It’s like a heatsink for your head – in praise of the Chillow
It sounds stupid.
Okay, it sounds really stupid.
But it works.
I’m a big fan of the Chillow. It’s a sealed foam pad that you fill with 10 cups of water. The pad then acts as a heat sink to draw heat away from your body and release it to the air. I was given one a few summers ago by a friend who ordered one and got a free one as part of a promotion, and I was immediately hooked. When I’m hot, I don’t sleep well. With a chillow, I sleep a lot more soundly, and often I fall asleep almost immediately upon laying my head down on it.
It’s not without its problems – it’s very dense, so if you don’t like the feeling of a big weight under your head, it may not be comfortable for you. It doesn’t bother me. It also may tend to bunch up if the pillow under it isn’t supportive enough to keep it in one place. I’ve never had a problem with leakage. The previous ones I’ve had didn’t last forever – they each developed a stale smell after about 6 months and I tossed them. I’m not sure if that’s the water or the plastic casing, but the newest one I’ve just gotten seems to be made out of a slightly different material, so we’ll see. The instructions do not say to periodically change the water, so I may also try that. Even still, at around $20 per six months (at drugstore.com), the recurring cost is easily worth the benefits to my sleep patterns and comfort.
It’s a stupid-sounding product that I probably would never have even known I needed if the decision had been left to me, but I’m a total convert.
Tags: chillow, sleep, heatsink, comfort, summertime.
