Attachable and detachable pillows for prone sleeping

Abstract

Two rectangular pillows are attached and become prone pillows; one pillow supports one's forehead, and another supports one's chest allowing sleepers to sleep comfortably in a prone position. These two pillows can also be detached and become two general purpose pillows when they are not used for prone sleeping.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates to pillows and pillow cases. More particularly, pillows that accommodate sleeping in a prone position.

NOTE

Throughout this context, the terms “pillow” or “pillows” are used with intents of including a pillowcase or pillowcases because a unit of pillow has a pillowcase incased in it. Thus, when the word “pillow” or “pillows” is referred, the pillow or pillows would be paired up with a pillowcase or pillowcases as one inseparable unit or units unless otherwise specified.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The benefits of prone sleeping have been published in a number of medical journals. For an example, Acta Oto-Laryngologica journal (2015) published an article supporting that prone positioning reveals promising results in improving the apnoea-hypopnoea index (AHI) and oxygen desaturation index (ODI) in patients with obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA)¹. One of the main airway obstructive problems when sleepers sleep in a normal supine position is that the tongue trends to slip way back in the throat causing a snoring problem and an obstruction of airway. In fact, it is a well know fact in the medical community that the tongue is the most common cause of upper airway obstruction². This problem is greatly reduced once sleepers sleep in a prone position because the tongue cannot slip way back into the back of the throat with a proper prone sleeping position. One prominent advocate of prone sleeping is an admirable 104 years old Japanese physician, Dr. Shigeaki Hinohara. Born in 1911, the doctor advises prone sleeping for health. Dr. Hinohara spoke in an interview, “The secret to long life is to eat less and sleep deep. Fifteen years ago, I started sleeping in the prone position, and it has improved my health.”³

TECHNICAL PROBLEM

As suggested that prone sleeping may be beneficial, but there are two short-comings for people in general to sleep this way: 1.) There is a need for a proper pillow to support prone positioning; 2). People's sleeping habit in a supine position is hard to overcome.

SOLUTION TO PROBLEM

This invention solves these two short-comings associated with prone sleeping. First, it facilitates a more comfortable posture in a prone position by raising the chest and support the forehead while allowing an adjustable open space of the nose and mouth for breathing. Second, the two pillows can be detached from each other to form two familiarly shaped rectangular pillows. This detachable feature provides the benefit of not penalizing users for trying to sleeping in a prone position because they still have two general purpose rectangular pillows to fall back on. Users can then combine these pillows into the prone pillows again at a later time when they want to resume sleeping in a prone position.

ADVANTAGEOUS EFFECTS OF INVENTION

The claimed invention differs from what currently exists. Pillows that are purposely used for prone sleeping do not have a rectangular shape that most users are familiar with and because of this reason, they serve in a niche market where only a few percentage of population have or want to try them. This invention brings a familiarity of pillows to the mass in order to gain higher acceptance of prone sleeping. Further, the claimed invention is a set of two rectangular pillows that allows for a number of customizations—one of them being attachable and detachable along with having an adjustable breathing space between the two pillows via fastening of side straps.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

The present invention is a set of pillows designed to support, comfort, and accommodate the forehead and chest and open airway of the nose and mouth while a user sleeps in a prone position with or without his or her head and face turned to his or her side. In addition, these prone pillows can be used as a substitute for a massage chair with a greater portability that a user can place on a bed, a sofa seat, or even on a floor. The pillows can also be detached into two rectangular pillows as two general purpose pillows.

The pillows are designed so that a user can adjust the length of the chest rest pillow to be folded according to his or her preference. The pillows are also designed so that the space between the chest support pillow and the forehead support pillow is adjustable at the level of his or her preference. When the two pillows are detached and separated, forehead rest side straps that are hanging may be tucked away for a neat appearance.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of prone pillows in an attached form of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a top view of prone pillows of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side view of prone pillows of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a top view of prone pillows in a detached form of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing only a forehead rest pillow of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing only a chest rest pillow of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a demonstration of how the present invention may be used with different prone positions.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring now to the invention in more detail, in FIG. 1, FIG. 2, and FIG. 3, there are shown two pillows in an attached form as shown 10 with an arrow. Having an attached or combined prone pillows there are a forehead rest pillow 20 and a chest rest pillow 30. The two pillows are held together by left side strap 21 and right side strap 22 with left side strap button 23 and right side strap button 24 of the forehead rest pillow fastened to button hole 45 and button hole 46 of the chest rest pillow in that order.

