Ergonomic approach for pillow concept design.

Sleep quality is an essential factor to human beings for health. The current paper conducted four studies to provide a suitable pillow for promoting sleep quality. Study 1 investigated the natural positions of 40 subjects during sleep to derive key-points for a pillow design. The results suggested that the supine and lateral positions were alternatively 24 times a night, and the current pillows were too high for the supine position and too low for lateral positions. Study 2 measured body dimensions related to pillow design of 40 subjects to determine pillow sizes. The results suggested that the pillow height were quite different in supine position and lateral position and needed to take into consideration for a pillow design. Study 3 created a pillow design based on the results of above studies. The pillow was a U-form in the front of view in which the pillow height in the middle area was lower for the supine position, and both sides were higher for the lateral positions. Study 4 assessed sleep quality of 6 subjects by using the proposed pillows and the current pillows. The results showed that the newly designed pillow led to significantly higher sleep quality, and the new design received an innovation patent.

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