A solution to three common sleep problems, but not one you’ll find in the bedding section.

Ikea is filled with all sorts of nice blankets, pillows, and bedsheets to help you get a good night’s sleep. Sure enough, Japanese Twitter user @ono_houshimaru, who’s been having a hard time catching some quality Zs, found the perfect answer to his problem on a recent visit to the houseware chain.

Essentially, he got himself a nice new pillow, but if you’re imagining he just picked up a basic one made of memory foam or stuffed with soba husks, think again. In fact, instead of laying his head down on the pillow, he just inserts his head inside of it when he’s ready to go to sleep.

Why bother with such a bizarre-looking setup? Because the sources of @ono_houshimaru’s sleep woes are temperature and humidity regulation, plus too much light once morning rolls around but before his alarm goes off (an especially annoying problem in non-daylight savings time Japan). By enveloping his head in this spherical solution, he’s able to keep his face and scalp warm, and since the hot air of the room’s heater isn’t hitting his nose and mouth directly, his throat and nostrils don’t get painfully dried out while he’s sleeping. Add in the opaque construction keeping out ambient light, and @ono_houshimaru says he’s sleeping better than ever.

If you’re an Ikea regular and wondering why you’ve never seen such a strange pillow for sale, it’s because you won’t find it in the bedding section. Instead, you’ll need to head over to the pet supply area, since it’s actually a cat house.

It took several rounds of experimentation for @ono_houshimaru to arrive at this sleeping arrangement. He started with a plastic case, which he tried in the summer when his air conditioning was also drying out his throat.

The results weren’t bad, but after a few days he still wasn’t completely satisfied, so he moved on to a canvas-sided box.

This resulted in even deeper sleep, but unfortunately the hard edges and weight of the box left his collarbone feeling sore.

Next up was a photography box. This took all the weight off his body, but now there was too much empty space in the enclosure. He tried adding some towels to fill the box up a little more, but they slid around and wadded up underneath his head, making things awkwardly uncomfortable.

The cat house, though, seems to be just what @ono_houshimaru has been looking for. In response to questions startled commenters have had, he says that there’s plenty of air flow for him to breathe comfortably, even after inserting a small pillow to give his neck extra support. He can also turn and roll over with ease, and after a solid month of sleeping like this, he’s got no complaints. The closest is that even he himself admits that sleeping like this probably looks weird to other people, but he quickly follows that up with “While it may look visually dumb, it’s not like I can see myself while I’m sleeping, so my self-esteem is unharmed,” and if you’re similarly secure, the cat house can be ordered for 1,499 yen (US$14) through Ikea Japan’s website here.

Source: Twitter/@ono_houshimaru via Otakomu
Top image: @ono_houshimaru
Insert image: Ikea
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