Feeling hot and sweaty can disrupt your sleep. Why a cooling blanket could help you actually rest.

Temperatures may be slowly starting to cool off, but summer isn’t over yet, which is probably why ice blankets are trending online, with the promise of offering a better night’s sleep.

Some people have gravitated toward cooling blankets to deal with the brutal summer heat — like this one woman from Arizona who said it allowed her to nap comfortably despite her home staying above 80 degrees Fahrenheit — while others have found the blankets useful for general night sweats, including those during pregnancy and menopause.

But are they really all that effective? And who are they useful for? Yahoo Life reached out to sleep experts to find out.

What is a cooling blanket?

Although multiple brands are popping up on TikTok, including Ice Blankets, Momcozy and Rest, they offer the same guarantee of regulating a person’s body temperature throughout the night and improving the quality of sleep. According to marketing materials, this is achieved with fabrics like silk, nylon, cotton and spandex that are used in conjunction with proprietary technologies that absorb and release heat differently than traditional bedding.

“They often use technology like moisture-wicking fabrics that draw sweat away from the body, gel-infused layers that disperse heat or phase change materials (PCMs) that absorb and release heat as needed,” Shelby Harris, sleep psychologist and director of sleep health at Sleepopolis, tells Yahoo Life. “These can help you keep a cooler, more consistent temperature throughout the night, making overheating less likely and helping you have better sleep quality.”

Not all of these cooling blankets are created equal, says Janet Kennedy, sleep psychologist and founder of NYC Sleep Doctor, as some that claim to be cooling might gradually warm up when exposed to body heat. The point, she tells Yahoo Life, is for the blanket to “stay cool all night.”

How do cooling blankets improve sleep?

The obvious benefit is not sweating — or at least sweating less — at night. Brands say that there are a number of other gains to be made when sleeping with a cooling blanket.

Ice Blankets, for one, claims that its product can help a person fall asleep faster, in addition to boosting melatonin, lowering stress hormones and helping to speed up metabolism. (No, you won’t be losing weight with a cooling blanket.) But experts say other benefits are more likely.

“Body temperature fluctuates at night, and that can cause sleep disruptions,” explains Kennedy. “Maintaining a cooler core body temperature helps with falling asleep, staying asleep and improving sleep quality.”

Harris adds that “a cooler sleeping environment can help you relax at bedtime by activating the body's natural cooling process and improving your overall sleep quality, which can lead to you feeling more refreshed and alert in the morning.”

This is particularly true for people who tend to sleep hot, have night sweats or suffer from menopause or hyperthyroidism that causes overheating, says Harris. Cooling blankets can also “help athletes or people who exercise intensely, as they may have higher body temperatures at night,” she says.

And like most things, these blankets aren’t for everyone. “Some people love the sensation of cooling blankets and bedding on their bodies, but some don't,” says Kennedy. Luckily, there are other ways to keep from overheating.

She points to other “higher-tech solutions for whole-body cooling” like the beds and mattress toppers offered by brands 8 Sleep and Chilipad. BedJet is another alternative that pumps air through the sheets to keep you cool.

“Cooling pillows or pillow inserts that use water, like ColdBed Pillow or Chillow, can also regulate core body temperature by keeping the head cool. This keeps core temperature low without the sensation of cold on the whole body, which is preferable to some,” says Kennedy. “You can even keep core temperature down by wearing socks to bed, which seems counterintuitive but it works.”

The takeaway

An effective cooling blanket can make for a more comfortable night’s sleep, especially if heat is your main concern. I personally might give it a go just to give my AC unit — and skyrocketing electric bill — a break.