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The Best Body Pillow, Tested and Reviewed (2025)

by admin September 27, 2025

Compare Our Picks

Photograph: Molly Higgins

Others Tested

Pillow Cube Side Cube for $66: This isn’t technically a body pillow, but it’s specifically designed for side sleepers (and I love it), so it’s included in this list. This cuboid pillow is designed for the side sleeper, and aims to help with headaches and back and shoulder pains through its unique shape and soft, yet structured, filling. It has a breathable, soft-and-stretchy quilted side case that’s removable with a zipper, and the AeroPluff foam core is comfy, regulating temperature to keep you sleeping coolly. I can sleep only on my side, and one of the problems I regularly have is a sore neck from the gap between my shoulder and my head. This square, 90-degree-angled pillow perfectly fills that gap and sits at a manageable head pillow size of 24 inches long, 12 inches wide, and 5 inches deep. The breathable cover and soft density even helped with ear pressure.

Leacho Snoogle for $50: Though out of stock at the moment, this versatile body pillow is marketed for pregnant people because of its versatility and belly, hip, and knee support. Due to its unique shape, it can be contorted into many figures. With a removable cover made of a polyester/cotton blend and a polyester filling, this pillow is a lot more breathable than similar large body pillows on the list. Because of its unique shape for many positions, the pillow isn’t overstuffed, and I found that the fill tended to sink to the lower foot portion of the pillow when sleeping on it. Overall, this pillow is breathable and extremely customizable in shape, although I would’ve preferred something with a little more filling.

White Noise Memory Foam Body Pillow With Hypoallergenic Zippered Protector for $50: I absolutely love the fill of this 50 x 14-inch pillow—the shredded foam is the perfect mix of structure and softness. If it were wider, 20 or so inches rather than 14 inches, this pillow would be perfect. But because I’m a side-only sleeper, I like to hold the body pillow and wrap my arms and legs around it. Since it is so narrow, my knees knock together on the other side. I may be able to overlook the flaw of its narrowness because the pillow has a super-comfy fill, but I wouldn’t recommend it for bigger people with longer limbs.

Eli & Elm Memory Foam Body Pillow for $130: In my home, we call this one “the 7 pillow” because … well, take a guess. This long, L/7-shaped pillow is marketed as a pregnancy pillow, but it’s great for anyone who sleeps on their side. The short section fits neatly under your head, while the long end can reach down to fit between your legs. It comes with its own custom pillow case, which is great, because it’s not like you’ll have a ton of spares in this shape in your linen closet. —Eric Ravenscraft

Eli & Elm Side Sleeper for $116: The Eli & Elm Side Sleeper pillow is one of the firmest pillows right out of the box of any we’ve tested. You can remove some of the excess fill if you want to reduce that firmness, but if you’re the type of person who likes feeling like they’re sleeping on a very soft rock, this is the pillow for you. It’s not quite big enough for multiple people to cuddle up with, like our Honeydew pick, but for a single person, it’s a great option. —Eric Ravenscraft

Bearaby Cuddler for $229: Bearaby is best known for its weighted blankets, eye masks, and stuffed animals, but it makes other sleep products like heated pads, throw blankets, and the body pillow I tested, the Cuddler. At 75 inches long and 8 inches in diameter, with a filling of plant-based Melofoam, an all-natural foam made from rubber-tree sap, it’s unlike any other pillow fill I’ve slept on. It’s heavier than a stuffed pillow but lighter than memory foam and has a rubbery, bouncy quality. Its springy fill, skinny body, and extraordinary length made it fit awkwardly on the bed, but its bouncy quality and ability to conform into many shapes may make this an attractive pick for some side sleepers.

Not Recommended

Photograph: Molly Higgins

Alwyn Home Butcher Fiber Plush Pillow for $56: This 90 x 19-inch pillow disappoints. It’s egregiously long, which could be helpful for people who are taller or those who like more all-around body support. However, it just doesn’t have enough stuffing to fill 90 inches. The batting inside feels like typical fluffy batting found in homemade pillows, but it bunches throughout the pillow in clumps, leaving gaps where no filling reaches. These gaps often happen where your limbs rest, thus defeating the purpose of having a body pillow for support. The pillow is only about 2 inches deep and didn’t seem to ever spring up after I took it out of the box. I had to shake and knead the fiber to help make it more uniform throughout the inside of the pillow, but it did little to help.

