Memory foam is a temperature sensitive material that absorbs your body heat and reflects it back to you. Latex is not temperature sensitive and does not sleep hot. A plush Beautyrest uses a very thin gauge wire for the coils, and doesn't hold up well. In fact, it's such a constant problem, I do not list their plush models on our website. We recommend a luxury firm Beautyrest and the addition of a 2" soft latex topper. This combination provides firm contouring support and a comfortable sleeping surface that will last for many years. The latex topper, besides providing long lasting comfort, insulates you from the memory foam in the mattress. Also, all natural latex is the most resilient upholstery material on the planet. It will extend the comfort life of any mattress you use with it.

Thanks, Pete

Hello. Over the years in talking with my customers, the most common complaint about heat comes from all memory foam mattresses. These would be mattresses that contain nothing but foam. I can speculate that the reason why is because your body heat has no where to dissipate. Due to the dense foam all the way through, your body heat remains trapped at the top and stays throughout the night. My company only manufactures "hybrid" mattresses now and we very rarely hear back about heat issues. I'm sure there may be different opinions on this topic, which I'm interested in hearing, but I would recommend going with a mattress that uses both foam and a coil system. Good luck! NN

Great question! Whether a mattress offers a temperate sleep climate or sleeps uncomfortably hot really depends on its air permeability, which in turn boils down to two things:

• The components the mattress is made of
• The overall mattress design

There are some materials that have a well-earned reputation of trapping heat. Nick already mentioned memory foam, but latex is another material that is dense and not particularly air permeable. However, these two aren't the only components that inhibit proper air flow: Plastic bladders inside of air-filled mattresses and any top-layer made of waterproof fabric can also raise the temperature in your bed - particularly in warmer climates.

Materials that tend to perform much cooler are conventional bedding foams or - better yet - highly resilient (or HR) foam with its open cell structure. Both are much more breathable than any of the above materials. Likewise, an outer layer of breathable knits and mesh will offer cooler comfort than a tighly woven or waterproof surface.

Another consideration should be the overall design and construction of a mattress. Again, breathability will give you a leg up: A solid-core mattress will always be less air permeable than an innerspring design. Among innerspring options, one with larger springs, fewer layers and a lower profile will outperform its thicker counterpart with a lot of nested and pocketed springs and a multitude of different layers.

In case this all sounds complicated, start with one simple test: Nestle your face straight into the mattress and take a deep breath. You will learn quite a bit about its breathability right there. Then start asking about the components and the design...

One parting thought: When we designed our mattresses one of our big goals was to create a very breathable product that offers a cool sleep environment. So we did quite a bit of research on the topic. If you are interested in reading more about it, you can find some more details on our website.

My pleasure. And to answer your question: Since we have many customers that are drawn to our mattresses because of the air permeable materials and a design that allows improved air circulation, we often have the opportunity to discuss bedding materials and to find out which ones customers have problems with. Latex has indeed come up time and time again in that context.

And while we haven’t done any scientific studies specifically on latex, it seems like other folks have at least quantified our informal consumer feedback.