Best Cooling Blankets
If you struggle from sweaty sleep, one of these cooling blankets may be the solution to a good night’s rest once and for all
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Overheating is the enemy of a good night’s sleep. If you routinely wake up drenched in sweat or toss and turn from uncomfortable temperatures, a cooling blanket may be your ticket to restful slumber and more productive rest sessions on the couch.
You heard that right: “Cooling” and “blanket” are not opposites. Unlike traditional blankets that trap heat and warm you up, a cooling blanket absorbs and dissipates heat and often feels cool to the touch. These blankets aren’t ideal just during spring and summer months, either—they can be used year-round and may be especially helpful if you are a hot sleeper or are experiencing menopause symptoms like night sweats and hot flashes.
- Available sizes: Throw (51x67 inches), twin (59x79 inches), queen (79x86 inches), and king (90x108 inches)
- Available colors/patterns: 6
Cooling abilities: Out of all the cooling blankets we tested, the Elegear Revolutionary Cooling Blanket performed the best and proved it can help keep you the coolest. It is both comfortable and well made, especially considering it costs $40 and is close in price to the Guohaoi Cooling Blanket ($38), which isn’t as well designed.
Quality and comfort: According to the manufacturer, this blanket is designed on one side with a material it claims can dissipate heat 10 times faster than cotton called Arc-Chill 3.0 Cool Fabric (the manufacturer also claims this side of the blanket is made from nylon and polyethylene). This side feels cool to the touch and smooth, a little like swimsuit material.
The reverse side of the blanket is Oeko-Tex Standard 100 certified cotton (this means it has been tested for harmful substances and was made in certified and audited production facilities), and it’s softer and slightly more plush. The edges of the blanket have a smooth, satin-like border with even stitching. When I pulled hard on the blanket, it felt sturdy, not flimsy, and not like it was going to rip.
I wore the blanket for 1 hour and it felt thin and lightweight, not at all like a blanket that was adding heat or pressure to my body. The surface side remained cool throughout this time, and I found it to be an overall comfy and cooling experience on a warm May day.
Maintenance: This blanket is machine washable, but it is recommended that you place it inside a laundry net bag to prevent it from getting tangled and damaged. Do not dry-clean, tumble dry, or iron this blanket. The company advises not to hang it in the sun and that the best way to dry it is to hang it in the shade.
I don’t have a clothing line in a shady area at my home, so I improvised with a clothing line in my basement. It took about 24 hours to dry.
- Available size: Throw (60x70 inches)
- Available colors/patterns: 4
Cooling abilities: The Costco Life Comfort Cooling Throw was the fifth most cooling blanket we tested, which means its cooling abilities fall between good and fair. The thicker material was surprisingly more cooling than you might think, and its cost-conscious price and reversible design make it a versatile pick if you’re looking for a throw blanket you’ll use all year.
Quality and comfort: Even though the blanket’s front is made from 100 percent cotton, it feels a little rough, but the back that is intended to be worn against your skin (made from nylon and polyethylene) is soft and cool to the touch. Both the back and front have boxed seams with polyester fill, so expect a little more weight from this blanket than you’ll get with the Elegear and others (it weighs 2.1 pounds, according to the manufacturer), and don’t expect it to be quite as smooth. When you wear it, it feels like a lightweight quilt, but it’s strangely cooling at the same time—making it the perfect choice if you are looking for something with more heft.
Given its price ($23), you may not expect this blanket to be the most elegantly constructed, and that would be an accurate assumption. When I pulled hard on the fabric, I could hear a seam rip, but I didn’t notice any discernible damage to it. There is also no mention of whether its fabric meets Oeko-Tex standards. It comes in one throw size and four colorways/patterns.
Maintenance: One consistent theme with these cooling blankets is that washing and drying them is a bit of a pain. This pick is machine washable separately in cold water on a gentle cycle and using a gentle detergent. But it should only be line dried and should not be ironed or dry-cleaned (avoid using bleach, as well). Perhaps because it is a thicker blanket, this one took about two days to dry on a clothesline in my basement.
