Mr. "MyPillow"

The idea came to me as I watched this latest tv intrusion for MyPillow. Funny how this innocuous sleeping thing can pivot us towards our healthy futures. And so I waited for it to be over, but with an interest and intensity never before felt as the newest twist on MyPillow, the Roll and Go Anywhere began to unfold. Was this history in the making?

The inventor of MyPillow appeared in his latest commercial extolling the virtues of a smaller pillow for children. He was the well known pillow man, the man responsible for better sleep but now encouraging children down this healthy path. In this latest clip, he was engaging with children, all playing with and throwing around smaller versions of 'his pillow', the new Roll-and-GoAnywhere version. A mountain of these smaller pillows were being used as giant lego-like blocks, the iconic toy of the past, to build walls or mountains outside, in a colourful landscape as the youngsters ran and jumped about. It was then he announced that the children could keep as many pillows as they could carry. They were aglow with excitement. Away they went! Later, in a scene reminiscent of so many taking place in the family van, the very young actors could be seen sleeping on their pillows while in vehicles being driven by their parents. Was a good habit, the foundation of future health, in the making? I began to wonder.

Up to this moment I was watching a new commercial, Best Day Ever for MyPillow. A few months ago, the inventor, Mr. Lindell, had been a guest on the hit show, Life, Levin and Liberty, telling the host, Mark Levin and his audience, his life of drug abuse as a young man. He had hit bottom. I was shocked. Here was a man who had pulled himself out of the deepest of despair to become the household name and face of MyPillow, the gold standard of all. (I was already tired of seeing his commercials, a seeming never ending reality show). But I was impressed with this man's rise to fame and health from a common abyss. He was now being featured on a well-known talk show. I could not believe my senses!

Last year, on Tucker Carlson Tonight, the host had met with a gaggle of high-tech industry giants to discuss the rise in depression and teen suicide. What were they talking about? These men of industry were concerned business men as well as fathers. Teens' hand held devices were holding court over them. Sleep was in serious jeopardy. Important calls or texts were too important to miss. Depression was on the rise. Society's wake-up call had arrived. Then I watched the Roll and GoAnywhere commercial and it all made sense.

A minimum of 7-8 hours of deep restorative sleep is required for healing the mind and body. Without sufficient sleep, brain's executive function, among other things, is greatly affected in a multitude of ways. Could this newest MyPillow phenomenon, the RollandGoAnywhere, be the antidote for sleep deprivation, beginning in childhood, where parental power has its greatest influence on children? Good habits begin somewhere! If children are shown the importance of sleep during critical phases of their development, then perhaps sleep's significance will be honoured and maintained throughout life. Yes, I thought!

If the overuse and dependency of modern media, places our teens at risk, then we, as their parents, must get to them first, in childhood. Could the simple pillow be a clinical first step? The animal kingdom needs sleep to survive. But try getting a small child to bed for his customary daily nap or nighttime ritual and see the resistance. Maybe the inventor of My Pillow, who's been in our peripheral line of vision, since the beginning, might be on to something. Introducing children to a 'device' that makes them happy, has play value, anywhere, while encouraging sleep, could be the turning point in a health crisis that has no end. 

Sleep is a critical element of the human condition. Perhaps we should be taking heed of pillow's curative value, this miracle medical 'device', in the lives of children. Maybe, the Roll and GoAnywhere could be the start of something monumental, a great beginning in the right direction.