If you are looking for the best cooling pillow on the market, then you have come to the right page, as we have managed to find seven great ones including the best cooling pillow for night sweats and hot flashes. Cooling pillows help people sleep soundly by providing softness, comfort, and support while at the same time keeping your head free from fevers and hot sweats.
Cooling pillows, or chillows as they are sometimes called, have a variety of ways of keeping you cool depending on many different factors including what the pillow is made of and how it is structured to fit your neck and head. Cooling pillows are also made of all kinds of different materials including gel, memory foam and even buckwheat. We also looked at the size, weight, density, cover material and other things that make up the perfect cooling pillow for you.
While compiling this review, we spent tens of hours poring over product descriptions and manufacturer’s notes. We also browsed the reviews section of both big and small vendor websites to see what consumers were saying about chillows. We then created a comparison chart, complete with descriptions and a concise, informative buying guide to help you find the best cooling pillow for your purposes. The WEEKENDER Ventilated Gel Memory Foam Pillow was chosen as our Editor’s Choice.
More features: ventilated design; 5-inch loft; removable machine washable cover
This affordable memory foam pillow is deep and soft yet firm enough to be supportive of your neck and spine. It is infused with temperature regulating gel that helps keep this pillow cool on the skin. The series of holes in the foam maximize air circulation, reducing the discomfort of fevers, hot flashes and the kind of stifling humidity that is so smothering on a hot summer’s night. The cross-stitched removable cotton cover is cool to the cheek, unzips easily and is completely machine washable.
This cooling gel pillow is firmer than traditional down ones, but it still boosts your comfort with a plush feeling of its five-inch loft. It is available in three sizes, and each is ergonomically designed to prevent neck pain. It also impressed us because it comes with a three-year limited warranty.
Online reviews say that this pillow is the next best thing to sleeping on a pillow filled with real feathers. The height of it also makes it great for people who sleep on their side and need just a bit of room to comfortably sleep with their neck supported on top and their shoulder slipped just below; this can help prevent the numbness and tingling in the arms and fingers that many people experience as the result of sleeping on a pillow that is too soft and too low in height.
More features: the filling can be removed or added; zippered cover
Buckwheat pillows are not a new idea, they have been used for centuries in Japan to support the head and neck and cool feverish minds. The great thing about this pillow is that you can contour it fit your head, as you like. It is called a Zen Chi pillow, because the word Zen means peace and Chi means energy, so if you use it you are guaranteed a great night’s rest.
This classy, all-natural pillow features a premier cotton cover with 400 count thread, so you know that this pillow is never going rip and spill its contents, which happens to be thousands of tiny buckwheat seed hulls. For extra protection, the buckwheat hulls are also encased securely in a center case pillow insert that keeps it free from tearing, mold and bugs. Don’t be deterred by the thought of cleaning this hip, green-minded cooling pillow, as it can easily be thrown in the wash and then tumble-dried. You can also be comforted by the fact that if for any reason you are not happy with the Zen Chi pillow, that it comes with a 100% guarantee, meaning that you can return it at any time with no questions asked.
This buckwheat pillow is quite big, fitting all queen-sized pillowcases at 20 by 30 inches. It is also great for people who may suffer allergic reactions from the gel or memory foam cooling pillows.
More features: two lofts are available; CertiPUR-US certified
This best cooling memory foam pillow is a plush model with quite a complex construction that offers sleepers a cool, airy sleeping experience. The Z in the name Malouf Z Gel Dough Memory Foam Pill stands for “zoned dough” which is a way of describing the top layer of foam, which is full of holes. These holes allow your skin to breathe. Below this top layer, there is a single layer non-ventilated memory foam that provides support.
This lofty pillow comes in Standard, Queen and King sizes with the Standard being 16” by 25”, the Queen being 16” by 29” and the King being 16” by 35”. The pillow is also available in two styles: the High Loft, and the Mid Loft. This pillow’s pin-core has received rave reviews for helping to eliminate neck and head pain, and it is highly recommended for those who like to sleep on their back.
