Upside down Neoloft more thermally efficient?

I have read that if you have a closed cell foam pad, and an air mattress, you should put the closed cell foam on top because it’s more thermally efficient.  I think there are air currents in the air matt that make it colder if it’s on top.

Maybe something like that’s happening.

It’s possible that it “feels warmer” initially but could, conversely, “feel colder” as the night goes on.

I’m also a firm believer that a CCF pad on top is better for two reasons:

1) the higher density ccf more evenly distributes a person’s body over the mattress, so it won’t compress in the middle as much (reducing it’s r-value in the center), especially when turning on one’s side.

2) Because ccf has a lower thermal conductivity per inch than an air mattress, I’ve come to understand that it’s always best to place it closest to the heat source (me).

I fully understand that r values are technically additive and that pad positioning shouldn’t make a difference, but reducing overall heat flow is more critical than burning energy to “warm up” an air mattress, especially when considering the impact of fully exposed side walls of an air mattress (which are about 15% of the total area of a mattress.)

Because ASTM R-value testing doesn’t account for side wall exposure in cold temperatures (or uneven mattress compression), air mattresses lose performance as the temperature drops or when someone sleeps on their side.

(fwiw: I just asked chat gbt about this, and it claims that a standard 3″ air mattress could lose up to 19% of the heat lost just through the side walls alone, when the air temp is 15d and the ground is 30d. And that’s before convective heat loss is figured in, which could add another 6%-12% more.)