The secret to a perfect night’s sleep? A manky, yellow pillow

Emotional support water bottles were the fad that skyrocketed during lockdown. Akin to an infant’s security blanket for some, according to experts, the drinking receptacle trend currently has more than 60 million views on TikTok.

While I, too, have one of these (animal-print, scratched and dented), the one item that I cannot do without and that is more significant to my wellbeing is my pillow. And much like emotional support water bottles, pillows have been trending recently, too. Or, more specifically, manky yellowing pillows.

My pillow, a contoured, memory foam number, has been by my side, or should I say, under my head, for three years now, and despite the advice of health experts as to why this relationship needs to end immediately, I cannot envision nighttime without it.

Even when I travel, I nearly always take my pillow with me; the thought of one night on another pillow, regardless of its quality or freshness, makes me anxious.

Loading

On one recent trip and in a rush, I found myself without my pillow for an entire weekend away. This culminated in me, on arrival, behaving like a completely deranged brunette Goldilocks, tearing up the accommodation, picking up every pillow I came across and trialling them in a desperate search to find one that was just right. Sadly, the ultimately ineffective search to find myself a substitute meant that for the remainder of the weekend, my neck hurt, and I tossed and turned every night.

When I bought it, the pillow was pricey; the result of extensive and thorough research and an attempt to help my long-term issues with insomnia. As it turns out, it was one worth every cent because ever since that first sleep, the pillow has remained a consistent, comforting, and emotionally supportive fixture, assisting me in catching those elusive ZZZs.

The problem with what one social media post rightly referred to as the “magic” pillow is the wear and tear it’s forced to endure throughout its much-loved life, which turns it into a “yellow pillow”.

In a tweet accompanying a photo of his beloved sleep aid, one social media user wrote that his girlfriend “is mad at me because I have revealed to her The Yellow Pillow. Fellas, I’m sure you all know that this thing is magic … It’s not my fault the pillow is yellow and bestows upon me the most peaceful slumber.”