Tech
Night Sweats, Be Gone! Here Are the Best WIRED-Tested Cooling Mattresses
Honorable Mentions
There are a ton of mattresses and related items on the market that claim to have cooling benefits. Here are a few others we tested and liked, but not as much as the options above.
BedJet 3 for $427: WIRED reviewer Christopher Null liked this climate-control device a lot because it allowed him to sleep cool without having to buy a whole new mattress. This device uses a large blower under your bed to blast hot or cool air beneath your covers. If you like your existing mattress but find yourself sleeping hot, this could be just the ticket.
Courtesy of Sealy
Sealy Cocoon Chill Memory Foam Mattress for $919: Its surface is noticeably cool to the touch thanks to its exclusive phase change material, which works wonders at drawing and storing the body’s heat. This all-foam mattress leans firm, making it well-suited for back and stomach sleepers. If you’re a side sleeper looking for more body contouring, I’d suggest looking elsewhere. If you’re a stomach sleeper looking for a firm mattress that’s also cooling, this one will do the trick. There was almost no motion transfer in my testing, allowing my husband and me to get up at different times without disturbing each other. —Nicole Kinning
Casper Snow Hybrid for $2,595: When you come across a mattress with a name that includes “snow,” your expectations for cooling effects are naturally high—and this mattress indeed lives up to that expectation. Structurally, this hybrid bed combines poly foam, memory foam, and pocketed coils, and provides targeted support at the hips, waist, and lower back to alleviate pressure, making it ideal for back and stomach sleepers. I noticed it came out of the box slightly misshapen from its packaging and emitted a faint plasticky scent. After about two days, the mattress was ready to go, the smell gone, and it had settled into its intended neat rectangle shape. —Nicole Kinning
Saatva Memory Foam Hybrid for $2,049: The Saatva Memory Foam Hybrid is marketed as firm, and that’s exactly what you should expect. Crafted with patented AirCradle memory foam, the mattress features concentrated cushioning in the center, strategically intended to support your lower back. Since I’m only 5’2,” the middle-back cushioning didn’t hit where it was intended to. Despite its firmness, I didn’t find this mattress particularly exceptional, especially with its cooling properties. Despite incorporating a triple-phase LuxeCool system and cooling gel-infused memory foam, the cooling effect didn’t stand out. —Nicole Kinning
Courtesy of Wayfair
Wayfair Sleep 12-Inch Medium Cooling Gel Memory Foam Mattress for $500: This bed has four layers of hypoallergenic gel memory foam infused with green tea, using cooling technology and a breathable design to ensure you’re having a super-cool sleep. This medium-plush bed has two top layers of gel-infused memory and comfort foam to help with breathability and cooling, and the top material is a breathable knitted cover to aid in airflow circulation. This mattress had the perfect balance of soft cooling with the memory foam, and the breathable knitted cover also helped with airflow. Most importantly, though, I always slept coolly on this sleeper hit (pun intended).
Wayfair 10.5-Inch Plush Cooling Gel Mattress for $536 (King): This cooling gel hybrid mattress comprises five layers of various memory foams. The memory foam pillow top aims to relieve pressure points and help reduce motion transfer, and it has a breathable knit cover to aid in the cooling effect. The mattress is compatible with an adjustable base and has a 100-night trial and 10-year warranty. Although it doesn’t have as noticeable a cooling effect as some others on this list, it’s a true plush mattress that uses cooling gel technology at an affordable price.
Wayfair Sleep 8-Inch Medium Cooling Gel Memory Foam for $400: This super-cheap medium-firm cooling mattress has eight total inches of memory foam—the top layer of cooling gel, charcoal, and green tea-infused memory foams (to aid in freshness and odor absorption), followed by a soft comfort foam on a durable high-density foam base. The top layer has a breathable, woven jacquard design that helps to keep the sleeper cool and reduces motion transfer. The layers of ultra-cooling gel and green tea-infused memory foams help with the cooling effect and keep any odors at bay. This super-inexpensive mattress delivers well above expectations, but there are better cooling options on our list.
Wayfair Sleep 14-Inch Plush Cooling Gel Hybrid Mattress for $326 (Full): This plush cooling gel mattress features a top plush layer of gel memory foam to relieve pressure and help with airflow, plus the quilted Euro-top knit cover and sides promote continuous airflow around the mattress to keep the sleeper cool. The bed also features classic pocket coils below for structure and support, with layers of memory foams surrounding the coils (this helps with low-motion transfer, too). The mattress is also compatible with an adjustable bed base, has solid edge support, offers a 100-night trial, and has a 10-year warranty. I love a plush mattress, but it may be too plush for someone with a bigger body, since the first super-soft memory foam layer is on top of a coil system.