Alternatively, the forehead rest pillow 20 with its left side strap button 23 and right side strap button 24 may be fastened to any of the same side button holes on the chest rest pillow. The chest rest pillow 30 with its left and right side seams 37 & 38 has six button holes each. When the chest rest pillow 30 is folded length wise, on each of its side, there are three button holes on the top of the folded side seam and three button holes on the button of the folded side seam. FIG. 1, FIG. 2, and FIG. 3 drawings show odd numbers of button holes are on one side seam 37 and the even numbers of button holes are on the opposite side seam 38. With the perspective view after the chest rest pillow is folded, button hole 39, button hole 41, and button hole 43 are on the top left side seam while button hole 45, button hole 47, and button hole 49 are on the bottom left side seam. The same is true on the opposite side button hole 40, button hole 42, and button hole 44 are on the top right side seam while button hole 46, button hole 48, and button hole 50 are on the bottom right side seam. The forehead rest pillow 20 with its left side strap button 23 may be fastened to any of these button holes 39, 41, 43, 45, 47 or 49 of the left chest rest pillow seam 37 and the forehead rest pillow 20 with its right side strap button 24 can be fastened to any of these button holes 40, 42, 44, 46, 48 or 50 of the right chest rest pillow seam 38.

The purpose for having this many button holes on the sides of a chest rest pillow for fastening is for convenience of users; when a user folds the chest rest pillow, no matter which way he or she folds the pillow, it will not cause a complicated problem of having to flip and turn the pillow to look for a button hole to button in and fasten a strap onto it.

A customized space is created by how a user fastens the forehead rest side straps 21 & 22 with buttons 23 & 24 to button holes on the chest rest pillows seams 37 & 38. When straps and buttons are fastened more inwardly toward the inside of the chest rest pillow side seams, the space between the two pillow is narrower because both of the straps pull the forehead rest pillow closer toward the chest rest pillow. This customization contributes to higher satisfaction for users because a user may want to have some customizable control over the space which he or she can reduce or widen for his or her nose and mouth.

In further detail, still referring to the invention FIG. 1, FIG. 2, and FIG. 3, the chest rest pillow is folded approximately in half by fastening of two edge buttons to button holes on the opposite end. As it is shown, the first edge button 31 and second edge button 32 of the chest rest pillow 30 are fastened to the first end button hole 35 and the second end button hole 36 in that order. Alternatively, looking at FIG. 4, the first edge button 31 and second edge button 32 may be fastened to the first ¾ to edge button hole 33 and the second ¾ to edge button hole 34 to allow for one folding end of chest rest pillow to be at ¾ of the length of the pillow which would allow the other folding end of the chest rest pillow to be slightly longer and taper from the height of the folding point to the end point; this create an incline of the upper chest down to the lower chest and may be preferred by some users.

Referring now to FIG. 4, there are shown two pillows in a detached form as shown 60 with an arrow. Two pillows shown here are forehead rest pillow 20 and chest rest pillow 30, and both of these pillows are completely separated from each other. The forehead rest pillow 20 is presented with both left and right side straps fully tucked away by fastening of left side strap button 23 to left side strap button hole 25 and right side strap button 24 to right side strap button hole 26. See FIG. 5 for a more clear view of left and right side strap button holes 25 & 26.

In further detail, still referring to the invention in a detached form of pillows in FIG. 4, the chest rest pillow is unfolded and laid flat. The first edge button 31 and second edge button 32 of the chest rest pillow 30 are not fastened to the end button holes. These two separated pillows of both the forehead rest pillow 20 and the chest rest pillow 30 look roughly similar to common rectangular bed pillows. Again, to emphasize the drawing of FIG. 4, when the two pillows are detached, the chest rest pillow is unfolded, and the hanging side straps of fore headrest pillow are tucked away, they present completely normal looking two rectangular pillows that any users are familiar with. This has a positive psychological effect of trust and familiarity to users due to having been presented with things that they are used to see and normally use.

