If you have Acid Reflux (GERD) or any other condition that requires your head to be elevated while sleeping, you have probably experienced the discomfort, pain and agony of traveling and sleeping in a hotel or someplace other than your home.
Acid reflux is caused by stomach acid moving up into your esophagus. When you lie down to sleep at night, the path becomes easier for acid to traverse. This is why many people experience their worst acid reflux at night.
One solution to this is to elevate your upper body 30 to 45 degrees while sleeping. This is an easy solution with no known side effects. There are many existing remedies for a permanent raised bed system at home. Some examples include: a dense foam wedge that lives under your mattress, bed raisers, and custom wooden platforms. However, these solutions are not easy to travel with.
New travel-friendly solutions are being developed to address this issue. One example is an inflatable bed wedge. When inflated, they’re 30 inches wide (half the width of a queen mattress) and 8 inches high at the highest end. They come in two sizes, a full-sized one that is 69 inches long and a mid-size one that is 45 inches long. When deflated, they easily fit into a standard suitcase. Inflation is easy and can be done with a hotel hair dryer.
You can sleep directly on the wedge, or they can be put under a twin or full-sized mattress. For larger mattresses, you may need two or three wedges, and the set up takes more time and may require multiple people to set up.
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Photo: Yuya Tamai
