Not too firm, nor too soft, this Sealy Posturepedic Elevate Gel Cool Mattress is the Goldilocks of cooling mattresses

The Sealey Posturepedic Elevate Cool Mattress has all the buzz words that will make any hot sleeper’s heart soar. A layer of cooling gel. Yes please. A special structure that will circulate air away from your body in the night. I’ll take that. And special, secret cooling technology. I’m more than intrigued. With so much promise, I couldn’t resist putting it to the test — for all our peace of mind.

To do that, I enlisted Jen, 42, who’s navigating perimenopause and all the unwelcome night sweats that come with it. She told me that she’s “looking for a mattress that will help me to wake up feeling fresh, rather than with a layer of night-sweat dampness across my body. Most of all, I just want a good night of sleep.”

Jen has been sleeping on the Sealey for three months and says “the overall effect of the Sealey is something fit for a fairytale. Not too firm, not too soft, it’s inviting enough for me to climb into of an evening, but it’s also tempted me back to bed in the middle of the day too.” It has Jen’s approval, so is it for you?

Jen Packer

Jen is part of our tester network and it won't take you long to realise why. Not only was Jen in need of a mattress to help her with her chronic back and shoulder pain, she has also been struggling with night sweats. With a background in journalism and reviewing, I knew she'd cast a discerning, critical, and honest eye over this mattress.

Jen offers a special focus on hot sleepers, as she explains "my body temperature regulation is becoming a more noticeable issue as I find myself layering up before bed on chilly nights and then peeling those layers off after realising they’re stuck to me and I’m sweating and lightheaded. I found myself spending less and less time in bed relaxing because it was getting so uncomfortable, so I loved the sound of a cooling mattress that might be able to help me temperature-regulate through the night." Let's see what the Sealy can do.

Sealey Posturepedic Gel Mattress review

The Sealey falls on the firm side of foam mattresses, which has two key benefits for sleepers. The first is that it can be really helpful for back pain. Obviously, this will depend on medical recommendations (no mattress can fix your back pain), but osteopaths have long praised the benefits of a firm mattress. It's particularly good for back sleepers (and particularly uncomfortable for side sleepers), so bare that in mind. The cooling technology makes this great for those suffering from night sweats. Again, it won't send you into icy bliss, but it should help to make them more managable.

What's inside the Sealy Posturepedic Elevate mattress?

Mattresses are opaque in lots of ways, not in the least because we can't cut them open. I wanted to try to give you a good idea of what's inside your mattress, but Sealy's patented names, including AlignSupport Coil®, MemorySense® ComfortCore™, and UniCased® XT don't make for transparent reading.

Rest assured, I did my research to break the mattress down, layer by layer. Here's a breakdown of what each layer will do for you:

• AlignSupport® Springs: These springs are strong and supportive. They adjust to your body as you lie down and then give deep, consistent support all night. They’re also heat-treated twice, making them very durable.
• UniCased® XT Edge Support: This is a tough frame around the edges of the mattress. It stops the springs from moving sideways and means you can sleep right up to the edge without feeling like you’ll roll off. It also has small air channels to help the mattress breathe and stay cool.
• BasePlank: This is a strong base layer that supports the whole mattress and allows air to flow through, helping with cooling and durability.
• MemorySense® ComfortCore™: In the middle of the mattress, there’s a special memory foam section that supports your hips and lower back. It helps relieve pressure in the areas that need it most.
• Gel-Infused Foam: This foam layer helps keep you cool while also adding comfort. It works with the ComfortCore™ to provide a personalised feel.
• Sealy Firm Foam: Extra firm foam layers make the mattress feel solid and supportive—ideal if you prefer a firmer bed.
• SmarTex® & ProShield® Fabric: The cover is breathable and helps keep your body temperature comfortable. It’s also treated to help reduce allergens and is approved by Allergy UK.

In summary, these features give you a mattress that's a blend of supportive springs and firm foam. The relatively solid feel helps offer good, edge-to-edge support, whilst also relieving pressure on your back. It's all designed and made in the UK, with a seven year guarentee too. Some mattress brands offer a little longer, but I'll talk more about that on the section about value.

Who would the Sealey Posturepedic Elevate Mattress suit?

When I was choosing who should test the Sealy Posturepedic Elevate Mattress, I knew I needed to find someone who was struggling with both night sweats and back pain, since these are the biggest USPs that come with the mattress.

