A New Pillow Concept for Side Sleepers

Now there’s another pillow option for side sleepers tired of pillows that don’t support their necks and heads. Jay Davis, an inveterate side sleeper and entrepreneur, has invented a Pillow Cube, specially designed to meet the special needs of side sleepers.

According to a nation-wide survey, about 70% of people sleep on their sides—many more than back sleepers (10%) and stomach sleepers (16%)—yet many find traditional pillows uncomfortable. That’s because pillows tend to either start out too flat or go flat shortly after lying on them. The resulting pancake of a pillow leaves side sleepers with severely compressed shoulders and sore necks from sleeping with their spines curving downward in a futile search for some support.

Your typical side sleeper needs a pillow whose loft is high enough and firm enough to fill up the space between their bed and their head created by the depth of their shoulder. Davis’s design recognizes that this space is nearly a right angle, so he simply created a pillow that fills that space with the right angles of his Pillow Cube.

A New Take on an Old Idea

Believe it or not, this is not a totally new idea. Ancient Egyptians laid their weary heads to rest on a cradle shaped like a crescent moon set on a small pedestal. In the Japanese culture, pillow boxes, called takamakura, were used to preserve elaborate geisha hairstyles and samurai topknots while sleeping. But were they really comfortable? Hmmm…

Davis applied the same principle of these ancient designs—elevate the head enough to avoid compressing the shoulders and keep the spine in neutral alignment—to his Pillow Cube. Only his version looks way more comfortable.

The Pillow Cube is made from the same kind of foam found in many mattresses and has a removable smooth cover that’s gel-infused to keep even the hottest heads cool at night. The cube is a 12″ x 12″ square that is available either 5″ high for people with narrow shoulders or 7″ high for broader side sleepers.

Early marketing for the new pillow suggests that it’s also perfect for lumbar support, office naps, or traveling because of its compact design.

You Never Know Where Your Next Innovative Idea Will Come From

Jay Davis is no stranger to running with a good idea. He founded his own marketing and advertising agency, Creatably, which counts Layla among its clients. Conversations with reps from the mattress company inspired Davis to create a pillow that revolutionizes the pillow world just as memory foam mattresses took the mattress industry by storm.

“We’ve been joking around that there’s a conspiracy against side sleepers, because we’re so much better than other sleepers,” Davis said. “So no one wants to make us a side sleeping pillow that actually works.”

Davis thinks he’s found the solution to the woes of side sleepers with his Pillow Cube. And for that, side sleepers may be eternally grateful.

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Sources

The Ancient Standard: ancientstandard.com/2007/08/09/and-you-thought-your-neck-cramps-were-bad%e2%80%a6-ca-2000-%e2%80%93-30-bc/

The First European Description of Japan, 1585: books.google.com/books?id=OsUTAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT194&lpg=PT194&dq=sleep+on+japanese+pillow+box&source=bl&ots=tiesl21msD&sig=ACfU3U3X-GjnDnmar-W2HTm_9Xz4PTQsKw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi-1-qg1rrkAhURheAKHe-YDig4FBDoATAGegQICRAB#v=onepage&q=sleep%20on%20japanese%20pillow%20box&f=false