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As a side sleeper, you’ll want a pillow that’s long enough to provide support between your arms and pressure points like between the knees. While firmness and softness are a matter of personal preference, you often want a body pillow that strikes the right balance, to provide support without being too heavy or firm for the limbs that rest underneath the pillow. If you’re just looking for a pillow to hug while you sleep, something lighter and softer is best. But if you have joint or spinal pain, something a bit more firm with more support is best. You’ll also want to think about which pillow shape will support which part of your body best, depending on your needs. I’m a strict side sleeper, but I toss and turn between both sides, so pillows with support on either side were tested too. I also tend to curl into a more fetal position, so I wanted something that had enough width to fully wrap my legs and arms around.

While many head pillows and mattresses favor memory foam, depending on the foam’s denseness, it can feel too heavy for a side sleeper whose limbs go underneath the pillow. Polyester or other synthetic filling is often the most plush and malleable but may not provide enough support. Many have a mixture of both or shredded memory foam, which can provide structure while still being soft enough to sink into. This depends on personal preference and need, but fill type is something to be aware of when looking for the perfect side-sleeper body pillow.

A standard body pillow that’s long enough to provide full-length support for the body is ideal, giving enough room to stretch out or cuddle in various positions. Body pillows in U or C shapes can provide more overall support and are ideal for pregnant people or those with back or leg issues, but can often make the sleeper run hot because of all of the surrounding material. But ultimately, the preferred shape is largely dependent on what parts of the body you want most supported in the side-sleeping position.

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I tested (slept with) each of the pillows for at least a week while sleeping, lounging, and sitting to see how the fill changed and moved over time. I contorted them in many shapes, and measured how supported I felt in different positions. I removed and added fill if I was able, and removed and washed covers to see how they were affected by cleaning and tested the differences with or without a cover.

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September 27, 2025 0 comments

Esports

D4vd case: body found in singer’s Tesla identified as missing 15-year-old

by admin September 18, 2025

Singer-songwriter d4vd is at the center of a police investigation after human remains were discovered in a car registered to him in Los Angeles. Authorities have now identified the victim as 15-year-old Celeste Rivas, a girl who had been missing for more than a year.

The Tesla, registered to David Anthony Burke, known as d4vd, was abandoned in the Hollywood Hills and later impounded.

On September 8, staff at the tow yard reported a foul odor, leading to the discovery of a body inside a bag in the vehicle’s front trunk. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner confirmed on September 17 that the remains belonged to Rivas, who was reported missing from Lake Elsinore, California, in April 2024.

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Investigators said the body had been inside the vehicle for an extended period before it was discovered. The cause and manner of death have not yet been determined, but the case is being treated as a homicide investigation.

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Current status

As of September 18, the Police have not named any suspects, and it remains unclear how or when the body was placed in the car. Authorities have also not established any confirmed link between the teenager and the singer. d4vd’s representatives have said he is cooperating fully with law enforcement.

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The Los Angeles Police Department’s Robbery-Homicide Division is leading the investigation. While one show on d4vd’s current tour has been canceled, most scheduled dates are still planned to go ahead.

Social media speculation is rife about d4vd’s potential involvement, especially after TMZ highlighted that he has a matching ‘Shhh’ tattoo as the victim.

A leaked d4vd song from 2023 titled “Celeste” has also made the rounds on X and Reddit.

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This remains an active investigation, with authorities urging the public to come forward with any information related to the case.

Who is d4vd?

d4vd, 20, rose to prominence on TikTok and streaming platforms with viral tracks before releasing his debut album Withered in 2025, and beginning an international tour.

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He first broke through in 2022 when his self-recorded track Romantic Homicide went viral on TikTok, climbing the Billboard Hot 100.

