Memory Foam vs Cool Foam Mattresses: What's Actually Different?
If you've shopped around for a new mattress, you've probably heard that memory foam runs hot and that "cool foam" is the answer. There's something in that. Memory foam moulds slowly and closely around your body, and it tends to hold on to warmth. Cool foam has an open structure that lets air and heat move through it, so it feels fresher and it springs back more quickly when you turn over.
If you're choosing a mattress, though, we'd suggest a third option. A hybrid pairs a cooling foam comfort layer with springs, so you get the cradled feel of foam along with the support and airflow that springs bring.
Foam vs. Cool Foam. vs. Hybrid: A Quick Side-By-Side
Memory foam mattress |
Cool foam mattress |
Hybrid with cooling foam |
|
|---|---|---|---|
|
Feel |
Slow, close contouring |
Contouring with a quicker response |
Cradled on top, supported underneath |
|
Support |
Comes from foam alone |
Comes from foam alone |
Comes from springs, with foam for comfort |
|
Temperature |
Tends to feel warmer |
Designed to move warmth away |
Cooling foam plus air moving through the springs |
|
Ease of movement |
Slower to respond |
More responsive |
Most responsive |
What Does Memory Foam Feel Like?
Memory foam was developed to respond to pressure and warmth. As you lie on it, it moulds slowly around your shoulders, hips and lower back, which spreads your weight across a wider area. People who like it describe a cradled, hugged feeling, and that pressure-relieving quality is the reason it became so popular.
It's a dense material, so it tends to feel warmer than other foams, and it returns to shape slowly when you change position. Some sleepers love that settled, cosy feel.
What Makes A Foam "Cool"
Cool foam is designed to give you contouring comfort while letting heat and air move through the material. It usually does this in two ways.
The first is an open-cell structure, where the tiny cells inside the foam are connected so air can travel through it. The second is an infusion that conducts heat, such as graphite, which draws warmth away from the point where your body touches the foam.
Temperature matters for sleep. Your body temperature naturally needs to drop as you fall into restorative sleep, and research consistently shows that the thermal properties of a mattress can influence this process - including the amount of deep, slow-wave sleep people get. For a mattress, that makes cool foam the stronger of the two foams - but it’s still not what we’d recommend.
Why We'd Choose Neither On Its Own
Foam of either kind is a wonderful comfort material. It's at its best as a layer near the surface of a mattress, and in products such as toppers and pillows, where cushioning is the whole job.
But a mattress has a bigger job. It has to hold your spine level for seven or eight hours, support your hips and shoulders differently, stay supportive right to the edges and let air circulate through its full depth. When all of that is asked of foam alone, there's a trade-off. A foam mattress gives you that restful, cradled feel, and it can also feel warm and lack support. A traditional spring mattress sleeps cooler and gives robust support, and it can feel bouncy and hard.
A hybrid takes the strengths of both. You get the cradled feel without the bounce, and you sleep cooler. That's why every mattress we make is a hybrid, and why we'd point you towards one whichever foam you were considering.
What To Look For In A Cooling Hybrid
Hybrids vary, so these are the features we'd look for, along with how we've built them into our own range.
- A cooling foam comfort layer. The foam in our mattresses is Simbatex®, our own open-cell foam, which is a different material from memory foam. It's infused with graphite to move warmth away from your body, and in independent Intertek testing in May 2025 it showed over five times more airflow than memory foam. You get all the comfort of memory foam without the heat.
- Springs near the surface. Our patented Aerocoil® titanium alloy microsprings sit at the top of the mattress, where comfort matters most. Each time they compress, they push fresh air upwards through the comfort layers, and they respond individually to your movements for pinpoint support at the hips and shoulders.
- A breathable, washable cover. All of our Hybrid® mattresses have a cover that zips off for washing, with Stratos® technology that's designed to prevent heat build-up.
- Extra cooling if you'd like it. HeatRelease™ technology uses graphite strips to absorb excess body heat and keeps you up to 4.4°C cooler. It's an optional upgrade on the Hybrid® Pro and Hybrid® Luxe, and it's included with the Hybrid® Ultra.
- A medium-firm feel. Studies have shown that medium-firm offers the best sleep quality and support, and it's the feel we design every mattress around.
You'll find all of this across our Simba Hybrid® mattresses. Because they're all medium-firm, choosing between them comes down to your budget and how much cooling you'd like.
Where Foam On Its Own Works Beautifully
If your current mattress still has years left in it, a topper is an easy way to add cooling foam comfort. Our Cool Foam Mattress Topper adds a 6.5cm layer of Simbatex® cushioning to any mattress, with a removable, machine-washable cover and four elastic straps to keep it in place. If you'd like the hybrid feel in a topper, the Hybrid® Essential and Hybrid® toppers add up to 1,500 and 1,900 Aerocoil® microsprings respectively.
FAQs
Firmness depends on how each product is made, so there isn't a fixed rule. Cool foams often feel a little more responsive, because the foam returns to shape more quickly when you move. The overall feel of a mattress also depends on what sits underneath the foam, which is another reason springs make such a difference.
A well-designed hybrid gives you the cradled feel of foam without the bounce of a traditional sprung mattress. In our mattresses, the microsprings are small and individually pocketed, so they respond to you without passing movement across the bed.
Yes. The foams in our mattresses are certified to CertiPUR® requirements, which means they contain no heavy metals such as mercury or lead. Simbatex® is also infused with graphite and has an open-cell structure, which is what gives it its airflow.
It takes several weeks for your body to adjust to any new mattress. That's why our mattresses come with a 200-night trial, so you can take your time deciding. If you decide within that time that it isn't right for you, we'll collect it for free.
Yes. Our Mattress Recycling Service will collect a mattress of any brand or size for £50, and you don't need to buy from us to use it. If you're ordering a new mattress from us, you can add removal at checkout so the old one is collected on the same visit.
