OK – no one wants to talk about it but most women experience those wonderful hot flashes, thanks to Eve in that garden.  Waking up during the night, first hot – then cold, throwing the sheets off and on like a two year old who just discovered the light switch on the wall.  When someone told me about a Buckwheat pillow that would absorb heat and keep your head cool all night – well – had to find one quickly and see if it worked.  Voila – it worked.  In fact it worked so well, I almost ended up in a prison in Chili.  You see -  you can have my first born but no one touches my pillow.

As we were exiting a cruise ship in Chili, for a 4 day extended stay in that beautiful country, I was carrying my pillow off the ship, thinking it would give me more room in the suitcase for “other things” – BIG MISTAKE.  The customs man stops us and wants to see what is in the pillow case (the easiest way to carry a buckwheat pillow is to carry it like a sack of flour) because it is illegal to bring any type of food product into that country – and it looks like I am carrying something like that in my pillow case.  Well – actually – it is an agricultural product but in processed form.  The poor customs guy doesn’t speak English and my Spanish is – well – el zippo!  As I said earlier – no one touches my pillow – and – we have 4 more days (and nights) in this country before flying home.  He’s trying to confiscate my pillow as  an “illegal food product” and I’m trying to “save” my pillow from extinction.

The Cruise ship’s Anthropologist is quietly observing this from a distance and she finally steps in to explain that the pillow is a processed product called Buckwheat hulls and is not really a food product – it is used for comfort as in a neck pillow.  Silently I’m thanking her for not broadcasting it’s real use – to “cool off” hot flashes at night.  Finally the head customs agent arrives and he speaks English.  He recognizes a woman in distress and approaches carefully, explaining the need to “check out” the pillow with an iron clad guarantee it will be returned to me at my hotel in Sanitago, Chili at the end of the day.  My husband is standing nearby, shaking his head and muttering “You’re going to get arrested – just give ‘em the damn pillow”.

It’s now 45 minutes later, everyone else is on our tour bus, waiting for u,s so reluctantly I surrender my pillow to customs and hope for the best.  On the tour bus, no one says anything to me, not even hubby – they also know not to ruffle the feathers of a woman in deep distress.  Later that night while our group is dining at a wonderful restaurant in Santiago, several fellow passengers (mostly women) inquire about the issue with the pillow.  To them I confide the real reason for the fuss – the hot flashes – and they all nod with total sympathy and understanding while the men just shake their heads.  Upon returning from that restaurant to our room – there it is – my pillow – as promised along with a phone message from the Customs Agent apologizing for the inconvenience and hoping the experience would not spoil my impression of his country.  Spoil my impression of Chili – not as long as I have my pillow and can sleep for the next four nights.  The pillow went in the suitcase before we went through customs in Miami.   Now it  always goes in the suitcase, no matter what.

I still have that pillow, even though the cruise was almost 12 years ago.  I think so much of these pillows that I now sell them online at www.buckwheatpillowsonline.com. If you have a story about your pillow or an experience with a buckwheat pillow, please write about it here – would love to hear from you.  Tikki

Twin Size Buckwheat Pillow

Trouble Sleeping?  Are you able to go to sleep but then wake up during the night and can’t get back to sleep?  Or do you have trouble just getting to sleep to begin with?  Whether you have trouble with onset of sleep or interrupted sleep, there are things you can do to improve the quality and quantity of your sleep.  For example:  If you watch a scary movie right before bed you may have restless sleep and even nightmares or if you are drinking lots of caffeinated beverages in the evening, you may have trouble getting to sleep.  An uncomfortable pillow may also keep you up.  Or it you are having night sweats (Hot Flashes), your pillow may be damp or even sopping wet.  A buckwheat pillow absorbs the heat from your head and you will have a drier pillow.  You may find a buckwheat pillow to your liking at www.buckwheatpillowsonline.com.

Sleeping Tip #1

Go to bed and get up at the same time

If you have a family and both parents work outside of the home, you will be challenged by this.  It may be easier to do the wake up at the same time because of school and jobs.  And then the weekend arrives and everyone wants to sleep in.  These are things you can do to make sure you wake up at the same time every day.  Put your alarm across the room so you have to get out of bed to shut it off.  Get an old fashioned alarm with the bells on the top – it will jolt you out of bed with its loud dinging.  Going to bed at the same time – well that depends on when the game at school ends, when the teenager comes in the door, when the baby finally goes to sleep etc.  So do the best job you can with this – go to bed at the same time and get up at the same time as much as possible!  Tikki