- Available sizes: Full/queen (88x94 inches), king (96x107 inches)
- Available colors/patterns: 5
Cooling abilities: This was our sixth (second to last) most cooling blanket in our tests, and we consider it fair in its cooling abilities—it’s not the most cooling option, but it feels cooler than your average blanket/comforter of similar weight. Its other many excellent qualities and benefits make it one worth considering, especially if you are searching for a thin and lightweight comforter for your bed that you will use year-round.
Quality and comfort: The blanket’s cover is designed from Oeko-Tex Standard 100 cotton (80 percent) and a type of polyester (20 percent) the manufacturer calls “37.5 technology” that it claims regulates your temperature (we did not test this claim). The boxed-seamed blanket has well-constructed satin piping and polyester fill that doesn’t shift and that includes this same 37.5 polyester as its cover. Its feel isn’t as silky-smooth as the Elegear blanket and some others on this list, but it’s incredibly soft and cool to the touch, and no matter how hard I tugged it apart, it didn’t rip, and its seams stayed intact.
One of the best things about this blanket is that it is so thin that you can fold it and feel practically zero bulk, and you can then easily store it in your closet or in its elegant soft carrying case, which features a double zipper and handle.
Maintenance: Wash this blanket in cold water with mild detergent. You can tumble dry it on low, but do not use dryer sheets or fabric softeners, which CR recommends avoiding for all types of laundry. To make it look its best, refluff or shake it to maintain the even distribution of fill.
- Available sizes: Teen (48x78 inches), twin (60x80 inches), queen (80x87 inches), king (94x96 inches)
- Available colors/patterns: 2
- Available weights: 15 pounds, 20 pounds
Cooling abilities: As the only cooling weighted blanket in our test, we weren’t surprised that it came in last as far as how well it keeps you cool. But when worn, this luxurious blanket was unlike any other weighted blanket we’d encountered—although it did not rank as high in coolness as the other cooling blankets we tested, it felt much cooler than weighted blankets we’ve used in the past, and it was smooth, soft, and cool to the touch.
Quality and comfort: Wrapping yourself in this blanket is like wrapping yourself in a cloud. Its cover is made from 100 percent organic viscose bamboo and feels soft, smooth, and cool. It comes in 15- or 20-pound weights, so you’re going to feel some pressure on your body as you would with any weighted blanket, but it felt soothing and not heat retentive.
Even after wearing it for 1 hour on a 75° F day in May (with no air conditioning), I felt comfortable—not a bead of sweat on my skin. This pick doesn’t have boxed seams on the outer surface (the boxed seams are on the inside of the blanket), which allows it to retain its smooth continuity. It is filled with a microfibre material that pockets nontoxic glass sand, according to the manufacturer.
If you’re looking for a throw blanket, the manufacturer recommends purchasing its “teen” size—otherwise, you can choose a size that suits your mattress.
Maintenance: Out of all the blankets on this list, the Hush Iced Cooling Weighted Blanket will take up the most time cleaning (I still say it’s worth the hassle if you love weighted blankets and want one that stays cool). You’ll have to flip the blanket inside out, undo the inner ties and zipper to detach the cover from the weighted portion, wash the cover on a cold cycle, and hang to dry or tumble dry it on low.
To reassemble it, lay the cover on top of the inner weighted portion (inside out), and match up corresponding numbers with each other. This isn’t difficult to do, but if you’re someone like me with little patience for assembling anything, it may take you two tries to get it right, as it did for me. It took me about 25 minutes to get this right, but my guess is that this process becomes much easier the more times you do it.
Other Cooling Blankets We Evaluated
Two additional cooling blankets we evaluated performed better in our cooling test than some of the picks we featured, but they didn’t impress us as much with their quality and comfort.
- Available sizes: Throw (50x70 inches), twin (60x90 inches), queen (90x90 inches), king (90x108 inches)
- Available colors/patterns: 11
Cooling abilities: The Guohaoi Cooling Blanket was the second most cooling blanket we tested, after the Elegear Revolutionary Cooling Blanket. It shares similar characteristics with the Elegear in terms of feel and would have otherwise been chosen as our runner-up, but we couldn’t justify it given that, at $38, it is nearly the same price as the $40 Elegear and doesn’t feel as well made.
