Before last November, I never gave a second thought to the pillows I slept on every single night. The ones I have are not new. They’ve moved with me from my childhood home to my college dorm to my first apartment and beyond. I never contemplated their importance, and whether or not I needed a new one. They were merely something I slept on every night.

That was, until last fall. I picked up my bib for the New York City Marathon (my first) and was gifted a Bedgear Performance pillow. An odd gift, but as someone who is around gear all day long, I was pretty excited to try something new. The Dawn 1.0 Performance Pillow is for stomach sleepers or small body types, and after sleeping on it for roughly 175 nights, my life has changed. It’s the pillow I choose every night. If I could carry it on planes with me and in hotels without looking like a crazy person, I’d do it.

As someone who overheats, and can’t sleep in the heat, the climate control fabric is clutch. It’s the right amount of soft and firm. I used to double up on pillows, but now I’m sleeping on just this one. Since my stomach is where I end up often, I appreciate that this pillow doesn’t try and change me. It lets me, be me.

After just one month of sleeping on it, I was obsessed with it. So naturally, I went out and bought Bedgear pillows for my entire family for Christmas — a back sleeper for my dad, a stomach sleeper for my mom and an Align 1.0 for my brother. While I can’t fact check it, I won our family competition of best gifter. No one ever thinks to ask for a pillow, but that’s because they don’t realize that they need a better one.