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This piece of cardboard may help you sleep soundly on long flights

Trevor Mogg
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Meet PowerSiesta: 17 wrong ways, 1 right way to sleep on a plane
If the PowerSiesta sleeping aid looks like a piece of cardboard with some carefully placed fold lines across it, that’s because it is. The team behind the device aimed at helping people sleep on airplanes has designed it to be sturdy, comfortable, and highly portable, so if it actually works, they could be on to something.

With those features at the forefront of this mostly paper rig, and a sales pitch that promises a decent slumber on a long flight, its Puerto Rico-based creators hope the $17 price tag will sound more than reasonable to sleep-deprived folks in need of a nap.

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Designed by “an actual rocket scientist,” the PowerSiesta takes seconds to set up, forming into a shape that “works with the natural form of your body to alleviate muscle tension, so you can rest more deeply.” Put simply, it’s a cardboard contraption that you rest your head on.

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And once you’ve had your soothing sleep, you simply fold it flat again, slot it into your bag, and go about your day.

Up to now, passengers desperate for some shut-eye on a red-eye may turn to something like a regular neck cushion, the Ostrich pillow (or the smaller version), or even this bizarre hammock for your head. Plane-maker Boeing is also well aware of just how bothersome long-haul flights can be for fliers trying to nod off, prompting the company to explore the idea of a harness for drowsy travelers.

But perhaps all those solutions are over-complicating the matter. Perhaps all that’s required is a piece of 100-percent recyclable cardboard. With carefully placed fold lines.

The PowerSiesta, which weighs 11 ounces (0.3 kg) and took two years to develop, recently landed on Kickstarter and is looking for funding to the tune of $35,000 for a May/June shipment date.

To convince people to back the project, and persuade them it’s not a silly idea, the team has grabbed some vox pops from “real people” who’ve used the PowerSiesta for 40 winks, possibly more.

One user who recently tested it on a flight to New York described her PowerSiesta as “super-easy to carry, very lightweight … I went right to sleep, it was super-comfortable and I slept for two hours straight.”

To find out more about the PowerSiesta, head over to the team’s Kickstarter page here.

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