Wayfair Sleep 13.5-Inch Medium Cooling Gel Memory Foam Mattress for $550: This 13.5-inch cooling gel memory foam mattress is listed as medium, but I’d definitely consider it super-plush. The top layer has 2 inches of gel-infused memory foam and 4.5 inches of comfort foam, and the bottom layer is 7 inches of high-density base support foam. Like other cooling Wayfair mattresses, the top has a breathable jacquard pattern and is green tea-infused to help with freshness and cooling. The top layers of memory foam are designed to mold to your body and help relieve pains and achy joints. This in-a-box bed also has low-motion transfer, a 100-night trial, and a limited 10-year warranty. If you’re someone who wants a super-plush bed that helps to wick moisture, then I’d recommend this behemoth.
Compare the Best Cooling Mattresses
How Does WIRED Test Cooling Mattresses?
Mattresses are tested for at least a week, but in many cases for longer. I slept on the majority of these mattresses for half a month or more to really get a feel for the product. I tested them at different times of the season and with different types of sheets and bedding. I sat on the edges to test for edge support, jumped, and performed some other methods to test the bounce and motion transfer of the mattress. Perhaps most important for this guide, I was my normal, perpetually warm (and sweaty) self, and gauged more abstract things like my overall comfort at night, and how well I thought air flowed through the mattress, or how much heat was trapped in.
What Should You Look for in a Cooling Mattress?
When shopping for a cooling mattress, here are a few things to consider:
- Composition: Opt for mattress materials designed to promote airflow, which will help prevent heat buildup. Many mattresses are infused with gel or copper, which are designed to dissipate heat and keep you cool. A hybrid mattress combines the best of both worlds by using a coil support system under a foam, latex, or polyfoam comfort top. Hybrid mattresses tend to retain less heat than all-foam mattresses because they have a layer or two of springs to help dissipate heat.
- Cover fabric: Consider mattresses with covers made from moisture-wicking fabrics and phase-change fibers to draw sweat away from the body. Breathable fabrics include bamboo, Tencel lyocell, and synthetic fabrics, which are engineered to help regulate body temperature. Perforated cooling covers further amplify airflow between your body and the fabric. We find quilted tops help too, since they have ridges and valleys that allow air to escape.
- Airflow: With proper airflow, the heat you generate overnight is properly conducted through the mattress. Hybrid mattresses with individual coils help with this, but many mattresses marketed for their cooling benefits have other tricks.
- Firmness: While the debate of soft versus firm mattresses is a personal preference, your choice can play a crucial role in the way your body traps heat. Softer mattresses tend to envelop your body, leading to increased heat retention as your body sinks into the surface. Conversely, firmer mattresses provide better support and allow for more air circulation around your body.
How Did WIRED Select Models to Be Reviewed?
We have tested over 100 mattresses across all of our guides, like Best Organic Mattresses, Best Mattresses for Back Pain, and Best Mattresses You Can Buy Online, as well as for individual review. We talk with each other, discussing which mattress brands in general we’re fans of, and which we aren’t. Some mattresses are provided as review samples by the manufacturers, with the understanding that we don’t guarantee coverage or type of coverage—we aren’t paid for glowing reviews on products we think are just mid. We purchase and expense models we aren’t able to get a sample of.
We try to test a range of mattress types, firmness, and brands to ensure we know what’s out on the market, so we can best give you our honest, unbiased opinion on which mattresses you should spend your money (and one-third of your life sleeping) on.
What Does WIRED Do With Mattresses After Testing?
We keep top picks for longer-term durability testing in our own homes and the homes of other staffers, friends, and family members, while other models are donated locally.
Power up with unlimited access to WIRED. Get best-in-class reporting and exclusive subscriber content that’s too important to ignore. Subscribe Today.
Tech
PSNI resorted to pen and paper after issues with ControlWorks command and control software | Computer Weekly
Unexpected problems in the Police Service of Northern Ireland’s (PSNI’s) ControlWorks software led to police having to resort to manual forms to record calls from the public soon after the software’s introduction in 2019, Computer Weekly has learned.
The force has not reported the incidents to the Northern Ireland Policing Board, which oversees the PSNI, and has not mentioned any incidents with ControlWorks in its annual reports.
While there is no legal duty to report failures with ControlWorks to the Northern Ireland Policing Board, the Policing Board has told Computer Weekly it would expect any serious incidents with ControlWorks to be reported to it.
The PSNI uses ControlWorks as part of its command and control system, for managing, logging and categorising calls received by the emergency services from the public and for dispatching police officers to incidents.
