Bed cooling devices for optimal sleep

Larry Peters

Hi,

I have been exploring bed cooling devices to help optimize sleeping temperature (especially when two people desire different sleeping temperatures). I'm looking for thoughts or recommendations.

I know we have a team discount for chilipad. I have heard that @Chris Oubre has used one. Any thoughts?

I think @Tim Sullivan recently ordered a Bed Jet. Have you gotten it yet Tim?

We are also looking at eight sleep cooling mattress.

If anyone has dug into the science about enhanced sleep with cooler temperatures and wants to share any highlights, I'd love to hear those. One of the product website claimed up to twice as much deep sleep can be seen in people using their product (clearly a conflict of interest, but I did not yet dig into the claim).

Here is a related review posted by the sleep eight website (but it is not published in what I would call a rigorously reviewed journal).

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3427038/pdf/1880-6805-31-14.pdf

Any related thoughts or conversation would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

I hope you long and hard tonight!

Coach Patrick

@Larry Peters I am right there with you...I am back to getting some training night sweats; and I have to say it makes less and less sense to cool the entire second and third floors of my house when I can just use the system...I'll ask around.

Actually, it reminds me that @Jonathan Benson Did buy one a while back. @Jonathan Benson Do you have any feedback for us?

~ Coach P

Jonathan Benson

@Coach Patrick @Larry Peters

Sorry for the delayed response...I did buy a single person Chili pad last October. I use it every night. We actually had our AC die on us back in April/May and the Chili pad was a life saver!

I have used it every night for 8 months, even through the winter. I like to turn it on 20-30 minutes prior to crawling into bed. The water is constantly circulating water heated by your body back to the unit to then be cooled again. I keep mine set on 55 degrees but it bottoms out at 63. I initially thought 55 degrees would feel like an ice bath. Don't ask me why that was my thought going into the purchase, but now I would relate it nowfeeling as though there is always a cool side of the pillow.

My understanding of the value of having the Chili pad is that it accelerates your path to an optimal body temp for restorative sleep. Google Ben Greenfield Chilipad for a blog post referencing a bunch of good material on sleep. From my N=1 perspective, I have certainly enjoyed the cooling during sleep as well as has seen some huge PBs over the last 6-8 months. Obviously the chilipad is only a piece of the puzzle, but the better sleep induced by the Chilipad had to have played a neutral to positive role.

I would also recommend Sheex sheets. A little pricey but well worth it once you start exploring improving your sleeping environment (dark, cool room, better bedding, chilipad).

Larry Peters

No worries on the delay @Jonathan Benson , thanks a million for all this feedback! That is really helpful!

We are definitely going to get either a cooling mattress or a chili pad. One question: could you imagine traveling with your chilipad if you were going to stay somewhere for a week (assuming mattress size was correct)? I know it has a little machine unit. How impractical would this be? I'm guessing it would be a big hassle, but just curious. (assume you would be traveling by motor vehicle).

Thanks!

Jonathan Benson

@Larry Peters - I haven't tried to travel with it. Great idea though!

For us endurance athletes, unplugging the chili pad, draining it, and packing it in a duffel would be pretty easy. I wouldn't do it for a 2 night excursion, but a week would be worth it, just like packing up Normatecs or loading a bike with #allthethings.

The maintenance protocol requests that the unit be drained every 6 months or something anyway, and there is cleaning solution you have to order and use every few months as well. Its a packet to poor in and let run. The cleanser is not something you then have to drain as well though. Putting it on and off a mattress is easy as well.

Larry Peters

Awesome, thanks for that feedback @Jonathan Benson !!

John Katsoudas

Thank you @Larry Peters for starting this thread! I came across it a few weeks ago, and my first thought was "my wife will LOVE this!" She suffers from hot flashes, and they seem to be worst (or perhaps most annoying) at night. (BTW - she will kill me if she finds out I typed this in a thread). I showed her the Chili website, and her immediate response was "GET IT!" 😂

After comparing the Chili to the Ooler, I decided to spend the extra on the Ooler for two reasons: 1) the Ooler box will fit under our bed while the Chili will not, and 2) the UV sanitizing feature on the Ooler is compelling to me if it means not having to flush and clean the system periodically.

After having used the unit for a couple of weeks now, I wanted to share some very early thoughts.

• Noise: We run both units (each side of the bed has it's own control box) on "Boost" mode, which is the highest setting. The noise is noticeable but it's a white noise that isn't really bothersome. If you're the type that needs absolute silence to sleep you'll think it's loud but if you like a little white noise to sleep it'll be fine. Lower settings are definitely quieter, at the expense of cooling capability.
• The pad: We were both concerned about whether we would be able to feel the little tubes that are in the pad. If you run your fingers over the pad and press down you can feel where the tubes are, but when laying on the pad we can't feel the tubes at all.
• Cooling: We've had a lot of high heat and wildfires in the area for a few weeks now. We normally sleep with our windows open at night but the heat and smoke have forced us to keep the house sealed up and the AC on 24/7, which is a pretty miserable way to sleep IMO. The first night we used the Ooler we both cranked the temperature all the way down to 55 deg. F and were super-excited to not be sweating all night long or being blasted by the AC. It's definitely a weird sensation to be sleeping in a bed that's cold. As @Jonathan Benson said, it's not like sleeping in an ice bath, it's more like always being on the cool side of the pillow. The first night we both slept under the down comforter all night long and were nice and cool.
• Sleep schedules: This has been an interesting find for me, and another reason I'd now recommend the Ooler over the Chili. When we first started using the unit we set a schedule to have it turn on at 9PM at 55 deg. so that the bed would be fully cooled by the time we get in bed around 10. For the first couple of hours it felt heavenly, but I woke up in the middle of the night a few times feeling too cold. My wife simply bumped her program up to 58 deg. and she happily sleeps at that temp all night. I decided to play around with the sleep schedule so my side starts at 55 deg. at 9PM, then goes to 60 deg. at 12PM, 65 deg. at 3AM and then 70 deg. at 5AM before turning off at 6AM. I've only been sleeping with this schedule for a few days now, but this is honestly some of the best sleep I've ever gotten. I always take my Fitbit sleep data with a huge grain of salt, but it's showing huge increases in the amount of deep and REM sleep and drops in the amount of light sleep and times that I'm waking up in the middle of the night. This does correlate to how I'm feeling in the morning. I definitely feel like I got some good deep sleep, and the numbers of dreams I'm remembering is much higher than normal. What's missing is that feeling that I was just barely asleep and tossing and turning all night.

It's definitely still early to form any definitive conclusions about sleep quality but I can say that it does cool VERY effectively and makes for some very comfortable, cool sleep. It has definitely helped my wife cope with the hot flashes, and lets us sleep without having the AC set anywhere near as cold at night. Anecdotally, sleep quality feels significantly improved for both of us.

Larry Peters

Amazing @John Katsoudas ! Thanks a ton for the detailed review! My GF needed a new mattress anyway, so we got the 8 sleep smart mattress with many of the same features. I am excited to set it up soon! I hope I have as positive as an experience as you do!

John Katsoudas

You're very welcome @Larry Peters. The 8 sleep smart mattress looks very nice! We already had a mattress we really like so the Ooler made more sense for us, but if you're already in the market for a mattress that looks like an awesome way to go. I'd love to hear what you think of it.