Specialty Pillows
Pillow types
These days, pillows aren’t just
something fluffy to place beneath your
head at night. They are
chiropractor-approved, sleep
doctor-designed, individually created
aids that correct spinal alignment or
open up your airway.
Dr. Najeeb Zuberi is a sleep evangelist.
Zuberi, also a board certified
neurologist and sleep specialist in
Kissimmee,FL, says that sleep apnea increases
the incidence of strokes, heart attacks,
high blood pressure and obesity.
In 1997, he
began working on an idea for pillow that would help snorers
and sleep apnea sufferers. He found pillow makers who could
make it better. They went through multiple design phases.
The result is the Sona pillow. Dr. Zuberi says his pillow
corrects snoring and mild to moderate sleep apnea.
He began
selling the device, which is approved by the FDA, on
sonapillow.com. Now, the device is available in stores. The
retailer Brookstone carries it, as does Mattress Firm.
The
category is growing in unique pillows – memory foam, latex,
and natural organic pillows.
The
TempurPedics are the big sellers. They are all made of
memory foam, a dense material that responds to body heat and
pressure.
There are
designs for side sleepers that are supposed to support the
neck and keep the spine in a straight line. There are
pillows that are rounded on one side for back sleeping and
built up on the other side to provide a little more neck
support- for side sleeping – choose your side. There are
pillows that have a raised portion in front with a little
notch for the neck.
The most
popular memory foam pillows are in the $69 to $119 range,
but the top of the line, a king size memory foam behemouth,
sells for $400.
Source: SleepWeb (Marketdata Enterprises, Inc.) research
*page last updated 05/09/2008
