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ventaEvery since I was at university, I've had problems with my neck. Trapped nerves, miscellaneous aches and pains, some damage from a car crash. In the last couple of years, several medical professionals have told me that I'll always have trouble due to a design flaw: I've got a long neck. And I persist in balancing a large, heavy head on top of it. Last year, a physio recommended that I get a memory foam pillow. I nodded sagely, and mostly forgot about it.
Fast forward to May this year, and I'm tagging along behind ChrisC as he goes to buy some new pillows. I wandered off to examine their memory foam specimens. I poked them, and prodded them, and, ultimately, grabbed a few from their racks and had an experimental lie down. No, they don't provide a bed, I found a convenient corner of the floor. A few shoppers gave me somewhat funny looks - not helped by ChrisC spreading his coat over me and offering to tell a bedtime story - but I just waved at them cheerfully as I made up my mind about which pillow I liked best.
As is always the way, the one I found most comfortable turned out to be the priciest. I looked at the price. I gaped a bit. I put it back.
Then I gave myself a bit of a talking to. A pillow is something I use every day. If it made a significant difference to how much my neck hurt, it would be worth it. The pillow had a ten year guarantee. So, I reasoned, while an extortionate price for a pillow, seventy pounds was a good deal if it meant ten years of not waking up with my neck hurting. If it had that effect.
I dithered for some time. Could I really be the sort of person who spent seventy pounds on a pillow? I dithered some more, then I gambled. I took it home with me.
Since then, the pillow has become my new best friend. It is amazingly comfortable, and has indeed resulted in less stiffness and neck ache every morning. Even if it's pyschosomatic, that's a good deal for seventy quid.
Talking to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
hendybear last night, he was once again waxing lyrical about his bed. This bed aparently has the most comfortable mattress in the world, extremely posh bed linen, the nicest pillows and is indeed such a pinnacle of bedliness that Hendybear spends his days looking forward to going to sleep. I have been remaining sceptical. Last night, we finally agreed that this issue should be settled: I would sleep in this 400-thread-count paragon and report back on my opinions.
Incidentally, for those who aren't quite keeping up with the plot: Hendybear is my housemate. His bed is but a short skip over the landing from mine. Furthermore, he's a somewhat absent housemate who lives in a different town during the week. Accordingly I slept in his bed, but he categorically wasn't in it at the time.
Snuggling up into the much-advertised bed, I found myself somewhat confused. Feather duvets are so light. I have an elderly manmade duvet on my bed, and a gorgeous (fake-)fur blanket. Together, they are quite heavy and reassuringly present. A duvet so light kept tricking me into thinking I was cold - I wasn't, but obviously some part of me was reasoning that there just wasn't enough there to keep me warm. Also, feather pillows: bah, keep 'em. I want my nice memory foam pillow.
On the plus side, Hendybear's duvet and pillows didn't try to kill me. I'm slightly allergic to feathers, and have before woken up with a full-on allergic reaction from sleeping with feather pillows.
Secondly, I fear I might be a philistine. I've heard so many people singing the praises of high thread-count Egyptian cotton that I was vaguely disappointed not to notice any difference. My duvet cover and sheets are probably some polyester mix, but I honestly can't tell between them and their finer relations when I'm tucked up in bed. Which is good: I can be just as cosy in cheap-and-nasty bedwear.
As for the mattress, I'm not sure I've really tested it thoroughly. The beds in the flatdavefish, keris and I rent for the goth weekend are blissfully comfy for 3-4 days... and after that I find myself increasingly unable to move when I get up. And here, I think, may lie the problem in getting me to judge a bed. I'm very, very good at sleeping. In an uncomfortable bed I'll sleep, I'll just get up feeling battered. So was Hendybear's bed comfy ? I dunno, I was asleep. Maybe the next time I'm actually having trouble getting to sleep I should pop into the next bedroom and test the bed out then :)
In summary: it's a nice enough bed, but I'm not sure it's worthy of the praise that's been heaped upon it. Still, each to their own and Hendybear seems to like it.
Fast forward to May this year, and I'm tagging along behind ChrisC as he goes to buy some new pillows. I wandered off to examine their memory foam specimens. I poked them, and prodded them, and, ultimately, grabbed a few from their racks and had an experimental lie down. No, they don't provide a bed, I found a convenient corner of the floor. A few shoppers gave me somewhat funny looks - not helped by ChrisC spreading his coat over me and offering to tell a bedtime story - but I just waved at them cheerfully as I made up my mind about which pillow I liked best.
As is always the way, the one I found most comfortable turned out to be the priciest. I looked at the price. I gaped a bit. I put it back.
Then I gave myself a bit of a talking to. A pillow is something I use every day. If it made a significant difference to how much my neck hurt, it would be worth it. The pillow had a ten year guarantee. So, I reasoned, while an extortionate price for a pillow, seventy pounds was a good deal if it meant ten years of not waking up with my neck hurting. If it had that effect.
I dithered for some time. Could I really be the sort of person who spent seventy pounds on a pillow? I dithered some more, then I gambled. I took it home with me.
Since then, the pillow has become my new best friend. It is amazingly comfortable, and has indeed resulted in less stiffness and neck ache every morning. Even if it's pyschosomatic, that's a good deal for seventy quid.
Talking to
hendybear last night, he was once again waxing lyrical about his bed. This bed aparently has the most comfortable mattress in the world, extremely posh bed linen, the nicest pillows and is indeed such a pinnacle of bedliness that Hendybear spends his days looking forward to going to sleep. I have been remaining sceptical. Last night, we finally agreed that this issue should be settled: I would sleep in this 400-thread-count paragon and report back on my opinions.Incidentally, for those who aren't quite keeping up with the plot: Hendybear is my housemate. His bed is but a short skip over the landing from mine. Furthermore, he's a somewhat absent housemate who lives in a different town during the week. Accordingly I slept in his bed, but he categorically wasn't in it at the time.
Snuggling up into the much-advertised bed, I found myself somewhat confused. Feather duvets are so light. I have an elderly manmade duvet on my bed, and a gorgeous (fake-)fur blanket. Together, they are quite heavy and reassuringly present. A duvet so light kept tricking me into thinking I was cold - I wasn't, but obviously some part of me was reasoning that there just wasn't enough there to keep me warm. Also, feather pillows: bah, keep 'em. I want my nice memory foam pillow.
On the plus side, Hendybear's duvet and pillows didn't try to kill me. I'm slightly allergic to feathers, and have before woken up with a full-on allergic reaction from sleeping with feather pillows.
Secondly, I fear I might be a philistine. I've heard so many people singing the praises of high thread-count Egyptian cotton that I was vaguely disappointed not to notice any difference. My duvet cover and sheets are probably some polyester mix, but I honestly can't tell between them and their finer relations when I'm tucked up in bed. Which is good: I can be just as cosy in cheap-and-nasty bedwear.
As for the mattress, I'm not sure I've really tested it thoroughly. The beds in the flat
davefish, keris and I rent for the goth weekend are blissfully comfy for 3-4 days... and after that I find myself increasingly unable to move when I get up. And here, I think, may lie the problem in getting me to judge a bed. I'm very, very good at sleeping. In an uncomfortable bed I'll sleep, I'll just get up feeling battered. So was Hendybear's bed comfy ? I dunno, I was asleep. Maybe the next time I'm actually having trouble getting to sleep I should pop into the next bedroom and test the bed out then :)In summary: it's a nice enough bed, but I'm not sure it's worthy of the praise that's been heaped upon it. Still, each to their own and Hendybear seems to like it.
