June 2013 – Page 2 – Pillows.com Blog

June 17, 2013June 17, 2013

What to Expect When You’re Expecting- Pregnancy & Sleep

Sleeping while you are pregnant is an additional challenge that you don’t expect initially. I knew that I would probable be uncomfortable sleeping but that was the extent. I was wrong as you start to get bigger it is harder to find a comfortable position. I believe if you are already a side sleeper you are ahead of the game and it is an easier adjustment. I thought I slept on my side however; found that I am a back sleeper for the most part. I had to learn to sleep on my side the further into my pregnancy mainly after the first trimester. Research shows it is best to sleep on your left side to keep the uterus off your large organ, the liver. It is also supposed to be better for circulation.

I would make my own little cocoon of pillows until my wonderful husband purchased a body pillow for me to try. I wasn’t sure how I would sleep with this big pillow, wow what a pleasant surprise. I was able to place the lower part of the pillow between my knees to align my spine and my tummy rested on the middle so I didn’t feel this weight pulling. The baby also seemed to be less active, at least for me. The night activity of my first was crazy, he would have these punching battles that would wake you and it took a while to get back to sleep. I would also place a regular pillow behind me at my lower back to prevent me from rolling onto my back. The nice thing today is that you can find pillow covers to blend with your décor so it’s not just a white pillow. ( Check out our body pillow selection!)

Pregnancy is different for everyone. I would listen to suggestions and try the ones that I thought would work for me. People are just trying to help and I would rather hear suggestions all day than have people touching my growing tummy. Remember you have to take care of yourself so you are rested as much as possible to care for the miracle that will soon enter into your life.

Sweet Dreams!

Blog Author: Jodi, Product Inventory Manager

June 14, 2013June 14, 2013

Fun and Interesting Facts about Sleep

Sometimes talking about too much sleep can put you to sleep! It is important to know that sleep plays a key role in living a sound mind and sound body lifestyle, but learning about sleep can be a boring task at hand. This is why we take a few moments to put together a list of interesting and fun facts about sleep. The following list is one that I put together with the most interesting sleep facts that I believe are not only interesting but can help improve bad sleeping habits.

The Less you sleep, the more your genes contribute to how much you weigh. The more you sleep, the less your genes determine how much you weigh, and the more control you can have over your weight.
Lack of sleep can raise the sensation of hunger by 25 percent. Sleep more and you can eat more or burn more calories.
Sleeping directly after learning something new will improve your ability to remember it effectively
A study of sleep breathing disorders and cancer mortality shows an association between sleep apnea and an increase in your chance of dying from cancer.
The 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill off Alaska, the Challenger space shuttle disaster and the Chernobyl nuclear accident have all been attributed to human errors in which sleep-deprivation played a role.
In 2004 more than 35 million sleeping pill prescriptions were filled in America, a number that more than doubled from the previous four years.
Although people born blind don’t see images when they dream, they do have an increased auditory, tactile, and olfactory experience
You can only dream about faces you have already seen.
Almost everything we know about sleep, including the facts on this list, was all learned in the last 25 years.
Brain waves are more active when we are dreaming than when we are awake.
The average dream lasts between 10 and 15 minutes
42% of people felt they had had a dream about something that later came true.

These are just a few interesting facts compared to everything that scientists have listed. With growing technology, sleep facts and data will only get more and more interesting and useful. Perhaps scientists will one day figure out how to demolish sleep apnea which can cause an increase in heart attacks and stroke. Maybe one day it will be possible to download all of our dreams and replay them. These are just some of the possibilities that could happen with increased technology down the road. Until then, we can only dream about the limitless possibilities within our own minds.

Blog Author, Jesse, Channel Manager

References:

http://www.abc.net.au/science/sleep/facts.htm

http://www.businessinsider.com/15-things-you-should-know-about-sleep-2012-6?op=1

http://www.achooallergy.com/interesting-sleep-facts.asp

June 11, 2013June 11, 2013

Father’s Day Gift Ideas

Father’s day is right around the corner! I’m scrambling to find a last minute gift, so I figured this would be a great time to share some last minute gift ideas for the special father figure in your life!

Here is cute picture of me and my wonderful dad!

Here are my last minute (and affordable) gift ideas!

Hobby related gifts: My dad absolutely loves bike riding, so my go- to father’s day gifts have always been some new bike gear, such as a cow printed bike jersey (So funny!). If your dad’s hobby requires expensive equipment, then you can always participate in his favorite hobby with him. Father’s day is all about celebrating the father figure in your life, which can be with either gifts or experiences that he’ll enjoy. Some other employees in our office are taking their dad to a sporting event such as a baseball or soccer game. Stubhub.com is a great website to find marked down tickets to sporting events, concerts, or plays.
Candy: Our Director of Operations, Susie, used to always give her dad his favorite toffee candies for father’s day. My dad is a huge candy addict, so I often gift him some of his favorite chocolates from See’s candies. If your dad lives out of state, then some great website to find candy/chocolate that ship quickly is berries.com and oldtimecandy.com. Old Time Candy Company ships retro candy, which is a very unique gift and would really impress your dad!

Crafty gifts: I think the best gift that you could give anyone is one where you had to put in a lot of effort or thought into creating it. A crafty gift could either be a card that you decorated yourself, a hand painted “DAD” mug, or a bakery item. The card featured below was made by simply painting bow tie pasta- how creative is that!? Check out this Pinterest board for “wow” worthy DIY father’s day craft ideas! My favorite on the board is the necktie cookie!

Another great gift would be the gift of sleep. We have put together a father’s day gift selection of our most popular hotel pillows! Check out our gift selection and please comment if you have any other last minute father’s day gift ideas!

Blog Author: Chelsea, Director of Marketing.

Chelsea just celebrated her one year with Pacific Pillows! She loves taking zumba fitness classes, card decorating, and reading. On the weekends you can find her playing volleyball at the local park with her friends or catching some ZZZ’s/product testing the newest pillows!