But not my husband. The princess who could not sleep on a pea had nothing on my husband. For years I snoozed through the drama. But recently neck and back twinges have begun to surge through my husband like electrical currents and have prompted him to jump out of bed, switch on the light and hop around. Even I can't sleep through that. I'm not the first spouse to stumble blearily toward the computer at 2 a.m. Maybe we needed better pillows. Ours, old and flat and musty, provided about as much neck support as a saltine. Could the pillows be sabotaging my husband's sleep? Dr. Clete A. Kushida, director of the Stanford University Center for Human Sleep Research. But which pillow? There are no official standards for pillows and no research to prove that one type is better than another. Depending on who you are, that might mean llbean.com's goose down damask pillow (in sizes from standard to king and in fills ranging from soft to firm, $49 to $99).

Or Overstock.com's Circle of Down pillow ($29.99). Or Livingincomfort.com's hypoallergenic pillow ($17.88). I needed guidance. "How can I tell if my husband is a Thermo-Sensitive type or a Circle of Down man?" I asked Dr. James Maas, a professor and sleep researcher at Cornell University. Professor Maas said that pillow issues affect a great number of Americans. Professor Maas recommended that my husband cut back on his caffeine intake and that we create a bedroom that was cool, dark and comfortable (which I figured was a nice way of saying our 95-pound dog should get off the bed). As for Derila Contour Pillow Sleep Aid pillows, the difference comes down to down versus synthetic fill, Professor Maas said. A good pillow of either stuff should last up to 10 years, he said. You can test your pillow to find out if it's past its prime. Professor Maas said he liked the quality of pillows manufactured by United Feather and Down, an Illinois company whose products, both down and synthetic, sell under various private labels.

Becky McMorrow, United Feather and Down's marketing manager. No matter where you shop, expect to pay from $29 to $59 for a good synthetic Top-Rated Memory Pillow and from $59 to $129 for a goose down pillow with a minimum of 550 fill power, Ms. McMorrow said. After ascertaining a few facts about my husband - mostly sleeps on his side, switches back and forth between a flat pillow and a fluffier one as the night progresses - Ms. McMorrow mailed me four models to test. I did not feel it necessary to mention the experiment to him