Cushioning deep enough for an aching shoulder, without the warmth that usually comes with it, is what a lot of side sleepers want from their next bed, and the Alaska 6000 is the one Dreams built for them. It's the top rung of TheraPur, Dreams' own cooling range, which you'll only find at Dreams, and it's the softest of the five current models. Under its sewn-on pillow top sits the deepest layer of gel foam TheraPur makes, then a double layer of micro springs on full-size pocket springs, 31cm deep in all. The gap it goes after is a plush, sink-in feel that stays cool. Lie on your side and your shoulder keeps travelling for a moment before anything firm meets it. Late in October 2026 I went back to Dreams to lie on it a second time, and to my mind it's a lovely bed if you're the sleeper it was made for.
My shoulder went deep, and the edge was soft
I'm a side sleeper, so I started there before moving on to my back and front. On my side the pillow top let my shoulder sink a long way in, with no pressure building at the shoulder or the hip, and the gel underneath kept that thick top from feeling warm while I lay there. Dreams grades it Soft Medium. To me it lay nearer a medium, and that's why my back and front came out better than I'd expected for a bed sold as soft.
The weak spot was the edge. Lying close to the side, I felt the soft top give under me and found myself rolling towards it. There's a foam border round the springs, but the pillow top sits over it and stays just as soft out at its rim. If you share a double and one of you sleeps right at the side, lie at the edge in the shop before you buy.
My first go on it was back in March 2026, and what I found then still stands: my shoulder eased in instead of being pushed upwards, the cover felt cool under my hand, and the zoned gel did far more for my shoulder and hip than the micro springs did.
Buy it if you love a pillow top and sleep on your side
My rule is weight first, then position, with side sleepers going a notch softer than everyone else. A lighter side sleeper who wants to sink is exactly who this suits, and if you run warm as well, the gel is a proper bonus. Heavier side sleepers go further through the top before the springs take over, which is the soft-medium feel the grade promises. Back sleepers who like some cushioning do better here than the label suggests, and that was the surprise of my visit.
Skip it if you sleep right at the edge of the bed or you want a mattress you can turn over. Firm-bed people who like to lie on top of a mattress, not in it, should look further down the range. And don't pay the full ticket. Dreams changes the price of this one often, so wait until it's in a sale before you buy.
Get the pillow right while you're at it, because a deep sink at the shoulder changes how much height your head needs. Take yours to the shop and lie on the Alaska with it.
Top-end parts, with one fixed top taking all the wear
From the top down you get a knitted cover with graphite in it, a fibre layer, a layer of ActiGel foam, then the 6cm of zoned ActiGel that the whole bed is built around. Below that sit two sheets of micro pocket springs and a full layer of pocket springs, with that foam border round the outside. It's the most generous build Dreams puts into its own cooling range, and the gel is where the extra money shows. I'd always sooner pay for a thick comfort layer than for more springs, and here the comfort layer is properly thick.
The 6000 in the name is the rung, not the spring count. A double has 5,072 springs and a king 6,216, and the single drops to 2,234, which is fewer than the single in the Glacier 4000 one rung down. If you're buying a single, know that before you pay the extra for this one.
Then there's the top. It's a pillow top, sewn on, and the mattress is single-sided, so you can rotate it head to foot but never turn it over. All the wear goes into that one soft surface. I'm not a fan of fixed pillow tops for exactly that reason, and at this price how the top lasts is worth weighing before you commit. If you love the feel of one, this is a well-made example, and it's the reason the shoulder sinks so far.
Owners love the comfort, and the unhappy ones talk about wear
I always read the middling reviews first, because the five-star ones tend to be written in the honeymoon. The happy owners here talk about aches that have gone and nights they no longer spend lying awake, and one sums up the feel better than I can: "squishy on the top but very supportive underneath". Side sleepers in particular say it suits them. Owners who mention the cooling mostly say it feels properly cool, even in hot weather, which fits what I felt.
When owners complain, it's about wear, and it shows up early. One who'd rotated it every week, as Dreams asks, found it starting to sag within a few weeks, and another describes "two channels where we lie and a hump in the middle". Both still called it comfortable. An early dip worries me more than any other owner gripe, and it's the same doubt I have about any fixed pillow top, so keep up the rotation and report a dip to Dreams the moment you see one.
Deep sheets, a weekly turn and a thin protector
At 31cm (about 12 inches) it needs deep-pocket fitted sheets, and it sits high enough that one owner struggles to sit on the side with their feet on the floor. A double weighs 44kg. Dreams wants it spun end to end once a week to begin with and monthly once three months are up, which is a job for two people. This version isn't made for an adjustable base. Dreams sells a separate Sleepmotion-compatible version of it for that. If you warm the bed with an electric blanket, keep a sheet between it and the mattress: Dreams' own staff say a blanket straight on the surface can overheat the fillings and void the warranty.
Dreams wants a mattress protector on it from the first night to keep the 100-Night Comfort Guarantee valid, and its own staff recommend a breathable, cooling one so the cover can still do its job. I'm not a protector fan, and putting one over a cooling cover feels like a one-pound case on a thousand-pound phone. Here you need one, so buy it thin. The guarantee swaps the mattress for another rather than refunding you, there's a charge for the exchange, and because this is the dearest TheraPur, a swap down the range pays the difference back in Dreams vouchers.
What to buy instead
Stay at Dreams and lie on the Glacier 4000 while you're there. It has the same cover and the same gel idea, with 4cm of zoned gel instead of 6cm, one sheet of micro springs instead of two and a Medium grade, and it costs less. On the same visit its grade let my shoulder and hip sink in on my side with my waist still supported, and in a single it carries more springs than the Alaska. It has a pillow top too, so the wear question comes with it, but you pay less for the cushioning.
If a fixed top puts you off as much as it does me, the Polar 2000 has the same cool cover and gel on a flat top. It's graded Medium Firm, so a side sleeper's shoulder gets less room to sink, but there's no pillow top to think about and it costs a good deal less again.
