Adult Travel Pillow

Posted January 14, 2007 By admin

Adult Travel Pillow

The Power of Posture - Choosing the Best Travel Pillow

While traveling cross-country a few times last year, I experienced something I suspect that a lot of travelers out there can relate to. All of the travel pillows I tried were more uncomfortable than not wearing one at all.

I tried numerous travel pillows, and more often than not, I would arrive tired and with a sore neck that would last for hours or even days. My head and neck just weren't being supported properly.

A little research helped me identify the problem.

All day long, your postural muscles in your neck are in contraction, to support your head. When you try to relax, your postural muscles want to relax with you. This is fine when you are lying down, because your bed supports you. However, when you are sitting up, like in an airline chair, your head is left unsupported.

The travel pillows that I tried were poorly designed for this purpose. There was no support under my chin. To make matters worse, the excess padding in the back, pushed my head forward even further.

Remember this equation:

Posture = Comfort.

When you are lying in bed, gravity helps keep your body in alignment. The trick is to keep that same posture sitting up as you have when you are lying down.

When you are sitting up and trying to relax, gravity is the enemy. Without full support gravity will take over and as your neck muscles try to relax, your head will drop forward or you will cock it to one side. You have lost your posture.

Now you are out of alignment and the weight of your head is placing stress on your neck. In addition to being uncomfortable and unable to relax, you will likely be sore and get very little rest. Remember, the average adult human head weighs 15-20 pounds. Pick up a 20 pound weight the next time you're in a gym and think about that tugging on your spine as the plane bumps and jars.

The best travel pillow is one that is comfortable, lightweight, and gives you full support, including under the chin.

Recently, several major airlines announced they will no longer provide pillows on their flights. Good riddance. In addition to the question about sanitation and hygiene, those little white pillows were basically worthless.

Use this opportunity to get yourself a top quality memory foam travel pillow with full support. You will arrive healthier and happier. Isn't that what travel and life are all about?

About the Author

Dr. Neely earned her Chiropractic degree at Palmer College in San Jose, California. She honed her skills as a relief doctor in a number of Bay Area Chiropractic offices before becoming the sole proprietor of Marina Chiropractic on the corner of Chestnut & Scott Streets in San Francisco. Dr. Neely also holds an Honors degree in Kinesiology & a Bachelors degree in Education from Lakehead University in Ontario.

moving, safely transportting ball python?

We're moving 1500miles from our current home in June. We have an adult ball python snake. I'm wondering whats the best way to transport him in our car? we'll be on the road(no flying) for a couple of weeks and it might be a few weeks after we arrive at our new destination before we have housing and our household goods. We'll be without his normal habitat tank for awhile. Normally we've only needed to travel short distances with him(school, vet) and for that we use a large shoe box and pillow case. I was thinking about getting a large plastic container that I could put a pad lock on. I have a smaller water bowl and portable heating supplies. I have a collapsible cage but it won't work for car travel. Does anyone have experience with this sort of thing?
I know driving 1500 miles will only take a couple days. we're making some side trips along the way, we're visiting family and doing a vacation too which is why we'll be "on the road" for so long.

I fully agree with the previous poster. DO NOT feed it before you leave! You should give your snake at least a week off of feed before you transport, especially a stressful long trip like that. I would get a rubbermaid or tupperware tote and drill holes in the top. Coat the bottom in newspaper or paper towels (needs to be easy to clean out if they spill their water... if the bedding is wet and they lay on that for a long period of time they will get scale rot). Provide a water bowl that is shallow and harder to knock over, and keep an eye on it. I use heat cable running underneath the paper to keep a good heat variant connected to a thermostat (even ReptiTherm will work well and they are cheap) because heat cable doesn't cause burns. You could use the reptile heat packs which last about 40 hours (lllreptile.com) but if the trip is that long I would recommend a more long term heating solution, and you need to make sure that they can't directly touch the packs or else they will get burned . I would recommend putting in the snake's hide so they have something comfortable to hide in- the less you change, the less stressful the trip. It will take a few weeks to get them back into a normal feed schedule, and since balls are notoriously picky eaters it could take longer. Make sure that you secure the tote so that it can't slide everywhere, and most snakes can't get out of the locking lids that totes have. Cotton bags are good for short trips, but with longer trips they need to have more freedom of movement (even though they might not use it) to prevent stress. I usually put a snake in their tote a week before the trip to get them acclimated and comfortable. Make sure you don't transfer them too much, and that you put them back in their cage ASAP. I wish you the best on your move!