Whether you’re the big spoon or little spoon, your side needs to be comfy when you’re sleeping — the side of your head, that is. Alas, the majority of the pillows currently on the market aren’t exactly designed with us side-sleepers in mind, which leads to long nights of fluffing, refluffing, adjusting, and readjusting in vain. But soon, you’ll fluff no more. Meet the SleepSmart Pillow, an adjustable pillow meant for people who don’t sleep on their backs or on their stomachs, but on their side. After a successful Kickstarter campaign that ultimately raised over $87,000, the SleepSmart Pillow is now in production, which means shipment should be close behind.
The SleepSmart team tells Digital Trends that this new pillow is the first to be designed with both a comfort layer and an easily adjustable support layer, which allows you to set the pillow at just the right height for your neck. The pillow was designed after more than 1,000 interviews with side sleepers, who aired their grievances with existing pillows that don’t quite support their heads they way they prefer. And many of these grievances resonated with SleepSmart creator Brandon Larson.
“I got fed up with sleep solutions on the market, especially the tech, so I built SleepSmart with an inventor/engineer friend of mine, who was also frustrated with pillow options on the market,” Larson told Digital Trends. “We developed a pillow that quickly and easily adjusts its height. It has both a comfort layer and an adjustable support layer so people don’t have to compromise when trying to find a pillow.”
So how does the support layer work? As Larson explains, a “bladder” located inside the pillow allows air to travel in and out depending on where you place your head. This increases or decreases the support height into the optimal position for your unique sleeping position.
But being adjustable isn’t the only thing that sets the SleepSmart apart. Rather, this smart pillow comes with a companion app that helps you monitor your sleep, or wakes you up with a vibration alarm. “We went back to basics [in designing the app],” Larson told us. “The apps tracks only what is fundamentally the most important for sleep tracking — sleep duration, consistency habits, and lifestyle context. The goal is to provide users with awareness so they can understand how life affects sleep and vice versa.”
If you missed the original Kickstarter campaign, not to worry. The team is also raising money on Indiegogo, and offering early bird pricing of $129. Of course, you should always exercise caution when backing crowdfunding campaigns, even when it seems as though there’s already a proven track record of success.
Looking for more? Check out our list of the best pillows for side sleepers and cooling pillows.
Updated on March 16, 2018: The SleepSmart Pillow has gone into production.
