I know from personal experience what it’s like to be a hot sleeper and apparently I’m far from alone. One of the most common sleep complaints in the U.S. today is hot sleeping. Being too hot when you sleep can result from several things, including menopause or perimenopause, medications, medical issues, and more.
Whatever the cause, most mattresses don’t help the problem, as they trap heat. The good news is that the technology behind cooling mattresses has advanced tremendously in recent years. At the same time, the market is saturated with mattresses that simply put the words “cooling” on a gel bead cover and call it a day.
After time spent researching the top-rated cooling mattress options and extensive testing in our product tester’s home, one mattress came out on top: the Brooklyn Bedding Aurora Luxe Cooling Mattress.
Below, I’ll share what to look for when shopping for a cooling mattress, and what features really make a difference in the quality of your rest.
Why Sleeping Hot Is More Than Just Uncomfortable
It’s long been known that sleep quality is affected directly by temperature. Your core body temperature naturally decreases as you fall asleep and anything that gets in the way of that lower temperature can pull you out of deep sleep stages and keep you in lighter or more fragmented sleep. This might happen because you’re sleeping on a mattress that traps heat, a cover that doesn’t breathe, or a foam layer that retains moisture.
Being a hot sleeper isn’t a simple inconvenience. It can result in waking up multiple times a night and never getting the full restorative sleep you need. In relationships where only one partner sleeps hot, tension can develop over the thermostat setting.
Although a traditional memory foam mattress can be very comfortable, it’s a sponge for body heat. Dense foam, on the other hand, does allow air to circulate, but it doesn’t get drawn away from the body, leaving the surface temperature steadily rising through the night.
A true cooling mattress works quite differently. It might have conductive materials that pull heat away from your body, open-cell foam, or hybrid coil systems that provide natural ventilation through the mattress core. The best cooling mattresses will typically combine multiple approaches, rather than relying on a single feature.
Who Should Buy the Brooklyn Bedding Aurora Luxe
The Aurora Luxe is well-suited for:
- Hot sleepers who have tried Gelfoam mattresses and haven’t been satisfied.
- People experiencing night sweats, especially those going through perimenopause or menopause.
- Side sleepers who need cooling but can’t tolerate pressure on the hips and shoulders.
- Back sleepers who want firm zoned support with temperature regulation built in.
- Those who like memory foam but can’t tolerate trapped heat will benefit from the CopperFlex layer, which delivers the contouring and responsiveness of traditional memory foam without the heat retention.
A quick tip for lighter-weight sleepers: if you choose the firm model, you may find it a bit stiffer. If you like a deep sink-in feeling, you may be better off with the soft-firmness option or adding the optional cloud pillow top for additional contouring.
Layer Breakdown of the Brooklyn Bedding Aurora Cooling Mattress
The Aurora Luxe isn’t just a standard mattress with a cooling cover attached. Instead, this mattress was built specifically around the concept of temperature regulation, with several layers contributing to the overall cooling system in various ways.
GlacioTex Cooling Cover
The first layer that you come into contact with on a mattress matters the most. During the day, your average skin temperature is around 91 degrees Fahrenheit. During sleep, however, your skin temperature is more like 88 degrees Fahrenheit. The GlacioTex™ Cooling Cover is made from cool-to-the-touch fabric featuring cooling-tech fibers. It removes excess heat from the sleep surface, which stays at a comfortable temperature all night.
The GlacioTex system works in phases. It includes phase-change molecules called TitanCool on the surface to moderate your temperature. Cooling gel beads liquefy at higher temperatures to deliver cooling relief, and solidify at lower temperatures to ensure an ideal sleep environment. The result is a cover that not only feels cool to the touch initially, but it also regulates temperature throughout the night.
TitanCool
TitanCool is the temperature-regulating material in the GlacioTex system that can melt into a liquid or solidify to absorb/release heat, maintaining your skin temperature at a constant 88°F.
CopperFlex Foam
The CopperFlex gel foam comfort layer sits immediately beneath the cover. Copper is highly conductive. It draws heat away from the body and is infused directly into the foam. Copper also provides antibacterial properties, while the gel component helps regulate temperature. This layer works in tandem with TitanCool.
The combination of GlacioTex, TitanCool, and CopperFlex results in very little heat buildup. This makes the Aurora particularly well-suited for hot sleepers who like the pressure relief feel of memory foam. But, there’s even more.
Cooling Foam (TitanCool or ThermoPhase)
This is a foam layer and is the cooling core. Either TitanCool (melts/solidifies to absorb/release heat) or ThermoPhase foam (infused with Phase-change Material to regulate temperature) is infused in the foam. This layer actively manages body heat, keeping the sleeper at an ideal temperature.
Ascension Zoned Coil System
Located beneath the comfort layers, this system consists of 1,032 individually encased coils. It gives the Aurora an advantage over strictly foam-based cooling mattresses. Its open-coil structure supports continuous airflow through the center of the mattress, helping prevent heat retention. Dense foam can’t do that. It also provides firmer support under the lumbar area and softer responsiveness at the shoulders. This enables pressure relief even if you change sleep positions.
Three Firmness Options
If you’re shopping for an Aurora Luxe, you will find it available in soft, medium firm, and firm. This enables you to purchase a mattress for its cooling features without sacrificing comfort.
