DOES IT WORK? My Pillow
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by Jen Zatkowski
ome of my friends tease me that I have kind of a germ phobia thing going. I’m not sure I agree. But I do have one icky secret. I sleep on the same pillow I had as a teenager. Now, it is encased in one of those anti-dustmite, hypoallergenic zippered cases. But after 25 years, it’s basically a zippered case full of dust. Yeah, so I am not good with change. Time for a new
pillow – and it turns out, there are a lot of choices. I had no idea pillows were now designed based on what type of sleeper you are until I passed by the bedding section at Ikea. I categorized myself as a side-sleeper and spent $19.99 on the Ikea 365+ Fast pillow. The high part of the pillow is specially designed for side sleep, while the low part claims to provide good support if you sleep on your back. Though oddly shaped to my eye, I was game to try the newest technology in pillow design. Not a good game for me. I never quite got comfortable with how my neck and head were supposed to fit over the high and low parts. There turned out to be one perfect 134 H HillRag | June 2012
position on my side where the Ikea 365+ was comfortable – but only one. Unless I stayed in that same position all night, I was wildly uncomfortable. I never could sleep on my back, as the rise in the pillow never hit my neck and head in the right place. I kept flipping the pillow back and forth, but never got the hang of it. I was back to my old pillow after only a couple of nights. The next pillow I tried was based on an infomercial I caught one late night, “cleverly” named My Pillow. The infomercial caught my attention because it was so un-slick, so un-produced, so un-stylish it was extraordinary. My Pillow’s logo is straight out of 1985 and the inventor pitching My Pillow has a porno-mustache. My Pillow claims to cure snoring, neck pain, sleep apnea, insomnia, TMJ (teeth grinding), migraines, fibromyalgia, restless leg syndrome, allergies and asthma. Wow – the only thing this pillow doesn’t do is grow hair. Several people stepped up to a microphone to sing the praises of My Pillow and crow about their incredible night’s sleep. And the testimonials on their website are over the top. Veterans who haven’t been able to sleep since