Quality and comfort: The front of this blanket is constructed with nylon and polyester and, similar to the Elegear, feels like smooth, cool, swimsuit material. The back is made from Oeko-Tex Standard 100 certified cotton, and the manufacturer claims it is designed with “Arc-chill cooling fiber.” It has a satin border that isn’t sewn as nicely as the Elegear—the stitching isn’t as neat and it looks cheaper.
Another gripe I had is that the underside of the blanket pulls apart from the top of the blanket, so there is a space in between when you pull on it. And when I pulled hard, I heard a rip. When wearing it for 1 hour, it felt very cool and did not retain heat, but it wasn’t as comfortable as the Elegear.
Maintenance: The blanket’s cleaning instructions say to wash it at a maximum of 30° C with a very mild detergent. Don’t dry-clean, iron, or bleach, and hang it in the shade rather than placing it in the dryer. We did not wash or dry this blanket in our tests.
- Available sizes: Throw (51x67 inches), twin (59x79 inches), queen (79x86 inches), king (90x108 inches)
- Available colors/patterns: 2
Cooling abilities: The MH My Mylune Home Cooling Blanket, which can be purchased at Walmart, was the third-coolest blanket in our test and came in right after our control blanket.
Quality and comfort: Unfortunately, this more cost-conscious blanket ($20) is also noticeably thinner, and one side of it is made from recycled polyester, not cotton, and isn’t as soft. The other side is designed with a slippery, cooling nylon and polyethylene blend, and the manufacturer says its materials are Oeko-Tex Standard 100 certified. Its border is soft, not satin, and the stitching is uneven in spots and doesn’t look as well done. When I pulled hard on the blanket, the seams on the back of it ripped.
Wearing this blanket feels . . . just okay. It would be good in a pinch and on a budget, and it won’t retain heat. But make sure you follow its cleaning instructions closely because I could see it falling apart sooner than the others.
Maintenance: Machine wash this blanket in cold water (a laundry bag is included), and line dry it vertically on a cloth hanger in a cool, ventilated place—do not place it in the dryer or in the sun. CR didn’t wash or dry this blanket in our testing. The manufacturer also recommends keeping it out of heat when it’s not in use.
How We Evaluated Cooling Blankets
CR’s lab tester José Amézquita tested each cooling blanket by fitting a 25-inch-long tin tubing with a thermostat, a USB fan, an incandescent lightbulb, and a Sonoff controller switch (we call this a “tin-man”). The switch was set to 98.6° F. When the temperature inside the tin-man is below 98.6° F, the lightbulb is turned on. When it reaches the set temperature, it is turned off.
The tin-man is connected to a watt-meter and a computer that collects the watts and the run time. The test blanket was laid on a metal cart. The tin-man was placed on the blanket. A thermocouple was taped on the top center of the tin-man. A single layer of the blanket was laid over the tin-man. The ends of the blanket were folded.
A second thermocouple was taped on the blanket next to the tin-man to measure the temperature in the room. The test was run for over 1 hour. A segment of the data equivalent to 1 hour was used to calculate the watt-hours needed to maintain the tin-man at 98.6° F. Models with the higher watt-hours value are more variable and, therefore, cool faster than those with lower watt-hours values.
Here is a breakdown of our calculations for each blanket, including our control cotton blanket:
Cooling Blanket Test Data
| Blanket | Watt-Hours | Coolest |
| Elegear Revolutionary Cooling Blanket | 11.1 | 1 |
| Guohaoi Cooling Blanket | 10.4 | 2 |
| Control cotton blanket | 9.3 | 3 |
| MH My Mylune Home Cooling Blanket | 8.8 | 4 |
| Costco Life Comfort Cooling Throw | 8.6 | 5 |
| Sleep Number True Temp Blanket | 7.5 | 6 |
| Hush Iced Cooling Weighted Blanket | 7.2 | 7 |
In addition to our cooling tests, we wore each blanket and observed how it felt and how comfortable it was. We observed details like stitching, borders, and boxed seams, and pulled each apart to see whether they would rip. We washed, dried, and reassembled the Hush Iced Cooling Weighted Blanket, because this was the blanket with the most maintenance required.