Referring now to FIG. 5, there is shown only a detached headrest pillow platform alone 70. The forehead rest pillow 20 showing left side strap 21 and right side strap 22 in a down hanging position. These side straps shown here are not tucked away. The left side strap button 23 may be fasten to their left side strap button hole 25 and the right side strap button 24 may be fasten to their right side strap button hole 26 for a tidy appearance.

Referring now to FIG. 6, there is shown only a detached chest rest pillow platform alone 80. The chest rest pillow 30 showing an unfolded position. The first edge button 31 and second edge button 32 of the chest rest pillow 30 shown here are not fastened to any of the opposite end of the button holes. The chest rest pillow can be folded by fastening the first edge button 31 to the first ¾ to end button hole 33 and the second edge button 32 to the second ¾ to end button hole 34, or by fastening the first edge button 31 to the first end button hole 35 and the second edge button 32 to the second end button hole 36. To the sides of the chest rest pillow 30, there are side seams 37 & 38. With each side seam, there are six button holes. FIG. 6 perspective view shows button holes number 39, 41, 43, 45, 47 and 49 are on left side seam 37, and button holes number 40, 42, 44, 46, 48 and 50 are on the right side seam 38.

To convert these detached pillows to attached prone pillows, the pair of the edge buttons 31 & 32 are fastened to either the pair of button holes 33 & 34 or button holes 35 & 36 to fold down the chest rest pillow 30. Once the chest rest pillow 30 is folded, one of these button holes 39, 41, 43, 45, 47 or 49 on the left seam 37 is to be fasten with the left side strap button 23 from the head rest pillows, and on the other side, one of these button holes 40, 42, 44, 46, 48 or 50 on the right seam 38 is to be fasten with the right side strap button 24 from the head rest pillows.

Referring now to FIG. 7, images shown here are different body poses using prone pillows 90. There are three samples of a female in a prone position with her head and face turned or stayed in place. The first drawing shows her head and face turned to the left side with her body remains in a prone position, and her arms and legs are in a position of comfort 91. The second drawing shows her centers body in the prone position with her head and face in the center along with her arms and legs 92. The third drawing shows her head and face turned to the right side with her body remains in a prone position, and arms and legs are in a position of comfort 93. There is an adjustable space gap between the head rest pillow and the chest rest pillow. This space between the two pillows is important because it allows an unobstructed path for breathing through the nose and mouth for air exchange while in a prone position.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

The construction details of dimensions of the invention as shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 2, FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 are that the forehead rest pillow 20 and the chest rest pillow 30 are to be sufficiently wide and long for comfortable sleeping in a prone position, such as about 12-15 inches (30-38 cm) of vertical width and about 15-22 inches (38-55 cm) of horizontal width. The vertical width of the chest rest pillow 30 is to be about 24-30 inches (60-76 cm) in length to start because it has to be folded into an approximately half of its length to achieve the mentioned dimension of about 12-15 inches (30-38 cm) of folded vertical width as shown in FIG. 4 displaying the unfolded chest rest pillow 30 is at least twice or longer in length than the forehead rest pillow because it will be folded to about half The forehead rest pillow 20 contains side straps 21 & 22 that are about 2 inches in width and are twice the vertical width of the forehead rest pillow body which make the side straps length to be about 24-30 inches (60-76 cm) long. The excess hanging straps past the fore headrest pillow body are to be fastened and tucked away at the opposite end with buttons and button holes when they are detached for neatness. The chest rest pillow 30 contains left and right seams that are about 2 inches wide and are as long as its vertical width of about 24-30 inches (60-76 cm) which they may be folded along with the chest rest pillow itself. Having a sufficient depth or the thickness of these pillow is important for comfortable sleeping in the prone position. Having about 6 inches of pillow cushion provides enough support for sleeping in the prone position by keeping the nose and the mouth bridging between the two pillows gap would ensure that these breathing parts are not squashed down into the sleeping surface while in a prone position. This means the head rest pillow is to be about 6 inches thick and chest rest pillow is to be about 3 inches thick unfolded and 6 inches thick after it is folded.

Pillowcases that incase both the forehead rest pillow and the chest rest pillow are cloth or fabric materials and may be made of various type of fabrics such as cotton or polyester fiber. Pillow inserts may be made of polyester fiber, polyurethane memory foam, latex foam, or other soft cushion materials suitable for prone sleeping with sufficient thickness. Buttons are commonly made of plastic materials. In addition, a process of fastening buttons with button holes may be substituted by using of Velcro or snap buttons. The outer pillow cases may be displayed with decorative patterns, stylized, embroidered with a logo, or just a plain solid color.

