I believe we all want optimized, efficient, deeply restorative sleep setting us up to be our very best mentally and physically. As you all know this website is all about ways to optimize ancestrally. Sleep is one of the biggest levers to do this.
Having a unique sleep system that can warm you up, cool you down or do both at the same time would be a great help to have a restorative sleep.
In the last couple of years I've grown to realize how valuable sleep is and how much of an impact it had on my overall mental health, entrepreneurial performance as well as physical performance. Top performers like Lebron James, Roger Federer, these guys sleep for 10-12 hours per night during extreme competitions. For me I've learned to realize that going to bed early certainly can be the best way to get the best quality of sleep, but in my experience it's also the fastest to create anxiety and destroy a social life and just limit your opportunity to hang out with people and socialize. The idea here is that ancestrally, we were sleeping in a less controlled temperature environment. If you think about it, light and temperature are huge players in the way your body clock works.
If you can control both the light and temperature in a way where you can simulate outdoor light and temperature, you're going give your body the most ancestrally consistent environment to produce and recover in sleep. Red light hues from fire would have been consistent with the colors we saw prior to bed.
The other thing we would have seen is a temperature drop throughout the night until just before dawn. In our homes we have thermostats to control room temperatures. We can control the temperature and lots of people want to live in a very warm cozy environment and that's comfortable but it’s not consistent. What chiliPAD does is it allows you to cool down the surface temperature of your bed. I’ve purchased 3-4 gel toppers over the past 12 months testing this. None of them really worked to keep the surface cool, they're just there if you have a crappy bed and you're not dealing with a high quality material. In general the best way to get the best quality cooling effect is going to be looking at something like a chiliPAD. There are other products on the market but chiliPAD has been the Gold standard from what I have learned and studied. ChiliPAD is much more effective. Since June 2019, I've been sleeping on a ChiliPad and switching back and forth between the ChiliPAD and OOLER Sleep Systems.
The idea here is that these systems are cooling the underlined portion of your bed. They're running a water-cooled element through the mattress topper that they've created with pumps that circulate the water and take away the heat from your body. In this post, I will break down the differences between the two of them, why you might want to use them and what my personal experience has been along with my overall recommendation on which is better.
ChiliPAD vs OOLER
The ChiliPAD has been around for years and has been admired by top performers for improving sleep quality. This sleep system from chili technology was invented by the couple Todd and Tara way back 2007. It heats and cools your bed through the use of water.
OOLER on the other hand, is their latest sleep system. According to the chili technology's website, this is the most advanced and most luxurious sleep system.
ChiliPAD and OOLER are very similar, the device shares the same core technology. Both units are comprised of a hydro-powered mattress pad with a thermal range that operates from 55-115°F (13-46°C)* helping encourage quality, restorative sleep.
Here's the difference...
The chili cube comes with a remote control to update temperature. It's very simple and straightforward. It's a taller unit, it makes a little bit more noise.
The OOLER cube, on the other hand can be integrated with bluetooth. Their OOLER app allows for sleep schedules, UV water cleaning and noise control with 3 speed settings. It runs from silent mode to regular mode to boost mode for times when you need to quickly change the temperature.
When it comes to the cube, I like the OOLER because of its greater control of temperatures and lower ambient noise. You don't have an app with the ChiliPad unit so you just don't get the freedom to adjust the temperature throughout the night while you're sleeping. Overall the OOLER is going to have much better features and the unit itself looks much better.
In terms of the mattress Pad, the chiliPAD topper felt cooler and chiller. It didn't feel quite as comfortable and cozy because the OOLER gel topper has a soft felt fabric and it seems thinner but it seems like it may have less tubes and less elements.
Both pads can be connected to all other cubes so I tried running the chili cube to the OOLER topper and vice versa I didn't notice a difference in cooling performance from either cube. Meaning the cube itself, the actual unit doesn't seem to be affecting the coolness.
In my opinion if you already have a chiliPAD I don't think there's a lot of reasons to upgrade to the OOLER system topper. The units of the OOLER are great, it's quieter, it has different modes and it has app integration so you can schedule in.
If you are just comparing it side by side, I think the chiliPAD system is better value and it performs better. The Pad itself of the chiliPAD is the real x-factor as it feels noticeably cooler and seems to do a better job cooling its surface. But the OOLER cubes are quieter and have more features.
My overall recommendation is to get the ChiliPad sleep system in its entirety. Down the line, consider upgrading just the cubes. You can reach out to their support after you’ve received your order and exchange the Chili cubes for the Ooler cubes. That’s exactly what I did and I’m extremely happy with my overall setup.
Until next time, sleep well friends.
If you want to watch the full review, you can check it out below.