Dr. Fawad Mian can tell you all about a critical intersection for health: It’s exactly where brain health and good sleep (courtesy of solid cervical spine alignment) meet. As a neurologist and regenerative medicine specialist at Ascend Regenerative in Denville, New Jersey, his focus for the past 17 years in medicine has been the human brain and all it’s in charge of, from sleep to memory and other bodily functions.
Just like the brain, Mian’s own specialties are expansive: His work covers sleep disorders, like sleep apnea; neurological conditions like seizures, chronic pain, tremors, headaches, and dizziness; and issues related to memory. As a regenerative medicine specialist, he also addresses pain in key areas like the neck, back, and shoulders, whose nerve endings all link back to the brain.
And, as someone who suffers from neck pain himself, he’s deeply sympathetic to the plight of not having a pillow that facilitates solid sleep: “With a lot of the previous pillows that I was using before, it felt like I was never getting any support.”
Why sleep is important for brain health
Mian’s experience has found that sleep is one of the most critical aspects to maintaining good health, and how we sleep is extremely important.
“Sleep is very restorative for us in many different ways,” Mian says. One, he says, the brain “has a lymphatic system that drains out all the toxins and excess proteins that can build up,” leading to health issues like Alzheimer’s down the line.
“Number two, you also have restorative hormones,” he says. “If you're cutting sleep, you're actually affecting all of these hormones, so you're not going to feel your best the next day, ultimately. The third thing is also that, your next day, your mood is going to be affected,” making you more likely to be irritable, highly emotional, or underperform.
Why choosing the right pillow matters
Aside from your brain processing the day, helping the body recharge, and clearing out waste, there’s another thing to consider: blood flow. There’s a lot of blood pumping between brain and body, with your neck’s cervical alignment being the bridge. Pillows are your support safeguard while you’re asleep, but they aren’t always up to the task.
“Everybody sleeps differently: You either sleep on your side, your back, your stomach, and you may be going somewhere in between all of it,” says Mian.
If you’re someone who is kind of an all-rounder when it comes to sleeping position, Mian suggests a fully supportive pillow equipped to cushion you any which way you lie on it.
This is where the Coop Sleep Goods Original Adjustable Pillow came into play for Mian. “It’s actually meeting my needs, and I’m kind of all over the place when I sleep, and I feel great with it.”
Mian will be the first to tell you that there’s so much more than what meets the eye with the Original Adjustable Pillow. “It looks like a typical pillow, but it seems to give a lot more support for everything, and I just found that it’s more comfortable.”
The nimble outer cover of this pillow has a soft, knit feel, but is quite flexible. This is by design, as the inner liner of the pillow works to adapt to your head, neck, and any movement you make.
Inside the pillow, though, is where the magic happens. Using cross-cut memory foam mixed with a microfiber blend, you get a fluffy fill that is plush enough to sink into, but still provides pressure relief and the bouncier feel memory foam is known for — without the heat-trapping effects it sometimes creates.
It seems simple, but Mian will tell you, this pillow is anything but — and he has the record to back up his pillow pick: “If you saw how many pillows I actually have at my house, it is insane,” he says. “I've spent a lot of money on pillows — that's how particular I am about this. And so for me, I just felt like [it] is finally at least ‘the one.’”