Sealy describe this as a firm mattress and, when sending this into our tester network, I had just recently interviewed Dr. Sherry McAllister, President of the Foundation for Chiropractic Progress. She told me that, aside from consulting a specialist about your back pain, " individuals with lower back pain will benefit from a medium firm to firm mattress for lower back support. A well-designed mattress alleviates pressure points and will help to evenly distribute body weight. It's also important, if you share a mattress, to select a mattress with motion isolation, so that both partners can get a restful night of sleep in."

Jen told me that she was suffering very specifically with pain as she was recovering from a lower back injury, so it felt like her and the Sealy were a match made in heaven. The proof was in the sleeping. Jen wrote to me early on in testing, explaining that whilst the mattress was a lot firmer than she expected, her back pain had significantly improved. Reflecting on her experience a few months later, she told me "when I woke up the first morning after sleeping on the Sealy, I felt two inches taller and better rested than I had been in weeks,” she says.

She went on to describe the experience as “Disney bliss.” As she put it: “Within seconds of the mattress landing on my bed frame, I collapsed onto it with a theatrical ‘ahhhhh.’ It was that lovely. I could swear tiny fingers were reaching up to coax my body into the perfect sleeping position.” A few minutes later, her seven-year-old was joyfully bouncing on it—and the mattress didn’t flinch.

Whilst lots of memory foam mattresses should come with a warning for hot sleepers, this is kitted out with all the technology that should help you towards a cool night of sleep. Jen acknowledges that "cooling mattresses aren’t miracle workers and my bad hormonal nights, though fewer and farther between, were still bad. I woke up sodden, groggy and uncomfortable in the middle of the night on a couple of occasions. But overall, I felt more in control of my environment and body temperature." This is about what you can expect from a cooling mattress. If there is one that can cure night sweats, please show it to me. The important thing to note with cooling mattresses is that they can almost become your support network.

A cooling mattress will edge you a little bit closer to a more controlled sleep. Pair that with breathable sheets, a natural mattress topper, and some good routines and you might start to feel a little less clammy in the mornings. The biggest difference that you'll notice is buying a bad mattress. Memory foam will make night sweats even worse, which is why I was surprised to see Sealy use it in their composition. From Jen's experience (and the many other five star reviews that I have read), it seems that this memory foam is one of the most cooling you can buy.

What is the Sealey Posturepedic Elevate Gel Mattress like to sleep on?

Now, I know you'll be keen to know what Jen found the Sealy Posturepedic Elevate Gel Mattress to be like in the long run. She's been sleeping on it since February, which is enough time for us to look at all the different aspects of support and comfort promised in Sealy's marketing. The first aspect that I was really eager to know about was whether the patented technology had helped with her back pain.

Jen reported back to me: "I was still recovering from a lower back injury and associated issues when I first slept on it back in February; I woke up that first morning feeling two inches taller and better-rested than I had been for weeks. My shoulders didn’t ache, my neck wasn’t sore, my lower back and hips felt less stiff than they had in months." She credits this relief, at least in part, to the mattress’s smart design — features like the twice-tempered coil system, BasePlank foundation, and pressure-relieving foam layers all working together to support and align her body through the night.

As a mattress that promises to support spinal alignment, you can't really ask for more. When people ask me to recommend mattresses for back pain, I always make sure that they're seeing a professional first. They can pick up on triggers and a mattress, such as this one can help with some of the relief. Whilst Jen was fine on the firm Sealy, Chiropractor Dr. Sherry McAllister, emphasised to me in our interview that "a mattress needs to be comfortable. Don't feel compelled to keep a mattress that disrupts your sleep in the night." I was keen to hear from Jen on the other aspects of the Sealy, because it did so well for her back pain, but what about other factors that affect your rest, such as motion transfer and more general comfort levels?

I wanted to pressure test the concept of a firm, but comfortable mattress, since these are hard to come across, especially if you sleep on your side. Jen explained to me that, whilst her and her husband needed a couple of weeks to get used to how firm it was, she loved the feel of this "wonderfully textured mattress, with deep curves and grooves to run my fingers all over." Once she was through the fortnight of testing, she found herself being drawn to the comfort of bed. "I never knew a firm mattress could actually feel that good." It's worth stopping here to recognise that firmness doesn't have to mean discomfort. You can look for gels, toppers, and other technology that will help the firm mattress to both support you and meet your sleep needs.

We'll talk about the cooling features of the Sealy in the next section, but Jen's night sweats kept her up at night. Whilst this is horrible for her, it does mean that she had some time to think about the motion transfer of the mattress, as well as the edge-to-edge support. She told me, "I’ve had a handful of perimenopausal insomnia episodes, where I haven’t been able to get any shuteye until 3 or 4 in the morning and noticed my husband’s every fidget next to me. I’m confident I wouldn’t notice these movements if I hadn’t been awake to see them: I never felt myself moving around when he was, and the mattress felt like a steady hand holding me." When she could get some sleep, she says she "couldn't feel my husband stirring beside me and I could sleep right on the edge of the bed."

