To be fair, I\u2019m a terrible hot sleeper year-round. I toss, I turn, I flip my pillow to the \u201ccool side\u201d 37 times a night, and I still wake up with my blankets tangled at the foot of the bed and my pajamas drenched in sweat.<\/p>\n
![\"McKenzie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/mckenzie-beard-home-astoria-queens-133059862_5b4b02.jpg\")
In New York City, 850,000 go without air conditioning every summer, including The Post\u2019s McKenzie Beard. Emmy Park for NY Post<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not alone. About 14% of American adults say they\u2019re too hot while sleeping \u201calways\u201d or \u201cmost of the time,\u201d according to a 2023 Casper and Gallup survey<\/a> of nearly 4,000 people.<\/p>\n Compared with people who sleep cooler, these overheated snoozers take longer to fall asleep, get poorer-quality rest and are nearly twice as likely to have been diagnosed with anxiety or depression. They also report having less energy and lower productivity during the day.<\/p>\n And when summer rolls around, everything gets worse.<\/p>\n In my Astoria apartment, that means sticky, sleepless nights followed by cranky mornings spent asking myself the same question: Is it finally time to surrender and buy a window unit?<\/p>\n Roughly 11% of New York City residents<\/a> live without air conditioning,\u00a0whether because of environmental concerns, old buildings or cooling bills that have skyrocketed more than 50% over the past decade.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, the forecast isn\u2019t exactly encouraging. Research suggests<\/a> that by 2028, the concrete jungle could see as many as 10 heat waves every summer and six times as many days topping 90 degrees.<\/p>\n Staring down a future of sweat-soaked nights, I started wondering whether anything besides AC could keep me cool enough to actually sleep. My fans certainly weren\u2019t cutting it.<\/p>\n So I went hunting for alternatives. Here are the three cooling gadgets that have helped me survive the summer so far.<\/p>\n The Embr Wave 2<\/p>\n I\u2019ll admit it: I was skeptical this would work. <\/p>\n Of all the gadgets I tested, this wrist-worn device felt like the biggest gamble. But I was genuinely surprised by the results \u2014 and the fact that it\u2019s based on Nobel prize winning science.<\/p>\n Marketed as the \u201cworld\u2019s first personal thermostat,\u201d the Embr Wave 2 looks like a minimalist smartwatch without a screen. Instead of telling time, it sits on the inside of your wrist and delivers carefully controlled bursts of heat or cold.<\/p>\n Third-party research at UC Berkeley<\/a> found it can make users feel as though the temperature has changed by 5 to 7 degrees Fahrenheit.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Embr Wave uses thermal stimulation as a unique and powerful pathway to the brain to produce a body response,\u201d Liz Gazda, CEO of Embr Labs, told The Post. <\/p>\n Inside the device is a tiny thermoelectric heat pump that either pulls heat away from your skin or pushes warmth toward it.<\/p>\n Those temperature changes stimulate heat-sensitive nerves on the inside of your wrist, sending signals to the brain\u2019s temperature-control center that can make your whole body feel cooler or warmer.<\/p>\n And it works \u2014 just not in a big, sweeping wave of relief. Instead, the cold is delivered in subtle pulses that are enough to feel, but not enough to make your body think it\u2019s suddenly freezing out.<\/p>\n I wore the Embr Wave 2 on and off for a month and found it helped ease that familiar feeling of overheating while trying to fall asleep.<\/p>\n The wristband comes in rose gold and black, and it\u2019s battery can last more than nine hours on a single charge. It pairs with a free smartphone app, unlocking six temperature modes and more than 30 customizable thermal sessions.<\/p>\n But it\u2019s not just for hot sleepers trying to survive summer nights. <\/p>\n \u201cWe have customers using the product for menopausal hot flashes<\/a>, sleep, stress, panic attacks, hot flashes caused by breast and prostate cancer treatment, symptoms of multiple sclerosis and even motion sickness<\/a>,\u201d Gazda said.<\/p>\n Buy it: The Embr Wave 2<\/a> costs $239 to buy outright or $20 a month to rent.<\/p>\n Dagsmejan Stay Cool sleepwear<\/p>\n In the summertime, my pajamas are usually workout shorts and an oversized T-shirt \u2014 which wind up damp and abandoned somewhere on the bedroom floor by morning.<\/p>\n That changed with Dagsmejan\u2019s Stay Cool sleepwear.<\/p>\n Slipping into the Swiss-Swedish brand\u2019s short-sleeve shirt and pants, I felt like I\u2019d wandered into the iconic slumber party scene from \u201cThe Princess Diaries 2.\u201d They\u2019re unbelievably soft and look like luxury loungewear. <\/p>\n Dagsmejan says its eucalyptus-derived \u201cNattcool\u201d fabric is up to eight times more breathable than cotton and dries in about a third of the time. Its open-knit construction also releases water vapor 60% more effectively.