The velour slipcover is very soft and cool on the skin. If the smell of memory foam is a bit off-putting for you, keep in mind that this model does produce some, but only for a couple of days. Customers who have purchased this recommend letting the pillow off-gas for 48 hours after you unpack it. The High Loft Firm is a favorite of insomniacs, who instead of waking up several times a night, have found it helps them to sleep the entire night through.
More features: removable washable pillowcase; zippered inner cover for adjusting the fill; OEKO-TEX and CertiPUR-US certified; 30-day return or exchange
Our choice for the Best Cooling Body Pillow is the Dreamood, a full-length pillow filled with shredded memory foam and wrapped in a two-sided cover, with cool ice silk on one face and soft bamboo viscose on the other. Because the filling is shredded rather than one solid slab, air moves through it instead of sitting trapped against your body, and you can open the inner cover to add or remove foam until the height and firmness suit you.
It suits side, back and stomach sleepers, and the full length lets it support the hips and knees as well as the head, neck and back. The outer pillowcase comes off for washing, and both the cover and the foam are OEKO-TEX and CertiPUR-US certified.
More features: reversible design with a cooling fabric side; 4.7-inch loft
The EGOHOME Cooling Gel Memory Foam Pillow takes a simple approach to cooling: one side is covered with a cooling fabric that feels cool the moment your head touches it, while the other side is regular memory foam for nights when you prefer the plain foam feel. Underneath, the pillow is a single block of gel memory foam that adapts to the shape of your head, neck and shoulders, and the manufacturer says it suits back, side and stomach sleepers alike.
It measures 15.8 x 23.6 inches with a 4.7-inch loft, which is roughly a standard size, and the cover can be removed and machine washed. Keep in mind that the cooling effect comes from the fabric rather than from air moving through the foam, so how cool it stays over a whole night will also depend on your room and bedding.
More features: reversible for two loft heights; shaped for side, back and stomach sleepers
This contoured pillow is built around neck support first, with two curve heights of 5.3 and 3.7 inches, so you can turn it over to whichever side suits side, back or stomach sleeping and keep your head level with your spine. The cooling here comes from the cover rather than a gel layer, a double-layer cold silk fabric that sits smooth against the skin and lets heat escape, and it unzips for machine washing.
The core is a high-density slow rebound memory foam that is CertiPUR-US and Oeko-Tex certified, so it holds its shape night after night and does not carry a lingering smell. It is one of the least expensive ways on this list to get a proper orthopedic contour with a cooling cover on top.
More features: hypoallergenic; machine washable cover; made in the USA
Solid memory foam holds heat, which is why the Snuggle-Pedic Queen Shredded Memory Foam Pillow uses shredded foam instead: the gaps between the pieces let air move through the fill, and the ventilated cover lets that warm air out. Hot sleepers get the contouring of memory foam without the slab-like warmth.
The pillow is hypoallergenic, so it suits anyone who wakes up stuffy, and the machine washable cover keeps dust and sweat from building up; it is also made in the USA. No gel layer or cool-touch fabric is listed, so if you want an actively cold surface, look at the gel pillows on this list.
When shopping for the best cooling pillow for your purposes, there are quite a few factors that you might want to keep in mind, including your reason for wanting to purchase such a pillow in the first place. Some people simply live in a hot and humid climate and want to feel cooler when they sleep, and others suffer from medical conditions, hot flashes and night sweats that make a cooler pillow desirable. Many cooling pillows, or chillows as they are sometimes called, are also hypoallergenic, helping to reduce allergies. Many types of cooling pillows also come with chiropractic features for supporting the neck and spine, helping to relieve headaches and joint pain.
There are several types of cooling pillows on the market that have earned themselves the right to be called that because they have one of the following features.
