Tag: pillow

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Sleep Travel

JetComfy props up your head through the long flight

Airplanes may be the places people spend the most time trying to sleep in a seated position. To make matters worse, passengers are usually jostled due to turbulence. This poses the double challenge of trying to achieve comfort while keeping the head steady when it tends to droop.

The JetComfy is the latest in a line of flight sleep aids — many of them fairly awkward–looking — that seek to provide head comfort to the weary traveler. While many of these pillows steady the head by surrounding the neck, the JetComfy takes a unique approach by including a telescoping arm that attaches to the airline seat. This props up the memory foam pillow part of the device up to head level.

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Categories
Sleep Travel

Sleeploop keeps your head up while napping, may not do same for dignity

Sleeping on the go is rarely comfortable in part because seats tend to make it difficult to keep one’s head from dipping forward. Many travel pillows have sought to make things better, but they;re often bulky and ineffective.

The SleepLoop uses a simple design to help sleepers who are sitting down and avoid that uncomfortable head roll – a literal pain the neck. The product features a padded section that serves as a pillow, and a long section to create tension. The padded loop cradles the chin and one ear. Then, the tail section threads [iunder the legs and pulled until comfortable. This allows the head to relax without rolling forward. At $28, the Sleeploop is fairly affordable. The campaign’s seeks $16,738 by June 23, 2015, with delivery expected September 2015.

The fairly compact Sleeploop could work well for travel but looks as silly as other options for travel. Aside from travelers, the Sleeploop could provide comfort for people required to sleep upright for various medical reasons.

Categories
Connected Objects Sleep

Chrona slips in your pillow to size up your sleep

A good night of sleep is one of the most important things to maintain a healthy life. But all too often people have issues when trying to sleep, sometimes without even knowing it.

Chrona is a thin foam insert that transforms any pillow into a smart pillow. Combined with an app for iOS, Android and Windows Phone mobile devices, Chrona serves as a sleep optimization system that tracks and optimizes sleep using sound. The Bluetooth Low Enery device not only tracks users’ sleep by movement, but it also improves their sleep through the use of acoustics. Depending on where users are in their sleep cycles, Chrona uses low-frequency sounds to help them sleep more deeply or high-frequency sounds to prepare them to wake up. Chrona costs $169 and ships in December. Its maker has set a Kickstarter goal of raising $50,000 by May 18.

One of the product’s advantages is that it doesn’t require an uncomfortable wearable. But it faces competition from a growing number of products that promise pretty much the same thing, including Proper Pillow Plus and SliiP.

Categories
Connected Objects Health and Wellness Sleep

Slip into slumberland with the SLiiP connected pillow

A lifestyle filled with stress often prevents individuals from getting in a good night’s sleep. In turn, a lack of sleep can lead to all kinds of physical and mental problems, thereby creating a vicious cycle which makes it even more difficult for people to sleep comfortably the very next night.

One solution to this problem is PoleGame’s SLiiP, a product which combines a connected down and feather pillow with an airbag to facilitate a more comfortable sleeping experience. SLiip automatically inflates and deflates based on factors as varied as uncomfortable sleeping positions and even certain sounds, like snoring. The product is also able to track the quality of sleep over time with a companion iOS or Android app. What’s more,  the pillow comes packaged with an orb that generates delta waves which are beneficial to achieving a deep sleep. The product also features a Bluetooth speaker, alarm, phone charger, and lamp. Each SLiiP is $249 with an estimated delivery date of December 2015. PoleGame Inc. is looking for $100,000 in funding by April 24.

Sleep problems can be caused by a number of issues, but one of the more common and potentially serious ones is snoring. Even if other sleep-aids like the SnoreNoMore promise solutions to snoring, they can be intrusive. SLiiP is very hands off, subtle in what it does, and comfortable to boot.

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Connected Objects Sleep

Proper Pillow Plus will help give you an amazing night of sleep

A comfortable pillow is just as important as a good mattress to provide a good night of sleep. Most pillows, even the best orthopedic ones, however, can’t quantify just how well the user is sleeping.

The Proper Pillow Plus is a smarter version of the existing Proper Pillow, created by the same inventor. The Proper Pillow was designed to support optimal alignment with both back and side sleeping positions. Proper Pillow Plus builds on that and adds the quantification of sleep patterns with the assistance of a mobile app. A sensor network of pressure receptors built into the pillow tracks the user’s sleep experience and relays that data directly to the Proper Pillow Plus app via Bluetooth Low Energy. Among other things, Proper Pillow Plus can gauge what sleeping position and head orientation generate optimal sleep conditions. Proper Pillow Plus costs $60 and ships in April. Its maker is hoping to raise $375,000 via an Indiegogo campaign by April 18.

The product holds promise if it can truly and accurately measure sleep patterns and, more importantly, if it’s comfortable. That said, these two variables are impossible to gauge from a campaign video. Those are two of the same issues faced by similar products that have sought crowdfunding, including ThinkPillow.

