What are cool pillows?

Just like your mattress and bed base, your pillow also has an important function: supporting your neck and head. Logical! Of course, there are characteristics that additionally play a major role in helping you fall asleep quickly. Consider, for example, firmness, moisture regulation and heat regulation. Can a pillow have a cooling effect? And which materials are then more or less suitable? We dive in deeper.

How does a cooling pillow work?

Or rather, how does cooling work? Cooling is a feeling that is temporary. Because what you actually want is climate regulation around your head. That way you won’t be too hot or too cold. Strong heat-insulating materials will raise the temperature around your head faster than materials that disperse heat optimally.

Wool is a natural material with a powerful effect. This natural hair from sheep, camels or goats quickly takes over the temperature of your head and will also try to maintain it. You might expect to get too hot pretty quickly for this reason. Thanks to the powerful moisture-regulating properties that wool has, the heat is also distributed well over your pillow. Therefore, it is perfectly suited if you get hot quickly.

Synthetic materials such as hollow polyester fibers retain insulation around your head and therefore can feel “sweltering” faster.

Why are cold pillows better than normal pillows?

So cold pillows are relative, because a “cold” pillow is temporary. Your head is going to give heat to the pillow. More important is how the pillow handles this. Spreading heat is top notch! And powerful heat diffusion often has the property of making a pillow feel temporarily colder.

Your head experiences a brief chill and because your body lowers its core temperature to fall asleep, you often experience smoother sleep. That effect makes a cold pillow better than a normal pillow.

Materials such as gel, especially if the gel is thick enough, are non-insulating, which is why you experience that cooling effect. Imagine that the temperature of the room where the gel pillow is located is 18 degrees. Then both the gel and the envelope material and cushion cover will also be 18 degrees. If you put your hand on the gel part, you get a different impression. This is because the gel will not act as an insulator and thus wants to disperse your body heat directly. By the way, you notice the same effect when you take a wooden block or a metal plate of the same temperature in your hand. Metal feels colder because it is highly conductive to heat.

Fabrics containing viscose or fabrics enriched with so-called PCMs also offer an (apparent) cooling effect. PCM stands for Phase Changing Material. These are microscopic capsules containing paraffin. When a certain temperature is reached, the paraffin will change phase. Read: change from solid to liquid substance. Heat provides the energy. Changing the phase from solid to liquid will convert the energy. When the temperature cools again around your head, the reverse will happen and heat will be released.

Are cooling pillows good for you?

Your central body temperature (CBT, Core Body Temperature) automatically drops when you get tired. This is regulated in your body’s circadian rhythm (biorhythm). As a result, your body uses less energy , your heart rate drops and your body comes to rest.

Attention! Body temperature is not the same as your skin temperature. During the night, your skin temperature and body temperature ideally come close to each other. During the day, your skin is significantly cooler.

So a pillow that supports this process is automatically good for your sleep, especially when falling asleep. What is important, however, is that the temperature or sleep environment remains well regulated and tailored to your body temperature. When you get too hot, your deep sleep is disturbed and you go to a colder place. Not so ideal, because you wake up short.

Different types of cooling pillows in a row

What choices can you make to sleep coolly on your pillow?

1. Animal materials like wool, camel hair or cashmere are powerful in moisture management and heat insulation. So they are going to help regulate your body temperature nicely.
2. Plant materials such as linen, lyocell or wild silk are powerful in ventilation and moisture management. That’s how you keep your cool.
3. Synthetic materials such as Thinsulate fibers are lab-designed fibers that closely approximate the properties of wool. So suitable!
4. Foams such as gel are not heat insulating and thus will have a powerful thermoregulatory effect. Your body temperature will be optimally regulated.
5. Use an additional cooling protective pad made of material containing viscose or PCM-enriched materials.

What is the coolest pillow?

Try for yourself in the store to see what works best for you! In any case, most pillows are not actively cooling. The material reacts to your body temperature. Of course, there are actively cooling pillows. The disadvantage is often that they are connected to a device that actively cools and are therefore tied to an electrical outlet. There is also a chance that you will find the noise disturbing.

Is there a pillow that is always cold?

When you work with filling materials, you don’t. Even a gel pillow with a thick layer of gel takes on your body temperature over time as you sleep. And that’s fine!

Frequently asked questions:

What are cool pillows – Conclusion

Focus on climate regulation around your head. That way you won’t be too hot or too cold. Strong heat-insulating materials will make the temperature around your head rise faster than materials that disperse heat optimally.