast polyfoam
Support Core:
Pocketed coil spring unit with thicker gauge edge (15 vs. 13.75)
1" 1.45 base polyfoam
The sleeping microclimate depends of course upon the entirety of the materials within the mattress, with the layers closest to your skin having the most dramatic impact. Additionally, all foams are insulators to a degree, and the more you sink into a mattress, the more potential there is for you to be more insulated and have less of your surface area exposed for heat exchange, and to sleep warmer.
I’m not sure why the salesman would be surprised with the location of the latex within the mattress, as designers will locate foams in in various regions within a mattress to achieve certain levels of comfort. This mattress uses a quilt panel with polyfoam in it (while there is quiltable latex it isn’t commonly used), and the latex is used just beneath that for a durable comfort/transition layer, which is quite common in innerspring mattresses. It all depends upon the comfort the designer is attempting to achieve with a particular model.
Foams themselves don’t “generate” heat (some are better at distributing your heat and retaining less heat), and Talalay latex tends to be the most breathable of all the common foams used within a mattress. But as I mentioned earlier, your mattress microclimate depends upon a number of things.
Post #2 here speaks in a bit more detail about different sheet and protector materials that can assist with cooler sleep, as well as the effectiveness fo phase change materials used in some mattress pads and sheets. Natural fibers tend to work better for a mattress pad material. A thin wool pad might be able to assist a bit with being more “temperature neutral”, and it might also assist with having you sink in less into the mattress, which can also assist with sleeping warmer. Viscose can also be a good choice.
The heat is coming from your body, not the mattress, so the goal would be to find something that distributes your heat as best possible. If the mattress allows you to sink in too deeply and insulates you too much, there will be a limit to what a mattress pad and fitted sheets can do. If the suggestions in the links I’ve provided don’t work for you, there is a type of mattress pad that circulates water and does tend to provide relief to those with very specific heat issues. It’s called the chilipad, and you may wish to investigate it, but it is quite costly.