Computer Weekly has learned that the PNSI’s ControlWorks system had technical issues after it first went live in May 2019.
These included slow-downs of the system that required computer systems to be restarted or software to be patched.
On some occasions, police were forced to return to using paper forms to record incidents reported by the public after ControlWorks became unavailable. Information on the forms had to be typed back into the system when the service resumed.
ControlWorks aimed to improve response times
The PSNI announced it was using Capita Communications and Control Solutions’ ControlWorks software in 2018, replacing its 20-year-old Capita Atlas Command and Control System, which had reached the end of its life.
From February 2018, ControlWorks was installed across the PSNI’s three regional contact management centres, before going live in May 2019, but is understood to have had a series of issues during its first few months of operation.
Critical incidents, which affect force-wide availability of ControlWorks, are categorised as P1 or P2. Less serious incidents that do not require urgent remediation are categorised as P3 and P4, Computer Weekly has previously reported.
Computer Weekly understands that the PSNI runs a 24-hour help desk to deal with IT issues, and that it has the ability to escalate incidents with ControlWorks to its IT supplier.
Missing persons search
Computer Weekly understands that a “major issue” with ControlWorks may have delayed information being passed to police officers searching for missing teenager Noah Donohoe, who disappeared from his home in Belfast on 21 June 2020.
Donohoe’s disappearance sparked a massive search operation, as police reviewed hours of CCTV, and hundreds of volunteers joined the search for the vulnerable 14-year-old.
Computer Weekly has learned that on the evening of 23 June 2020, police recorded a “major issue” with ControlWorks that could have led to delays in information being passed to investigators.
Computer Weekly further understands that on the evening of 24 June, a member of the public called police to say they had seen an individual attempting to sell Donohoe’s missing laptop.
This potentially critical information was delayed in being brought to the attention of police officers investigating Donohoe’s disappearance because of a problem with ControlWorks, Computer Weekly has been told.
It is unclear exactly how long the information was delayed by and what its impact on the search for the missing teenager was. But it is understood that detectives on the case reported and noted the delay during the investigation.
The issue with ControlWorks was understood to have been reported during the live investigation at a critical time when Donohoe was missing – two days after he had gone missing, and four days before he was found dead in a Belfast storm drain.
Manchester had serious IT issues
Greater Manchester Police experienced problems when it went live with its Integrated Operational Policing System (iOPS), which included ControlWorks, in July 2019. iOps attempted to integrate Capita’s ControlWorks software with Capita’s PoliceWorks record management software used by police officers for managing day-to-day investigations and intelligence records.
An independent review found serious issues with the project. At one point, police were forced to revert to pen and paper for 72 hours while records were migrated to the new system.
“This consumed considerable time and capacity, causing a duplication of work,” the report found. “In addition, some legacy demand, which included ongoing investigations, did not successfully transfer from the old systems, so could no longer be worked on.”
Greater Manchester Police subsequently announced plans to replace PoliceWorks after concluding it could not be adapted or fixed, but it has continued to use ControlWorks.
The PSNI uses a different record management system to Manchester’s troubled PoliceWorks system. The PSNI signed a £9m contract with the Canadian company NicheRMS to deploy its Records Management System, which records information about people, locations, vehicles, incidents and evidence, in 2006.
NicheRMS keeps duplicate records of reports from the public that are recorded on ControlWorks when they are escalated as an “incident”. This means that should data be lost because of problems with ControlWorks, the PSNI would still have access to duplicate records reported by the public on NicheRMS if they have been escalated as an “incident”.
Policing Board seeks clarification from PSNI
The Northern Ireland Policing Board has confirmed that if a major system disruption or significant information or data loss occurred, the board would expect to be informed.
A spokesperson told Computer Weekly that the board’s Resources Committee, which has oversight responsibility for matters including the PSNI’s technology systems, has asked the PSNI for clarification about the issues raised by Computer Weekly.
A coroner’s inquest into the circumstances of Noah Donohoe’s death is due to begin on 19 January.
The PSNI said it would “not comment on investigative matters while legal proceedings are ongoing”.
“With regards to questions relating to ControlWorks, police can confirm that, to date, there has been no instance of major disruption which has led to data loss,” a spokesperson said.
Capita declined to comment.
ISC2, the non-profit cyber professional membership association, has joined the UK government’s recently launched Software Security Ambassador Scheme as an expert adviser.
Set up at the beginning of the year by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), the scheme forms part of a wider £210m commitment by Westminster to remodel approaches to public sector cyber resilience from the ground up, acknowledging that previous approaches to the issue have basically gone nowhere and that previously set targets for resilience are unachievable.
