Thursday 8 May 2008

Pillow talk

Ask anyone who knows me, I like to sleep. I could put it as a hobby on my CV. If it was an Olympic sport I could win a gold.

My quest is for the perfect sleeping environment. As I'm inclined towards a bad back I like to have a firm mattress. This is directly at odds with my desire for a soft and cushioning base. I've tried all sorts of solutions to this. Firstly a rather inefficient mattress 'pad'. This was about two millimetres thick and served no obvious purpose apart from protecting the mattress. Next I tried some more robust mattress toppers. These were feather filled. I bought two in the end, but like a duvet the feathers were always migrating to the extremities and I found myself constantly shaking them and adjusting them. Perhaps if I'd spend about double the cost these might have worked. The ones I bought were divided into 'rows'; I've since seen a variety which are divided into 'cells' which stops the feathers going to the extremities. Maybe one day.

My temporary solution was my feather duvet. I either wrap myself in this (winter and autumn) or fold it double and lie on top of it (spring and summer). No ideal but quite comfortable. My latest acquisition is a body pillow. This is basically an extremely long fibre filled pillow which you lie on. It prevents you from sleeping on your stomach of back, either of which always gives me multiple aches and pains. A definite improvement to my bedtime environment.