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen sweat evaporates efficiently, it naturally cools the skin,\u201d said Andreas Lenzhofer, the company\u2019s co-founder and CEO. <\/p>\n \u201cIf moisture remains trapped \u2014 as it often does in less breathable fabrics \u2014 it can create a cycle of overheating, sweating and waking up,\u201d he explained. \u201cOur goal is to support the body\u2019s own cooling mechanisms rather than artificially cooling the body.\u201d<\/p>\n After several weeks of testing, I noticed I was waking up far less clammy than usual. The set stayed light, breathable and genuinely cool against my skin throughout the night. <\/p>\n The only catch is the price tag, which is steep for pajamas and makes it more of a splurge than an everyday buy.<\/p>\n Buy it: Prices for Dagsmejan sleepwear<\/a> vary by item. The collection includes everything from sleep shirts and slip dresses to shorts, pants and boxers. My set cost $248.<\/p>\n Coop Cool+ bedding<\/p>\n By this point, you\u2019ve probably heard enough about my nightly battle against sweat-soaked sheets \u2014 but Coop\u2019s Cool+<\/a> bedding finally gave me a win.<\/p>\n Made from a cooling nylon-spandex blend, the sheets absorb less heat than traditional cotton while pulling moisture away from your body. The fabric feels almost like silky athletic wear \u2014 soft, stretchy and consistently cool to the touch.<\/p>\n There is one small downside. They\u2019re a bit slippery.<\/p>\n It took a couple nights to adjust, but once I did, I didn\u2019t want to sleep on anything else. I found myself falling asleep faster, and when I woke during the night, I drifted back off much more easily.<\/p>\n Hot tip: Pair the sheets with a fan, and they feel even cooler.<\/p>\n The biggest standout, though, was the brand\u2019s adjustable pillow.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve tested plenty of so-called cooling pillows over the years. Most start out refreshingly cold before turning into something that traps heat within an hour. This one was different.<\/p>\n It combines cooling gel-infused memory foam with microfiber to improve airflow. One side offers plush cushioning, while the other features a firmer cooling surface made with materials that absorb and disperse heat, helping it stay cooler longer.<\/p>\n Better yet, it\u2019s adjustable. You can add or remove the gel-infused filling to customize both the height and firmness of the pillow until it feels just right.<\/p>\n I also tried their mattress topper, which uses a similar memory foam blend the company says increases airflow by 50%.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile cooling bedding isn\u2019t a replacement for air conditioning during extreme heat, it can help reduce heat buildup around your body, improve airflow and create a more comfortable sleep surface,\u201d said Debbie Liu, director of product development and merchandising at Coop. <\/p>\n Buy it: Coop Cool+ bedding<\/a> prices vary by item. The adjustable pillow<\/a> costs $149, the sheet set $129 and the mattress topper<\/a> $399.<\/p>\n None of these products magically turned my apartment into an icebox. But together, they made sleeping through a sweltering New York summer a whole lot more bearable.<\/p>\n And until I finally cave and buy that window AC unit, I\u2019ll take every degree I can get.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fireworks won\u2019t be the only thing keeping people awake this Fourth of July weekend. As temperatures across the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":285852,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[24789,2889,68,2953,4588,232,57,9,24,56,63,65,64,2539,21274,109533,38970,1601,1881],"class_list":["post-285851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-air-conditioning","tag-clothing","tag-exclusive","tag-health","tag-heat-wave","tag-lifestyle","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-shopping","tag-sleep","tag-smart-beds","tag-smartwatches","tag-tech","tag-wellness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=285851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285851\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/285852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=285851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=285851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=285851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"McKenzie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/mckenzie-beard-wearing-coop-cool-133060301_58a330.jpg\")
The Embr Wave 2 is a wristband that helps with temperature regulation, with both warm and cool settings. Emmy Park for NY Post<\/p>\n![\"Hands](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/mckenzie-beard-home-astoria-queens-133059641.jpg\")
A companion app allows Embr Wave users to adjust the device\u2019s settings to their liking. Emmy Park for NY Post<\/p>\n![\"McKenzie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/mckenzie-beard-wearing-coop-cool-133059466.jpg\")
Dagsmejan\u2019s Stay Cool sleepwear is ultra soft and wicks away moisture throughout the night. Emmy Park for NY Post<\/p>\n![\"McKenzie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/mckenzie-beard-wearing-coop-cool-133059755_40e84d.jpg\")
Coop\u2019s line of Cool+ bedding includes cooling sheets, mattress toppers and an adjustable pillow. Emmy Park for NY Post<\/p>\n