How to fix my Mac mini heating up in sleep mode?

Spoke too soon: After going into sleep for 15min, my mouse lit up again, the mini fan started spinning again, the case got warm again. The mini just won't stay in sleep mode for long. After reading online about this issue, it appears this is a very common problem. The fix is to turn on "Low Power Mode" in Energy setting, and set all others to off including "Wake for network access".

The bottom line is that it's bug, albeit a low priority one.

IMO, these extended discussions on Sleep are pointless (also endless) because the problems are all easily avoidable with no compromises.

Yes, that’s exactly the intention: Sleep is unnecessary - don’t even manual-sleep. Shut for long absences and use the existing settings for regular operation.

+1. Based on the reply, it’s a personal opinion being posted as official Apple recommendation, best ignored.

thank you for your response. I’ll take that under consideration. I appreciate it.

Nope, these forums are actively moderated.

There is no bug - and no problem if Sleep is disabled, as it should be. So do it and be happy (or run along to Reddit).

Turning off sleep made no difference for me