Much of his early music was recorded in his sister’s closet using an iPhone, a lo-fi approach that became part of his story, building a large fanbase across social media and streaming platforms.

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He was also featured in the popular game Fortnite, with his own emote, and is signed as a content creator and musician with the esports and lifestyle organization 100 Thieves.

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September 18, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Build your own spaceship body as you fly in Jitter, an asteroid-heavy physics-based survival sim

by admin September 3, 2025

I guess the simplest way to describe Jitter is that it’s Heat Signature, the hectic spaceship hijacking game from Suspicious Developments, but you are the spaceship, not the hijacker, and also, you can glue pieces of other ships onto yourself, like in Captain Forever, and also, this looks a bit like Lemmings on the Game Boy. Boil that down, and we have a brand new subgenre, the Hot Lemming Boy Foreverlike, which… let’s maybe forget I wrote the words “Hot Lemming Boy Foreverlike”. Let’s proceed without further reflection to this video showcasing the combat.

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If the above description confuses and alarms you, there’s a cleaner one on the game’s Steam page. “Jitter is an immersive sci-fi exploration and survival game set on a mining colony and its outskirts in the Main Asteroid Belt,” it reads. “You assume the role of an experimental AI that maintains ship functions and engages with the crew on board. As you explore the mining colony, you will take on new missions, expand ships and bases using various modules, add survivors to your crew, engage in space fights, and repair the damage left by enemy fire and onboard accidents.”

Cue impressive scenes of your greenish top-down AI core chewing through asteroids like a lemming through a baguette. Shoo, lemming! That’s my lunch, not an asteroid, and since when do lemmings eat asteroids, anyway.

No time for lunch, though, because it’s time to talk about simulation systems. As in FTL, you’ll organise the generation and flow of power and oxygen around your craft as you expand it, ensuring that you still, for example, have the means to swiftly fix hull breaches while adding gun turrets to the design. It might sound like it requires a shedload of menus, but the largely mouse-based controls are quite simple for a game of this fiddliness. There’s a demo on Steam, if you’d like to try for yourself.

If the idea of playing an AI seems dry, may I draw your attention to the line above about your crew. It consists of named humans with fetching character portraits and bespoke abilities. You’ll shepherd them through boarding actions, opening airlocks and tactically clicking rooms to have them survive against greater numbers. Beware: if you lose one of the story-critical ones, it’s game over. This seems to rule out the possibility of being an Evil AI, alas, though there’s definitely scope for venting the odd humanoid in a fit of cybernetic pique.

I’ve enjoyed what I’ve played of Jitter, though it’s a bit too processing-intensive for my work laptop, with all manner of physics-enabled celestial body bouncing around the playing field. There’s no release date yet, but developers Berko Games posted in June that they’re now focussing on “the final major updates before our Early Access release”.

Their practical difficulties include living in Ukraine, a country that has been fighting off a Russian invasion for three and a half years. “It’s not easy working under drone and missile strikes, but your attention and support should remain focused on the game itself,” the developers comment briefly in a recent update about the game’s NPC vessel behaviour.

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September 3, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

Your Body Ages Faster Because of Extreme Heat

by admin August 30, 2025

It is well known that heat causes exhaustion in the body due to dehydration. But aging?

A recent study concluded that extreme heat accelerates the aging of the human body, a worrying fact given the increasing frequency of heat waves due to climate change.

The researchers are not talking about the effects of solar radiation on the skin, but biological aging. Unlike chronological age—that answer that you give when asked how old you are—your biological age reflects how well your cells, tissues, and organs are functioning. Biological age can be calculated by looking at physiological and molecular markers in the body as well as by using various tests, for instance by measuring lung function, cognitive ability, or bone density.

Over time, the research found, exposure to extreme heat can weaken bodily systems, which shows up in tests of people’s blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood function. In the long term, this can increase the risks of cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, and dementia. The research, which was published in the journal Nature Climate Change, found that the aging effect of extreme heat was comparable to other behaviors known to be harmful to the body, such as smoking or drinking alcohol.

