A one-button self-adjusting pillow that gently shifts your sleep position throughout the night – without waking you – aims to eliminate the health and well-being issues we face as we become increasingly sedentary in bed as we age.
You don’t have to look far to find many studies on how our sleep posture affects a range of issues – from sleep quality to chronic pain and more surprise aches and pains. However, there’s only so much control we have over where our body lands when we’re not awake.
Kickstarter
That’s where the Mirakuru Pillow comes in. Designed by Yukihiro Takenouchi, the founder of Rirakuru – a “relaxation salon brand” from Japan – it was first created to help Takenouchi wake up feeling less fatigued.
“I started Rirakuru because I wanted a more effective, efficient, and affordable way for anyone – including myself – to relax, without relying too heavily on the individual skill of a massage therapist,” he noted. “Within a few years, Rirakuru had grown into a nationwide brand with hundreds of locations, and later expanded to more than 600 stores across Japan.
“But even after building a business around relaxation, I kept asking a deeper question: Why do so many people still wake up feeling heavy, stiff, or not fully reset?” he added.
Kickstarter
His theory was that posture – which we have little control over when we’re asleep – plays more of a role in how we feel when we wake up than we realize. And a lack of movement during the night can put strain on areas of the body doing the heavy lifting by spending extended time in stationary positions.
Enter the Mirakuru Pillow for back and side sleepers, which features six multidirectional air chambers that gently inflate and deflate to shift your head’s position throughout the night. There’s no app, nor any setup required; instead, all the powered components are kept in an external controller beside your bed. And inside the actual pillow, there are only those air sacs, which inflate and deflate to slightly change pressure points throughout the night – silently and without disturbing your slumber, or anyone else’s.
Kickstarter
Designed to help you wake up feeling more refreshed and without that heavy feeling that takes a while to shake off, the makers say early testing reaped excellent feedback from those who tried out the prototype. While we only have the company’s word for it, the pillow has certainly garnered plenty of attention during its Kickstarter launch campaign. To date, more than 220 backers have pledged cash to be first in line for one of these pillows when shipping is slated to begin in June.
The makers say the pillow has universal “fit” and weighs around 4.2 kg (9.3 lb). It’s also quiet, so won’t disturb you or partners (below 50 dB in operation).
There are around 100 of the 1000 set aside for super early-bird prices on the campaign, so you can grab the Mirakuru for US$261 (40% off retail price), before shipping. It does, however, ship worldwide. Check the campaign site for availability and the different packages on offer.
Source: Kickstarter
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