Thread: Can your pillow affect your dreams?

I though this could be an interesting discussion. I used to sleep on two thin pillows for YEARS. So long that one of them, when I first came to live where I am now in 2008 or so, was new when I started using it. The other hailed from before that. This newest one was made of recycled plastic water bottles. The other one was a two-pack Canned Food special. So both had that sort of white filling you find in stuffed animals.

I changed from a spring mattress to a memory foam bed, and will never go back, even though the foam isn't quite right for side sleeping as I wake up with the circulation cut off from my arms or hands occasionally. I always wanted a memory foam pillow, and recently CostCo was selling a $16.00 Comfort Zone memory foam pillow, traditional shape. I saved up, got it, and moved to using it.

Slightly hard transition period, some fear that if my bed every caught fire I would be quickly and thoroughly immolated as the warning on the pillow tells me about how quickly it can burn. Also had trouble adjusting to putting the side of my head on it and then all sound was blocked to that ear. Like I was half-deaf or something. I thought briefly about turning it in, decided to try it another night or so, and now I am enamored of the thing. Seriously, my body is that of a 37 year old male, but every time I pick this up I have to squeeze and hug it! What's up with that? Maybe I really need a girlfriend...

Anyhow now that I have been sleeping on it for a few weeks I noticed my dream recall is getting longer! I record my dreams to my MP3 player. Typically my recall in the morning used to be 6-8 minutes on average. Well now I have had a 12 minute recall, and a 14 minute recall! I am also recalling more dreams! I can even recall dreams in situations I struggle, like when I go to bed at 6AM or later. For some reason going to bed that late affects my dream recall. But with this pillow the effects are substantially lessened.

So I was wondering what your experience with this may be? If this is not common knowledge, perhaps it should be added to dream aids, that the right pillow can affect your dream recall. It may also have an effect on lucidity, as in a recent dream I pulled a wadded paper towel out of my pocket. In waking like I always have a paper towel in my pocket to clean myself with. This was the first time the same action translated over into my dream. Had I used this as a dream sign I could have become lucid.

Just something interesting I thought I should share. If you don't have a memory foam pillow go out and get one to give it a try! Just remember there are traditional kinds with a solid block of foam inside, like the one I got, and there are cheaper ones that have some sort of gel/foam ball inside. You will have to experiment to find the one you like best.