As a species we watch a ridiculous amount of telly. Myself included. Out of everything I’ve seen, one of my favourite scenes ever is in a film called The Joneses. If you haven’t seen it, it’s a good watch. As a film, it can’t quite make its mind up as to whether it’s a lovely Rom Com, a dark drama commentating on modernity or just a slightly average film.
The Joneses are an artificial family in that none of them are related. The four of them are professional stealthy salespeople and they work their craft by moving around the US, infiltrating a community and boosting sales for various products by parading them in front of their quickly jealous neighbours. Their lives are tailored to fit the wealthy Middle-American dream; the house is huge, the kitchen is perfect with a massive double-doored fridge, all the beauty, entertainment and golfing products are top of the range. The husband (David Duchovny) is new to this job and is brought in to replace the last Jones husband…he begins to fall for the Jones wife (Demi Moore), the top seller and the head of the family.
As with all films, something begins to go wrong about an hour in.
Anyway, at the beginning, the presumptuous new husband is exorcised from the “marital” bedroom. He is banished to a spare room and tries to get some sleep. He pulls back the duvet and tries to lie down against the barrage of pillows between him and the headboard. He throws a decorative one off. He hurls a second bolster cushion off. Quickly, he slings them all away, takes one solitary pillow and manages to relax.
Not only is this scene suggesting that one pillow is perfectly adequate for sleep but it’s also throwing shade at excess. The ten pillows on the bed, most of which are decorative, seem to embody so much about slavish consumerism, ornamental silliness and the failure to actually function under the weight of this aestheticism.
That escalated quite quickly.
How many pillows do you sleep with?
I sleep with one. No decorative ones. In fact, we’re not even going to discuss those because no one sleeps well with sofa cushions, do they?
I feel like it’s important to find the right pillow. So many pillows out there just aren’t quite up to scratch. A rubbish pillow will only result in a rubbish night’s sleep and of course the same applies to the pillowcase.
I hate those memory foam pillows that have no give. When your head hits the pillow you want to feel a bit of air escape and then be caught some structure. If there’s no give, your neck’s going to hurt, isn’t it? And if there’s too much give you’ll end up with the two sides of the pillow wrapping around the sides of your face and no one needs that.
So do you double up if your pillow’s not right? Sure. Why not? Two wrong pillows might actually make a right one.
But the real question is – what is the perfect pillow?
Who sells it? Where do we find it? How much is it?
Annoyingly, there just isn’t one to be searched for – you have to find it. Do some digging, have a read about which pillows suit your needs as a sleeper. Most pillows are now sold with a trial period which will allow you to test without commitment, especially the more pricy ones – if you were to play your cards right, perhaps you’d never have to buy a pillow in your life as you move from one trial period to the next? I wouldn’t advise that though…
Some questions to think about might be:
Do you sleep on your back or your side?
Might you have an allergy that will dictate the filling of your pillow?
Do you prefer a high loft or a low loft? (Basically, less or more give)
Any chronic pain? You might want to look for memory foam or even a water pillow…
What’s your budget?
Do you tend to find yourself too hot or too cold at night? You can check the heat retention of a prospective pillow.
Do the answers to these questions change every night? Maybe you’ll need a pillow from which you can add or remove filling as you see fit for a customised sleep each night.
Your best friends in this respect are:
It’s a big decision and one to which not enough people pay attention. Get it right and your sleep will improve in so many ways; you may well find yourself falling asleep more quickly, waking up more easily on account of reduced muscular pain, and experiencing less skin irritation. It sounds weird, but much of the benefit will stem from feeling like you know your pillow, having researched it, cared about its purchases and knowing where it came from – it’s not just a pillow; it’s your pillow.
Hugs,
Dani
a friend’s girlfriend so now a friend
