The Art of Sleeping Well and a FREE EBOOK

Well one thing this artist does not do it sleep well.  Lack of sleep has all kinds of negative effects on the body and over all health. Which is one of the reasons you will see me make that up with a sense of humor. You can't cry if you are laughing. Good attitude maybe but it doesn't make up for the lack of sleep and exhaustion. Most important of all I need sleep to create. Its so hard to focus when your brain just wants to sleep on its own. What are your reasons for not sleeping?

My issues are complicated.  I have a lot going on. I have Asthma, Apnea, Allergies, Fibromyalgia, Insomnia, ADD, Hot Flashes, IIH, Complicated Migraines, Vertigo. Though this is only a partial list of what all I have going on, it is the particular list that keeps me from getting a good nights sleep.

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So several months ago in a search for relief at night I started looking into getting a cooling pillow. You see I figured it could help with a lot of things. Headache relief because it would be cool and soothing. Joint swelling relief because the Fibro keeps my neck in constant inflammation. Hot Flashes and Vertigo relief would be nice because if its Vertigo I feel like I just got my head shoved into a 400 degree oven and if its Hot Flashes turn it up another 100 degrees and call my head a baked potato. I sleep with the air on, a fan in my face and an over head ceiling fan going and this gives me only partial relief.

I had seen the commercials on TV for the Chillow Pillow.  This item is supposed to keep you cool all night. I had mentioned my thoughts to my girlfriend Megan about maybe purchasing one and testing it out. As a surprise the darling girl bought me one. They had a 2fer sale so we both got one. Yea! Ok so now to figure out how it worked...

Now following the instructions, I did what it said and added the water, rolled it up to squeeze the air out and activate the filling inside. I then laid it flat for the recommended time and then also refrigerated it for 15 min before bed (you don't have to do that but you can, and no freezer). First let me tell you after adding the water the thing weighed in at about 5-7 pounds. It also smelled like a blown up beach ball. You know that funny sweet plastic smell?  The pillow also has a felt like side and a vinyl side. I turned it felt down onto my pillow. You are supposed to lay it on top of your pillow or under the case on top of the pillow. I figured felt down to keep it from sliding off the pillow.

No worries you don't have to worry about it sliding off because it is  going to become gravities new play toy and when the water all rushes to the bottom of the pillow it rolls up and or fly's off the pillow to the bed. No amount of cajoling it would get it to stay on top of the pillow. Seriously I told it a few jokes gave it a dollar nothing worked. Then I had to make a decision.

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Chillow

At 5-7 Pounds for the human version, what do you suppose this weighs?

You see because of all the issues listed earlier above I have a rather large tendency to do aerobics while I DO sleep. I spin clock wise constantly and bunch about 6 pillows into every shape I can to find a cool spot and a comfortable position. Based on this thought I knew a Chillow didn't stand a chance on top of a pillow. It would get buried or flipped upside down under the pillow. I decided the best bet would be to give it its own pillow case and use it separately. To do this a Chillow fits in half of a pillow case if you turn it vertical. I then just folded the rest of the sheet over it. 

I could now form it to any shape I needed it to squash under my hot neck to support it. This worked great. Sort of. There is a valve for the water and you can see that in the photo above. Its' a little red valve.  When I would roll the Chillow up to support my neck I had to make sure the valve didn't poke me in the head or face. I also had read some people had issues with theirs leaking.  Mine didn't leak but then I didn't own it long enough to find out.

What happened? Well it did do what it said as far as keeping cool because even though the water would eventually reach your body temperature, it would be hours before that happened. Then all you would have to do is just move your head to a new area of the pillow and walla cool again. Great right? Well not really because you fight with how heavy it is, the pool toy smell and the valve. The next problem I noticed was the vinyl started to get crinkly and sort of crispy and not so soft anymore which I akin to me rolling it up to sleep on all the time. The mat inside the Chillow was getting bunched up and its uber hard to un-bunch it once it does that.  This was about a week in to having it. Now the most non-predictable or should I actually say most predictable thing happened next. You guessed it and I am sure it had nothing to do with the adorable fluffy kitten photo on the right. Right? Well the kittens liked how cool it was too and decided to walk on it and poked holes in it with their claws. I briefly thought about patching it with duct tape but then envisioned it getting stuck to the pillow case or worse, my hair. I temporarily set it aside...for a month and it grew mold inside. and it was bunched up and it had holes. Thankfully it was only $12 or I would feel even worse about it.

All in all what I did find out about this experience was that it helped a lot! I got some heat relief from some of my symptoms and got a little more sleep. So what to do now? If I were to build a Chillow how would I go about it. I would definitely make it out of gel so that I didn't have to fill it with water. The Chillow was like a mini water bed with the core inside that bunches up.  Same concept. I would want it to be lighter. I would want to be able to roll it up so I can tuck it under my chin or my neck but also be large enough to keep areas of it cool.  And what do you know after a little research I found it. Exactly what I was looking for.  The Polar Gel Pillow.

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Gel filled. Can fold or roll. Can refrigerate. Sweet! It had a 4 1/2 star review on Amazon no one stars and nothing less then a 3 plus it comes with a free e-book for tips on better sleep. See that up above on the right (get yours while they last).  I got Polar pillow yesterday. Leaking out the side seam. Great. Did someone clue them in that I am the lemon tester?  Sending it back for a replacement today. The quest for better sleep continues. Imagine what I could do if I had great sleep!

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