Living (and Sleeping) With the Mattress: One Tester’s Experience
Stephanie Hope, Certified Sleep Science Coach, has a perspective that no lab test or reviewer can replicate, because she lives with the Aurora Luxe in her home. Real-world use across different seasons, different room temperatures, and different sleeping positions can tell a lot more about a mattress than what you learn in a controlled, testing environment.
Stephanie reports, “On the first night, the very first thing I noticed was that the surface actually felt cool when I got into bed, not just neutral, but noticeably cool to the touch. Over the first week, what really stuck out was how consistent it felt.”
When asked how she felt about the Aurora Luxe compared to her previous mattresses, Stephanie responded, “My old mattress would start off fine and then feel warm by the middle of the night, but with the Aurora Luxe, I didn’t have that same buildup of heat. I still had nights where the room itself was warmer, but the mattress never made it worse, which honestly felt like a win.”
How the Aurora Compares to Alternatives
When the Aurora Luxe was compared to some of the other top contenders, this is what was found:
Helix Midnight Luxe
The Helix Midnight Luxe is a competitor to Aurora, with legitimate reason. They use the same GlacioTex cooling cover if purchased with the cooling upgrade, one of the key differences. On the Helix, the GlacioTex is an upgrade option. The Aurora Luxe’s GlacioTex is built into the base product. The Aurora also has three firmness options, while the Midnight Luxe has only one: a single medium-firm build. For consumers who are clearly shopping for a temperature solution, not just an extra nice-to-have feature, the Aurora Luxe’s built-in cooling gives it the edge.
Purple RestorePlus Hybrid
The cooling system in this mattress differs from that of the Aurora Luxe. They use what’s called a GelFlex Grid instead of foam and, just like the Aurora, it performs well at preventing heat buildup. This can be a reasonable choice for hot sleepers, as the grid has open-air channels. However, it sits in a much higher price bracket and has a different feel, as the grid gives it a high-bounce, less-contouring feel than foam (which may bother some sleepers, especially those who sleep on their side and need more pressure relief at the hips and shoulders).
Tempur-Breeze
The Tempur-Breeze is part of the Tempur-Pedic Breeze Collection and sits in an even higher price bracket. Tempur-Breeze claims to keep sleepers up to 10 degrees cooler through the night. If you have the budget and a serious temperature problem, this may be the right option for you. On the other hand, it has a dense, slow-response feel of memory foam. If you’re a hot sleeper but you still want responsive support, this may not be for you. In reported testing, the Tempur-Pedic foam models score significantly lower on cooling than the Tempur-Pedic LuxeBreeze Premium line, so the brand’s reputation for cooling doesn’t apply to its entire lineup.
DreamCloud Classic
If you’re someone who runs slightly warmer during the night, not miserably hot, and your budget is limited, you may be interested in the DreamCloud Classic. It has gel-infused memory foam and a breathable coil layer and is at a much more affordable price. It can serve as a reasonable starting point for those who aren’t having a hot sleeping crisis. It definitely doesn’t have the layered cooling technology of the Aurora Luxe. There’s no GlacioTex cover and no CopperFlex foam, but again, it may be for you if you want to start with something less expensive and you’re only slightly warmer than normal.
Features That Matter vs. Marketing Claims
There’s a real difference between demonstrated, tested performance and brand claims for any product. This is especially true for cooling mattresses.
What Works:
The following features can help create or maintain cooling.
- Phase-change materials, if they’re used at the cover or comfort layer level.
- Copper-infused foam to draw heat away.
- Open cell foam construction to provide better air flow than traditional dense foam.
- Hybrid coil cores for passive ventilation.
- Materials like Tencel or GlacioTex fibers used in covers have been proven to dissipate heat on contact.
What’s Often Overstated:
- Cooling claims are often associated with generic gel memory foam that lacks specific phase-change properties and may only offer minimal temperature benefits.
- Likewise, there are thin polyester-blend covers described as breathable that offer very little actual temperature change.
- Single-layer cooling approaches, like a gel cover over standard foam, may feel cool initially but do not prevent heat buildup during hours of sleep.
One advantage of Aurora Luxe is that it doesn’t rely on just one mechanism. By combining the CopperFlex foam, the GlacioTex cover, the open-cell foam layer, and the hybrid coil core, you get a winning combination to help address your hot-sleeper situation.
When asked if the Aurora Luxe had improved her sleep quality, Stephanie added, “I’m someone who usually wakes up and flips my pillow or kicks off the covers at some point, and I found myself doing that a lot less. It didn’t feel like it was actively cooling me, but it also never felt like it was working against me, which made a bigger difference than I expected.”
The Bottom Line
Cooling mattresses “aren’t what they used to be,” but in this case, that expression just means they’re even better. The Brooklyn Bedding Aurora Luxe represents the current benchmark for what you can actually expect in this category. With its layered approach featuring the GlacioTex cover, the CopperFlex phase-change foam, the open-cell comfort layers, and a ventilated coil core, you can achieve results that have been consistently validated.
There are three different firmness options, a 120-night trial, and a 10-year warranty. It also sits at a price point that’s certainly in the premium zone, but is far more accessible than the luxury tier. If you are a hot sleeper who’s just been using a fan, kicking off the covers, and losing quality sleep every night, the Aurora Luxe might just be the mattress for you.