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Home

Phillow lets you hide important stuff right under your own nose

Finding just the right pillow is important for getting a good night’s sleep. But sleeping means that one is unable to pay attention to the environment around them and, in some cases, important items could end up missing.

Phillow is a unique pillow that offers the user a potential hiding place for valuables and important items that one doesn’t want to keep laying around in the open or in predictable places such as a dresser or desk drawer. The product is hypoallergenic, king-sized and has a deep pocket in the middle where various items can be hidden.

It’s unclear how big the pocket is or how much it can store, but it will at least hold a small tablet. Backers interested in some one-of-a-kind fun bedding might also like to check out Pizza Bed. This campaign seeks to raise $36,000 on Kickstarter. For $136, backers get one Phillow with an expected delivery of May 2015.

Categories
Travel

Airport Armchair offers inflated pillow care for head and neck comfort

Those long trips on planes, trains and busses can be highly uncomfortable and rob a person of their sleep. But bringing a pillow is usually too bulky – unless it is inflatable.

Airport Armchair easily stores in a pocket or carry on bag when it is deflated. This air pillow is multifunctional in that it can be used for a neck or lower back for comfort. When used with the neck, it straps under the legs so that it stays in place during use.

It’s not entirely clear what it’s made of or how well it would do if thrown in the washer for cleaning. It’s also curious that it is called an armchair when it cannot offer simultaneous head, neck, arm and back support. This is another in a long line of products that aim to make long trips a little more comfortable. Backers may also want to check out the Winks, Forward Face Front Pillow, and Ostrich Pillow campaigns. This campaign seeks to raise $50,000 AUD (~$41,600 USD). For $10 AUD (~$8 USD) backers get one Airport Armchair with an expected delivery of December 2015.

Categories
Sensors/IoT Sleep

Smartphone-adjustable ThinkPillow measures sleep, wakes you up

Sleep is one of the most important ways to stay healthy. Sleeping resets mind, body, and soul, giving the chance for healing. However, most have trouble with their sleep patterns, either waking up in the middle of a REM cycle or sleeping for too short of a time.

ThinkPillow is a smart pillow that is fully adjustable in height and firmness. It is designed with special technology aimed at fixing any kind of spinal pain. Not only does it come with comfort, however, but it also tracks your sleep patterns. With this data, the accompanying smartphone app can choose when to wake you so that you’ll feel alert and refreshed instead of bedraggled and exhausted.

ThinkPillow’s smartphone app charts sleep patterns over time and, as such, can be useful to physicians if something goes wrong. In addition, it lets the user track what they’re doing three hours before bedtime and can make suggestions based on those habits. For instance, if the user isn’t getting enough sleep, but drinks coffee every night, the app will tell them to cut it out. ThinkPillow also spies on family members and lets users see the sleep patterns of mom, grandma, dad or whoever else uses the device.

Getting the right amount of sleep can be truly difficult. They say you should get out of bed when you initially wake up in the morning, but if that’s too early for some, they’d rather get another half an hour of sleep. It’s great that ThinkPillow can tell when the person is actually asleep, not just when they intend to be asleep, and uses that to wake them up in the morning. While well-intentioned, the family sharing feature may get a little annoying to some. Though it is good for elderly family members who are too far away to check up on. One ThinkPillow can be had for $102 NZD (~$79 USD) for estimated delivery in April 2015. This product hopes to raise $50,000 NZD (~$38,800 USD) on Kickstarter.

Categories
Relaxation

Sleep With Me Pillow offers greater head support when you turn to your side

Getting some sleep at night should never be a complicated thing. However, not having the proper head support often means a person isn’t going to sleep well, finding that they need to fluff and reposition their pillow several times over the course of the night. So the creator of Sleep With Me Pillow is working to change all of that. The pillow includes high resiliency inserts so that when a person rolls over onto their side, their head and neck are given proper support. This keeps their spine in alignment so that they sleep better. While this may be great for back and side sleepers, it may not be the thing for tummy sleepers. The pillow only comes in queen size at this time, but plans are in the works to make multiple sizes available if this campaign goes well. This campaign seeks to raise $25,000 by December 6, 2014. For $40, backers get one pillow with an expected delivery of February 2015.

Categories
Relaxation

Ostrich Pillow Mini offers no-nonsense napping

While our lives are busy busy busy, we still feel the need to nap every now and then throughout the day to feel rested. One may fear looking like a hobo, however, when trying to catch a few z’s out in public. The Ostrich Pillow Mini makes sure you don’t look (as) weird. This soft pillow hooks through your hand or arm so that, when sitting, you can rest your head against the pillow for a little snooze during the day. Not to be confused with the original Ostrich Pillow Mellow Yellow that looks kind of like a boxing glove, costs a ridiculous sum and is dry clean only. The Ostrich Pillow Mini is much more affordable at $25 and suggests hand washing, slightly better than dry clean. Ostrich is hoping to raise $15,000 on Kickstarter. This new take on the travel pillow finally updates the u-shaped design for maximum comfort. A good purchase for those constantly in motion.