Richard Margison, the famous Canadian tenor recently commented on the CBC program "This Is My Music" that from long experience on the road he understands the value of a good pillow. He pointed out that he used to go from hotel to hotel and have to try out up to a dozen different pillows so that he could find one that was comfortable. He finally learned his lesson. He found a good pillow, bought it and now brings it on the road with him. As he said, "It's hard to sing with a stiff neck."

Your livelihood may not rely on your getting restful and pain-free sleep. However, I invite you to consider that your ability to do your job, play with your children or just enjoy life is negatively impacted when your neck or back is stiff or in pain. Then consider the long-term implications of inflicting that same poor sleeping posture on your neck and back night after night for 20 years.

I saw this myself first-hand while my family and I were away at my parent's weekend retreat. I slept well but being used to sleeping with a supportive Sissel pillow at home I was dismayed to wake up with a sore back and neck. According to one study 90% of all back pain is self-imposed -- as my own case illustrates. The good news about this is that most of the time, whether we experience back pain or not is within our control.

One of the simplest ways that I know to positively impact neck and back pain is through the use of a good mattress and pillow. We spend more than 20% of our lives horizontal in bed. Our posture while we are sleeping, as my weekend trip illustrates, impacts how we feel when we wake up. A high-quality mattress and pillow are investments in our health and pay dividends for years in the form of restful, healthy and pain-free sleep and set you up for a great day.

At home my wife sleeps on a Sissel Plus. Naturally, I also sleep on a Sissel pillow and, having learned my lesson from my weekend trip, will be adding Sissel's Travel pillow to my packing list as one of my key travel pillow accessories for future trips.

You may not have room in your luggage to take a full-sized pillow like Richard Margison but the Sissel Travel pillow is made to provide support while taking up less room. The compact design allows this roll up travel pillow to fold in on itself (and can be used as a neck roll when you're traveling or at home) so that it takes up less room in your luggage. Read more about the Sissel Travel Pillow here.