Some cooling pillow types offer a combination of the above as part of their features. For instance, the Dreamood Cooling Body Pillow has both the cooling shredded memory foam and a bamboo viscose cover side to help facilitate a good night’s sleep.
There are all kinds of factors that define a chillow. Here are the features that you should take into consideration before choosing the cooling pillow that is going to work best for you.
Before buying a chilling pillow you might want to consider what is inside of it, as filling materials definitely vary from brand to brand. Here is a look at some of the commonly used filling materials in chillows.
Perhaps the most desirable feature in a cover for a cooling pillow is its ability to wick moisture and heat away from the face naturally and that is found in covers made of natural bamboo fibers. Pillow covers are also available with Aloe Vera, lavender, and other infusions which add to the pillow’s hypoallergenic features. Durability is also a factor, with Tencel, Polyester, and Lycra being desirable fabrics for a slipcover.
When shopping for a chillow, you should also look for slipcovers that can be cleaned easily in the washer and dryer. The best quality cooling pillows also come with a zippered cover that lets you add or remove filling, as is the case with our top-rated Dreamood Cooling Body Pillow.
The firmness of the cooling pillow that is best for you is going to depend a great deal on the style or brand and whether or not it has a factor called “loft”. The higher the “loft” of the pillow, the softer it is going to be, as would be the case with the WEEKENDER Ventilated Gel Memory Foam Pillow, which has a height of five inches. Cooling pillows filled with memory foam chips tend to be more supportive and firm than ones that consist of slabs of memory foam or natural buckwheat hulls. The firmest pillows tend to be the contoured ones that have a chiropractic component along with a cooling cover such as the Ylekto Contour Cooling Memory Foam Pillow.
Not all cooling pillows are available in a variety of sizes or even the standard sizes that you might be used to, such as Standard, Queen, and King. The MALOUF Z Gel Dough Memory Foam Pillow is an exception, as it not only comes in those sizes but also different firmness and loft levels.
Cooling pillows do not always come with certifications, but here are some labels you might want to look for when shopping for a pillow.
Perhaps one of the most important is the CertiPUR-US certification, which means the pillow is tested for purity in the USA and made without ozone depleters, flame retardants, mercury, lead and formaldehyde as this means it contains less than 0.5 parts per million volatile organic compounds.
You might also want to look for a label that says that a USA Certified Bed Manufacturer made it. This means that the pillow was made in the USA and not in a foreign country that does not have such strict safety regulations.
When buying a cooling pillow it is a good idea to purchase one that has some kind of immediate return policy, especially if it is a chiropractic pillow. For instance, a good deal is our top-rated Snuggle-Pedic Ultra-Luxury Bamboo cooling pillow, which gives you two months to take it back if you are unhappy with it, and it also offers the consumer a spectacular 20-year warranty. However, for the most part, cooling pillow manufacturers offer a guarantee that is between two and three years long and a 30-day return policy, especially if you want to buy a cooling pillow that is affordable.
When buying a cooling pillow you might want to consider some of the additional features:
You might also consider buying a full-length body pillow, such as our highly-rated Dreamood Cooling Body Pillow, especially if you are nursing, lonely or have back pain.
Aside from buying a cooling pillow there are other measures that you can take to help you literally chill out peacefully all night.
In the end, we found ourselves giving an all-natural cooling pillow the same top rating as a gel dough memory foam pillow to offer you the best of both worlds. Or top pick, the Weekender Ventilated Gel Memory Foam Pillow is deep and soft yet firm enough to be supportive of your neck and spine. It is infused with a temperature regulating gel that helps keep this pillow cool on the skin.
The Zen Chi Organic Buckwheat Pillow is an excellent choice for individuals who want a green product that offers lots of cervical support and air circulation.
At the other end of the spectrum is the much more technically advanced MALOUF Z Gel Dough Memory Foam pillow, which contains gel-infused foam topped with a cooling gel pack and is offered in three loft heights and two firmness levels.
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