The researchers analyzed the long-term medical data of 24,922 people in Taiwan, collected between 2008 and 2022. During that time, the island experienced about 30 heat waves—defined by the research team as periods of high temperature lasting for several days. The researchers first calculated the biological age of the individuals, based on the results of various medical tests, such as liver, lung, and kidney function tests. They then compared people’s biological age with their chronological age, to see how fast their biological clock was ticking relative to their actual age. They then cross-referenced this information against people’s likely exposure to heat waves.

The results showed that the more extreme heat events people experienced, the faster their biological age accelerated relative to their chronological age. On average, among the cohort of people studied, being exposed to two years’ worth of heat waves added between eight and 12 days to a person’s biological age.

“While the number itself may seem small, over time and in different populations, this effect may have significant implications for public health,” said Cui Guo, an environmental epidemiologist at the University of Hong Kong and lead author of the study, in a statement from Nature.

The study also found that people doing physical labor and those residing in rural areas were more likely to be affected by accelerated biological aging, presumably due to greater exposure to the effects of heat waves. However, an unexpected positive effect was observed as well: The impact of heat exposure on biological aging actually decreased over the 15 years analyzed. The reason behind this is unknown, though Guo points to the possible influence of cooling technologies such as air-conditioning, which have become more common in recent years.

This story originally appeared on WIRED en Español and has been translated from Spanish.

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August 30, 2025 0 comments

Crypto Trends

Heatwaves Age Your Body Like Smoking or Drinking, 15-Year Study Finds

by admin August 27, 2025

In brief

Extreme heat acts like a lifestyle toxin, accelerating aging by 8–11 days per degree of exposure—with outdoor workers aging up to 33 days faster under the same conditions.
Researchers found that heat shortens telomeres and strains the liver, lungs, kidneys, and heart, compounding long-term disease risks.
Cooling strategies, hydration, and water-based exercise can slow heat-driven aging, but cumulative damage over decades is difficult to undo.

Want to live on a sunny beach after retirement? Think again.

Repeated exposure to heatwaves ages the human body at rates comparable to smoking cigarettes or drinking heavily, according to research that tracked nearly 25,000 adults in Taiwan for 15 years.

The study, published in Nature this week, found that for every additional 1.3 degrees Celsius of cumulative heat exposure, participants aged biologically by 0.023 to 0.031 years—roughly 8 to 11 days. Manual laborers and rural residents experienced worse effects, with outdoor workers showing biological aging of 33 days compared to about 9 to 11 days in the general population.

“While the number itself may look small, over time and across populations, this effect can have meaningful public-health implications,” Cui Guo, the environmental epidemiologist at the University of Hong Kong who led the research, told Nature.

The findings represent the first comprehensive assessment of how sustained heat exposure affects the aging process at a cellular level. Previous studies focused primarily on immediate heat-related deaths, but this research reveals damage that accumulates over years, not necessarily lethal in the short term, but still detrimental to the lifespan.

How heat kills you slowly

Before understanding this research, it’s important to remember that there are at least two types of “ages” to consider: Chronological Age (how much time you have been alive) and Biological Age (does your body behave better or worse than your chronological age?).

So, let’s say you’re a rock star living a life of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Your chronological age is 30 years, but you may have a biological age of 45 years because you cannot do the things a healthy 30 year-old does—let’s say, run for 30 minutes, breathe enough oxygen, and so on.

Researchers calculated biological age using blood pressure readings, inflammation markers, and assessments of liver, lung, and kidney function. When biological age exceeds chronological age, it signals faster physical deterioration and higher disease risk.

The study found that heat damages the body through multiple pathways. Temperature data showed that telomeres—protective caps on chromosomes—shortened with heat exposure. An increase in daily mean air temperature (about 9.5 to 10.8°C) was associated with telomere shortening ranging from 2.96% at immediate exposure to 6.69% over a two-week period.

