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Sleep is one of the most important things to me and probably most people. If I don’t have a good night’s sleep it can ruin my entire day. When it comes to the best mattress for my sleep I need it to be a soft mattress. I can’t sleep on medium or firm mattresses (trust me, I’ve tried). My family refers to me as The Princess and the Pea because I can feel everything around me and it causes me to wake up through the night. I’m also a very hot sleeper. I keep my apartment at a cool 65 every night with an overhead fan constantly moving. The worst feeling in the world is being hot while you sleep. When I was asked to test the Brooklyn Aurora Hybrid soft and cooling mattress—it was a match made in heaven! I jumped at the chance to test it and now you can read the full review to see if it’s for you. 

If you don’t know what type of mattress you need, Brooklyn Bedding has a handy buying guide here.

I just moved into a new apartment in a new city and my old mattress needed a serious upgrade. I’ve grown very used to my mattress topper (I wasn’t kidding when I said I need soft) so I was kind of sad to see it go, but I was ready for something new. I’ve slept on the Aurora Hybrid for about two months now and it’s been a dream.

When the mattress arrived I quickly realized I would not be able to move it by myself. I’m single and live by myself so this proved to be a challenge. I had to recruit my brother-in-law and sister, who thankfully lived nearby. Even with three people, this was a full workout—this mattress is heavy. (The website says it can range between 70 to 145 pounds depending on the size you choose.) When I opened the plastic bag around the mattress I was definitely glad I had help. I’d opened the mattress upside down and flipping it over required all three of us again.

Some consumers might be hesitant about buying a mattress-in-a-box. Since you can’t test their mattresses ahead of time, Brooklyn Bedding gives you a 120-night risk-free trial. 

I’m a hot, light sleeper and I wake up continuously throughout the night, which makes for a lot of cranky mornings. I also move around a lot in my sleep. I start on my side but flip back and forth constantly. And I have a thyroid condition where I’m cold most of the day but then too hot most of the night. Basically, if the room isn’t the perfect temperature or the mattress isn’t the perfect firmness, I can’t sleep. So how did the Aurora Hybrid perform? It not only checked all the boxes, it surpassed my expectations for staying cool and sleeping comfortably.

The Aurora Hybrid has a two-inch layer of TitanFlex, to create a cloud-like feeling, above a one-inch layer of gel memory foam. This helped the mattress conform to my body while I was sleeping on my side. It gives you the feeling of being hugged by your mattress, but with support for your back and hips. When I sleep on a medium or firm mattress I feel like someone cracked my back into a million pieces but the Aurora Hybrid’s soft layers had me waking up refreshed and ready for the day.

Brooklyn Aurora Hybrid Mattress (Queen Size)

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I was interested to see how this mattress would do with more than one person. Since I don’t share a bed with a partner I asked my sister and her husband to try it out. They sleep on a firm mattress at home so I was curious to see if they noticed a huge difference. They did say that, although the mattress was soft, they could feel each other moving throughout the night and it woke them both up. This is just something to note if you’re looking for a more firm mattress, and it’s where the 120-night trial period comes in handy.

The top layer of this mattress is cool to the touch. They can do this by using a layer of TitanCool followed by a layer of CopperFlex. According to Brooklyn Bedding, these layers use the combination of TitanCool and CopperFlex to draw excess heat away from the body and maintain optimal temperature. It’s actually a pretty cool sensation to have my mattress be cold to the touch. 

I usually start to sweat in my sleep if there isn’t a fan blowing on me, but this mattress has helped me with that. The biggest test of this was when my air conditioner broke in my apartment. I had two nights where it was just the overhead fan and I was still able to sleep comfortably. The only downside to this top cooling layer is that it’s smooth to the touch. I have silky sheets that I like to sleep on and you do slip around quite a bit because of the top layer.

I’m happy to say that there is no need for my old four-inch memory foam topper thanks to this new mattress. My sleep quality has improved and I have noticed that I don’t wake up as frequently in the middle of the night. If you’re also a side-sleeping, overheating, back-pain-complaining kind of person, then it’s definitely for you. 

Brooklyn Aurora Hybrid Mattress (Queen Size)

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SELF does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Any information published on this website or by this brand is not intended as a substitute for medical advice, and you should not take any action before consulting with a healthcare professional.

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