Sona Pillow for Snoring and Mild Sleep Apnea
(Click here)
Tools and Hardware Reviews of Sona Pillow for Snoring and Mild Sleep Apnea
Customer Review: After two years, ready for another one
Summary: 4 Stars
I've been using this pillow for two years, and have been happy with it. It has flattened out to the point where it is no longer very helpful, so I came here looking for another one and was surprised at all the bad reviews.
Although I snore, the reason I bought this pillow was for my sleep apnea. It made a big difference starting from the first night. Where I used to be extremely sleepy for a few hours every afternoon, now I can go through the whole day without feeling more than a little drowsy.
The key is not being awakened so frequently that you never get enough REM sleep. With sleep apnea, the flap of flesh that otherwise causes snoring completely blocks air passage, and after being unable to breath for a while, you wake up (a sleep center can tell you if it's happening to you, although an insomniac spouse can give you a pretty good idea too). And you usually don't remember waking up, even if it happens hundreds of times a night. You never sleep long enough between awakenings to go into REM sleep, or you just don't get enough of it, and later in the day your body becomes desparate to get REM sleep. No one really knows why.
I can even tell the difference now between sleep apnea sleepiness and normal sleepiness due to staying up too late etc. The former is very powerful and it's a real battle to stay awake; it's like having a sleeping disorder that almost takes control of your body. The latter is much more gentle and much easier to stay awake.
In two years, this pillow has never made my neck sore. However, it's not as comfortable as a normal pillow:
-- The sleeping position puts the side of your nose down into the pillow (at the edge); which isn't where I'd prefer; I have bad allergies and putting my nose on a pillow makes me feel a bit sneezy.
-- It's designed to discourage sleeping on your back, which is my favorite sleeping position. Sometimes I just feel like I absolutely must sleep on my back at least for a while during the night; this pillow is specifically designed to make that difficult.
-- During hot summer nights (we don't have air conditioning), sleeping on your side with your head and nose crammed down into the pillow gets unbearably hot, and I have to sleep on my back.
Regarding the arm issue, I decided on the first night that it wasn't working for me, because my fingers got cold with my arm stretched way out there. So I kept my arms where I liked, and the pillow still worked. I wasn't aware until now of another reviewer's suggestion to just put your hand in the arm sleeve, but that's pretty close to what I've been doing.
The mistake I've made with this pillow is that when I feel I must sleep on my back for part of the night, I put my head in the middle of the pillow, which has gradually flattened it. They say it gradually flattens anyway and should be replaced every year, but my practice has probably made it flatten more and faster than otherwise. When the new one arrives, I'll try to set the pillow completely aside when sleeping on my back.
Oh -- my wife says it makes a big difference in my snoring, too. She says she always used to be able to tell when I was asleep, but now she can't tell anymore.
I don't know what to say about all the bad reviews. It's worked fine for me for two years, though there are issues as I've described. For now, I'd rather use this pillow than pay a bunch of money for the standard sleep apnea device that sticks tubes in your nose and mouth and blows air into them to keep the airways from closing, though eventually I may give that a try.
By the way, my older son, who is now 4, calls it the "fish pillow" because of it's shape! The ends look a bit like fish tails.
Tools and Hardware
Tools and Hardware