Pillow talk
When you've got a disease that gets worse overnight, getting enough sleep becomes both essential and elusive. Mattresses matter: I find mattress/box-spring combos and thin foam mattresses painful, firm (and thick) futon mattresses ideal. Sleeping position matters: after a lifetime of sleeping on my side, curled up fetally, I had to learn to sleep on my back, almost spread-eagled. And pillows matter.
When you sleep on your back and your spine is prone to stiffening up, you need good neck support. So, eight years ago, I received (as a gift from my mother) an orthopedic pillow made from memory foam: it was probably this pillow and it cost something like C$150. For years I carried it with me, whenever I travelled, like a security blanket -- and got equally frantic when it was left behind. As it aged, though, it got progressively stinkier (it accumulated sweat from hot nights) and flatter, to the point where I kept a thin pillow underneath it, and managed quite well on an ordinary pillow.
Fast-forward to last fall, where I discovered this pillow, also using (but not completely comprised of) memory foam, at IKEA, at a price of $30. Definitely firmer than the older pillow, but definitely cheaper. It was also a source of discomfort for the first few days, until I got used to sleeping with it.
I wonder whether the memory foam aspects are strictly necessary -- that all that is really needed is good neck support. In any event, something along these lines seems essential, if you want to avoid waking up with a sore neck and shoulders, and pain shooting down your spine until it meets the pain coming up from your hips.
When you sleep on your back and your spine is prone to stiffening up, you need good neck support. So, eight years ago, I received (as a gift from my mother) an orthopedic pillow made from memory foam: it was probably this pillow and it cost something like C$150. For years I carried it with me, whenever I travelled, like a security blanket -- and got equally frantic when it was left behind. As it aged, though, it got progressively stinkier (it accumulated sweat from hot nights) and flatter, to the point where I kept a thin pillow underneath it, and managed quite well on an ordinary pillow.
Fast-forward to last fall, where I discovered this pillow, also using (but not completely comprised of) memory foam, at IKEA, at a price of $30. Definitely firmer than the older pillow, but definitely cheaper. It was also a source of discomfort for the first few days, until I got used to sleeping with it.
I wonder whether the memory foam aspects are strictly necessary -- that all that is really needed is good neck support. In any event, something along these lines seems essential, if you want to avoid waking up with a sore neck and shoulders, and pain shooting down your spine until it meets the pain coming up from your hips.
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