When we chatted more, she explained that she definitely noticed the movements of her husband much less. Similarly, when her children came into bed, the mattress remained solid from one edge to the other. This feeds into the impressive support that it offers back pain, but it is also a feature that I'd recommend anyone who shares a bed prioritises. If you don't you and your partner's sleep schedules will need to be very synchronised.

Is the Sealey Posturepedic Elevate Gel Mattress cooling?

Next, I really wanted to know how Jen found the cooling technology integrated into the mattress. As I mentioned earlier, lots of cooling mattresses will use gels and open structures to promote as much breathability and heat transfer as possible to help keep you cool at night. Before testing, Jen explained "I've been experiencing fairly extreme perimenopausal symptoms for the past 18 months, which have improved in the last several months after hormonal intervention (Mirena coil) but continue to impact my sleep, causing insomnia and waking with night sweats." The Sealy doesn't promise to solve them, but it was my hope that the open structure and cooling gels would help.

Jen's verdict was just as I expected. She explained, "cooling mattresses aren’t miracle workers and my bad hormonal nights, though fewer and farther between, were still bad. Overall, I felt more in control of my environment and body temperature, which allowed me to do insanely rebellious things before bed, like having the audacity to not remove my sweatshirt on chillier evenings before falling asleep. (And in answer to your question, no, the hot flushes didn’t happen on those nights, but when I was in a vest top and shorts or silk PJs.)"

This is about the best that any hot sleeper can hope for in a cooling mattress. They'll give you a bit more freedom and flexibility with your routine and, in the best case scenario, your skin will feel fresher when you wake up (you might even sleep through a little longer too).

Is the Sealey Posturepedic Elevate Mattress good value?

The Sealey mattress starts at £1,599 for a single and rises to £2,799 for a double, placing it firmly in the high-end bracket of the mattress market. That price point makes sense when you consider its construction—not only is it pocket-sprung, but it’s also finished with a range of luxury details. Handmade in England, the mattress comes with a seven-year guarantee. While I’d prefer a ten-year guarantee to align with the general advice to replace your mattress every decade, seven years is still reasonable.

More importantly, Sealey has a solid reputation for standing by its promises. I came across several reviews from customers who had their mattresses replaced five or six years into the guarantee period, with no hassle or pushback. It’s not something that happens often, but it’s reassuring to know the guarantee holds up when it really matters.

Should you buy it?

The best person to ask about whether you should buy this is Jen. "This mattress is a huge improvement over the last one I slept on. In addition to the mid-layers designed to promote air circulation and breathability, the top layer has Senslce, an advanced cooling technology which promises to help lower your body temperature. It’s also made with Allergy UK-endorsed ProShield®, to maximise breathability and keep dust mites and other allergens away."

How we test

At woman&home, how we test cooling mattresses is a little different to some of our other buying guides. We've been working on something called 'The Tester Network', which is a special place where we reach out to you. I asked for readers who were suffering from night sweats because nobody else knows quite what they're like until you've battled through them. These ladies are the best people to talk to about cooling mattresses.

When I had volunteers (most of whom were experiencing night sweats), I asked them about their sleep needs. Jen described her back pains and sleep needs, and I matched her up with this mattress. Then, I sent her a list of questions to consider while she was sleeping and then gave her a full month to sleep on the bed and provide feedback.

Experts generally recommend two weeks, but I was keen to give it a full month to get through a cycle of hormones and general craziness. Jen will continue to test this mattress for us and will keep you updated on how her sleep progresses. She's not being paid - this is an independent review, so you know everything she is saying is authentic.

Jen Packer

Jen is part of our tester network and it won't take you long to realise why. Not only was Jen in need of a mattress to help her with her chronic back and shoulder pain, she has also been struggling with night sweats. With a background in journalism and reviewing, I knew she'd cast a discerning, critical, and honest eye over this mattress.

Jen offers a special focus on hot sleepers, as she explains "my body temperature regulation is becoming a more noticeable issue as I find myself layering up before bed on chilly nights and then peeling those layers off after realising they’re stuck to me and I’m sweating and lightheaded. I found myself spending less and less time in bed relaxing because it was getting so uncomfortable, so I loved the sound of a cooling mattress that might be able to help me temperature-regulate through the night." Let's see what the Sealy can do.