Three-dimensional surface of heatwave exposure and year on BAA. Credit: Nature Climate Change (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41558-025-02407-w

The liver, lungs, and kidneys showed the most pronounced aging effects. The cardiovascular system proved particularly vulnerable, with older participants experiencing increased strain on the left ventricle during heat stress. Animal studies referenced in the research also documented heat-related damage to the gut and brain.

Manual workers who spend their days outdoors showed biological aging approximately three times greater than the general population under similar heat exposure. Rural communities, where air conditioning access remains limited, experienced similar disparities.

The research team observed some adaptation over the 15-year study period—the aging impact decreased slightly as participants adjusted to heat exposure. But the harmful effects never disappeared entirely. “If heatwave exposure accumulates for several decades, the health impact will be much greater than we have reported,” Guo noted.

But all is not lost.

Scientists have already identified several interventions that might slow heat-related aging. Biomarkers linked to neuroinflammation and oxidative stress—including neuron-specific enolase or cortisol levels—responded within hours to days when people reduced heat exposure through cooling strategies.

If you want a less complex cheatsheet to preserve your youth, then water-based exercise proved particularly effective, keeping body temperature down while maintaining cardiovascular fitness. Adequate hydration, combined with external cooling methods like cool showers and shade-seeking, reduce internal heat load.

The timing also matters. Inflammatory markers like IL-6 and IL-10 adjusted within hours of cooling interventions. Kidney function indicators improved within days. But researchers cautioned that cumulative damage from years of heat exposure might prove harder to reverse.

So maybe you should reconsider Florida or Hawaii as retirement options. Alaska could be a healthier place.

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August 27, 2025 0 comments

Esports

New games industry body launches in India

by admin August 26, 2025

Nine India-based developers and publishers have formed the Indian Game Publishers and Developers Association (IGPDA).

Its aim is to foster “the creation of original made-in-India IP, bringing Indian stories into gaming, skill-building across the animation, visual effects, gaming and comics (AVGC) value chain, and enabling India to produce globally competitive AAA titles.”

The industry body has been structured to bring primary members (game developers, studios, publishers, and platforms) and partners (tools and tech providers, academia and training institutions, investors and “ecosystem enablers”) together to collaborate on game development.

The IGPDA’s founding members include:

Nazara Technologies
Gametion
nCore Games
Reliance Games
SuperGaming
Tara Gaming
Underdogs
Aeos Games
Dot9 Games

“The IGPDA will provide the platform that helps to unify the voice of the gaming industry and articulate its interests,” said nCore Games president Kaval Bombra.

“By advocating for our industry across the regulatory, investment, and operational landscape, we will ensure that India’s vibrant gaming sector continues to expand its presence responsibly and sustainably, both here and across the world.”

Tara Gaming co-founder and author Amish Tripathi added: “Video gaming is the biggest creative industry; it’s bigger than movies, books, music, and theatre combined – India gets very little of the pie.

“Much of our gaming industry presently is mobile-game-dominated, which has a large number of users but not enough revenue. The market is also dominated by Chinese games. But with our own games, based on our own culture, we could actually bring revenue to the country and also export our culture. IGPDA will supercharge this effort to make India a gaming superpower.”

The IGPDA has already proposed a state partnership with the Maharashtra government, in which it aims to “work with the [government] to make Mumbai the global games hub by attracting gaming companies to the state through policy support.”

“Our focus has been to drive strategic investments, foster global partnerships, and accelerate transformative infrastructure and technology initiatives in Maharashtra under the leadership of chief minister Devendra Fadnavis,” said Kaustubh Dhavse, chief advisor of Investments and Strategy to the chief minister of Maharashtra.

“We welcome this proactive initiative from the Indian games industry.”

The formation of the IGPDA comes after India’s Online Gaming Bill was passed as a proper legal act.

As IGN India reports, the bill will ensure that traditional video games and esports are separated from real money games, betting, and gambling apps and platforms.

The Online Gaming Bill “seeks to ban platforms that offer online betting, gambling, lottery, card games with money stakes, and fantasy sports with cash rewards.”

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August 26, 2025 0 comments