Now, a device to stop snoring and save marital relationships

Given that snoring is rated in some countries as the topmost medical cause for break-ups, a dream remedy to stop rasping nocturnal disturbances and save countless relationships is needed. Nose clips and strips, aromatic balms and even tennis balls sowed into nightwear to prevent habitual offenders from sleeping on their backs, produce only sporadic success as snore stoppers. (Non) sleeping partners would vouch that there is nothing quite as effective as periodic well-aimed pokes to get snorers to shut up or turn over. But if a recently launched “smart” pillow can give snorers that adroit poke as soon as they begin their unmistakable insufflations, it could be the most sensible answer yet to the prayers of insomniac companions of chronically noisy slumberers.

Clearly, the invention benefits snorers, as they would be subjected to only evenly administered nudges instead of progressively stronger shoves by their increasingly exasperated and probably non-snoring co-habitors. However, even better is the prospect of the device bolstering the chances of snore victims — or should they be called survivors? — experiencing REM sleep again by outsourcing their ceaseless and thankless task of jabbing recalcitrant rumblers into silence to an automated device that calibrates prods to the cadence of the snorers’ sonic vibrations.