The advantages of the present invention include, without limitation, that it can be used as a device to achieve the health benefits of prone sleeping as evidenced by a number of medical journals which conclude that prone sleeping shows promising results in improving various types of airway obstructive syndromes. This invention looks simple and familiar to users. It enhances comfort of prone sleeping by supporting and raising the chest and forehead and creates an adjustable space for breathing through the nose and mouth. Another use for this invention is that because this invention is used in a prone position sharing the same functionality as a massage chair or a massage bed, it can be used as a simple and portable massage platform that can be placed on a bed, a sofa seat, or on a floor. Further, this invention of prone pillows can be detached and used as two separate general purpose rectangular pillows.

To make the invention, one could take pre-existing pillows with right dimensions and thickness and modify them by adding left and right seams to a chest rest pillow and add left and right long straps to a forehead rest pillow, and then add buttons and button holes to those pillows as specified. If one has some basic skills working with fabrics and sewing, one can make the invention entirely from scratch with right materials and a sewing equipment. One would measure, cut the fabrics, sew them, create seams, and straps, add buttons and button holes to two pillow cases, and then stuff pillow inserts into the two prepared pillow cases.

To use the invention, one would simply lay down in a prone position with nose and mouth parts suspended over a space in between a forehead rest pillow and a chest rest pillow with his or her forehead resting on this forehead rest pillow and his or her chest resting on this chest rest pillow. The space between the two pillows provides an unobstructed path for air exchange through the nose and the mouth for all of a period of time being free from the most common cause problem of upper airway obstruction by the tongue during this prone sleeping position. FIG. 8 shows a demonstration of use for this invention with three examples of prone sleeping positions.

CITATION LIST

1. Bidarian-Moniri, A., Nilsson, M., Rasmusson, L., Attia, J., & Ejnell, H. (2015). The effect of the prone sleeping position on obstructive sleep apnoea. Acta Otolaryngol Acta Oto-laryngologica, 79-84. doi:10.3109/00016489.2014.962183

2. Miyamoto, K., Ozbek, M., Lowe, A., & Fleetham, J. (1997). Effect of body position on tongue posture in awake patients with obstructive sleep apnoea. Thorax, 255-259.

3. ‘Living legend’ physician Dr. Hinohara visits Camp Zama 2. (n.d.). Retrieved Oct. 11, 2015

Claims

1. A rectangular shaped pillow, comprising:

a. 2 hanging side straps which each one is attached along each side edge of the width of the pillow each with a length of 2 times the width of the pillow;

b. 2 side strap buttons attached to the hanging end of the 2 side straps;

c. 2 button holes located on the side straps at opposite ends of side strap buttons.

2. A rectangular shaped pillow, comprising:

a. 2 side seams which each one is attached along each side edge of the long end (length wise) of the pillow extending along the same length of the pillow;

b. each of the 2 side seams contains 6 button holes spacing with 2 sets of 3 holes placed equally apart;

c. 2 edge buttons on one edge of the width of the pillow, evenly spaced;

d. 2 button holes located ¾ of the pillow length away from the 2 edge buttons on one surface area of the pillow, evenly spaced;

e. 2 end button holes located at the opposite end of 2 edge buttons, evenly spaced.

3. The pillow of claim 1 is attachable to the pillow of claim 2 by manual fastening the 2 side strap buttons of claim 1b to button holes of the pillow of claim 2b;

a. the pillow of claim 2 is foldable by manual fastening the 2 edge buttons 2c to either pair of button holes of 2d or 2e;

b. when both pillows are to be attached, the space gap between the pillow of claim 1 and the pillow of claim 2 can be adjusted by selecting a different set of button holes of the pillow of claim 2b to strap buttons to.

4. The pillow of claim 1 is detachable from the pillow of claim 2 by unbuttoning the pillow of claim 1b from button holes of the pillow of claim 2b;

a. when the pillows are detached, the hanging side straps of the pillow of claim 1 are fastenable for neatness of appearance by manual fastening the side strap buttons of claim 1b to the button holes of their opposite ends 1c.