Getting a good night’s sleep is always important, but if you’re like me, it feels even more so this time of year, when the nights are cold and long. (Full confession — most winter nights I put on my pajamas even before dinner.)

Of course, a good night’s sleep begins and ends with having the right foundation, and that includes your pillow. In our house, finding the perfect pillow has been a decades-long search to no avail. My husband has tried dozens of brands, and I have a closet full of pillow rejects to prove it. That ended this Christmas when I gave him a Bedgear Performance Pillow — Storm 2.0 from Union Furniture & Flooring. He has slept with it for going on three weeks now, and he says it a winner. (Finally!) Here’s why:

1.     It’s cool. Literally. The Storm is cooling pillow, made with an instant cooling Ver-Tex® fabric cover and Air-X® airflow technology. This means “it helps reduce overheating throughout the night.” My husband is someone who regularly flips his pillow throughout the night. He doesn’t have to do that with the Storm, he said.

2.     It’s both soft and firm. The Storm features dual-sided comfort — it’s soft on one side and firmer on the other. When the pillow name is facing up right, it is the firmer side. When the pillow name is facing upside down, that is the softer side.

3.     It fits. We carry the Storm in two sizes (or thicknesses) — 1.0 and 2.0 ­— to ensure you get the correct pillow height to provide proper spinal alignment. Your ideal pillow size is based on your body size and sleep tendencies (side, back or stomach sleeper). Bedgear has an online quiz you can take to determine the best pillow size for you, or you can refer to a chart on the back of the box. My husband is a 2.0, and, according to the quiz, I’m a 1.0. While it might not seem like size should matter that much, it does. When I borrowed his 2.0 one night, I hated it. It was too big; my head was propped up too much, and I knew right away it would cause pain if I slept on it all night.

There are a few other details about the Storm that I love. First, it just feels good to touch. The exterior fabric has a silkiness to it without being slick or slippery. The bonus is that the cover is removable (and washable!), hypoallergenic and antimicrobial. Second, the pillow feels substantial. It has a nice weight to it without being heavy.

The Storm is Bedgear’s best-selling, fan favorite cooling pillow, but the company does offer several other design options. At Union Furniture & Flooring, we also carry Bedgear’s Balance pillows, which are firmer than the Storm and designed more for neutral and ambient sleepers. The Balance features a Dri-Tec moisture wicking cover engineered to keep you dry throughout the night, while reducing sweat and heat buildup and breathable mesh panels allowing airflow so your body can regulate its ideal temperature. Like the Storm, the Balance comes in four sizes so you can find one that fits you.

If you’re in the market for a new pillow, we invite you to come to the store to give the Storm and the Balance a test run. Take a quick nap with one of the display pillows (using a disposable cover) in our mattress department and see if this design is right for you. Or if you already own a Bedgear Performance Pillow, let us know what you think of it. We love to share real-world feedback with other prospective pillow shoppers.