It is designed to incentivise organisations to pay more attention to the security of software products, and supports the wider adoption of the Software Security Code of Practice, a set of voluntary principles defining what secure software looks like.
ISC2 joins a number of tech suppliers, including Cisco, Palo Alto Networks and Sage; consultancies and service providers including Accenture and NCC Group; and financial services firms including Lloyds Banking Group and Santander. Fellow cyber association ISACA is also involved.
“Promoting secure software practices that strengthen the resilience of systems underpinning the economy, public services and national infrastructure is central to ISC2’s mission,” said ISC2’s executive vice-president for advocacy and strategic engagement, Tara Wisniewski.
“The code moves software security beyond narrow compliance and elevates it to a board-level resilience priority. As supply chain attacks continue to grow in scale and impact, a shared baseline is essential and through our global community and expertise, ISC2 is committed to helping professionals build the skills needed to put secure-by-design principles into practice,” she said.
Software vulns a huge barrier to resilience
A study of wider supply chain risks conducted last year by ISC2 found that a little over half of organisations worldwide reported that vulnerabilities in their software suppliers’ products represented the most disruptive cyber security threat to their overall supply chain.
And the World Economic Forum’s (WEF’s) Global Cybersecurity Outlook report, published on 12 January, revealed that third-party and supply chain vulnerabilities were seen as a huge barrier to building cyber resilience by C-suite executives.
A total of 65% of respondents to the WEF’s annual poll flagged such flaws as the greatest challenge their organisation faced on its pathway to resilience, compared to 54% at the beginning of 2025. This outpaced factors such as the evolving threat landscape and emerging AI technology, use of legacy IT systems, regulatory compliance and governance, and cyber skills shortages.
Pressed on the top supply chain cyber risks, respondents were most concerned about their ability to assure the integrity of software and other IT services, ahead of a lack of visibility into their supplier’s supply chains and overdependence on critical third-party suppliers.
The UK’s Code of Practice seeks to answer this challenge by establishing expectations and best practices for tech providers and any other organisations that either develop, sell or buy software products. It covers aspects such as secure design and development, the security of build environments, deployment and ongoing upkeep, and transparent communication with customers and users.
As part of its role as an ambassador, ISC2 will assist in developing and improving the Code of Practice, while championing it by embedding its guiding principles into its own cyber education and professional development services – the organisation boasts 10,000 UK members and associates.
It will also help to drive adoption of the Code of Practice through various awareness campaigns, incorporating it into its certifications, training and guidance, engaging with industry stakeholders and members to encourage implementation, and incorporating its provisions into its work with its own commercial suppliers.
The wheel on the left side has options to adjust actuation distance, rapid-trigger sensitivity, and RGB brightness. You can also adjust volume and media playback, and turn it into a scroll wheel. The LED matrix below it is designed to display adjustments to actuation distance but feels a bit awkward: Each 0.1 mm of adjustment fills its own bar, and it only uses the bottom nine bars, so the screen will roll over four times when adjusting (the top three bars, with dots next to them, illuminate to show how many times the screen has rolled over during the adjustment). The saving grace of this is that, when adjusting the actuation distance, you can press down any switch to see a visualization of how far you’re pressing it, then tweak the actuation distance to match.
Alongside all of this, the Falcata (and, by extension, the Falchion) now has an aftermarket switch option: TTC Gold magnetic switches. While this is still only two switches, it’s an improvement over the singular switch option of most Hall effect keyboards.
Split Apart
Photograph: Henri Robbins
The internal assembly of this keyboard is straightforward yet interesting. Instead of a standard tray mount, where the PCB and plate bolt directly into the bottom half of the shell, the Falcata is more comparable to a bottom-mount. The PCB screws into the plate from underneath, and the plate is screwed onto the bottom half of the case along the edges. While the difference between the two mounting methods is minimal, it does improve typing experience by eliminating the “dead zones” caused by a post in the middle of the keyboard, along with slightly isolating typing from the case (which creates fewer vibrations when typing).
The top and bottom halves can easily be split apart by removing the screws on the plate (no breakable plastic clips here!), but on the left half, four cables connect the top and bottom halves of the keyboard, all of which need to be disconnected before fully separating the two sections. Once this is done, the internal silicone sound-dampening can easily be removed. The foam dampening, however, was adhered strongly enough that removing it left chunks of foam stuck to the PCB, making it impossible to readhere without using new adhesive. This wasn’t a huge issue, since the foam could simply be placed into the keyboard, but it is still frustrating to see when most manufacturers have figured this out.
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