Medicinal and edible sleep aid pillow and preparation method of pillow core thereof

Abstract

This invention provides a medicinal and edible sleep aid pillow, relating to the field of medical technology, comprising a pillow core. The pillow core filling is composed of the following cleaned dried raw materials in parts by weight: 15 parts jujube seed, 10 parts cypress seed, 10 parts longan pulp, 15 parts lily bulb, 15 parts poria cocos, 7 parts chrysanthemum, 3 parts mint, and 5 parts dried tangerine peel. This invention solves the problem in existing sleep aid pillows where the filling typically uses a mixture of highly volatile aromatic materials, resulting in a strong and mixed odor that easily causes sensory stimulation, exacerbating irritability and difficulty falling asleep; it provides a softer, more pleasant scent.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of medical technology, and in particular to a sleep-aiding pillow made from medicinal and edible ingredients and a method for preparing its core. Background Technology

[0002] Sleep is a crucial element in maintaining normal physiological functions and physical and mental health. Affected by factors such as a fast pace of life, increased mental stress, and environmental interference, sleep disorders such as insomnia, difficulty falling asleep, shallow sleep, and frequent awakenings have become common health problems. Long-term sleep disorders can further trigger a chain reaction of fatigue, decreased attention, anxiety, and weakened immunity, seriously affecting people's quality of life and health.

[0003] Currently, it is common to use traditional Chinese medicine to fill pillow cores to make pillows have a sleep-aiding effect. For example, the Chinese patent application No. 202420861453.2 discloses a traditional Chinese medicine sleep-aid pillow, which discloses the specific structure and working principle of the sleep-aid pillow.

[0004] However, existing pillow fillings often use a large amount of buckwheat hulls, rice husks, mung beans, etc. as the base, mixed with a variety of ingredients such as chrysanthemum, lavender, cassia seed, patchouli, and litsea cubeba to form the pillow core. They only focus on clearing heat, dispersing fragrance, and calming the mind, while neglecting to nourish blood, calm the mind, and tonify the heart and spleen. They are difficult to improve insomnia, easy awakening, palpitations, and restless sleep caused by excessive thinking, insufficient qi and blood, and deficiency of both heart and spleen, and the applicable population is limited. For example, a health pillow core formula for sleep aid and neck protection disclosed in Chinese patent application number 202310090568.6 mixes highly volatile aromatic ingredients such as lavender, litsea cubeba, thyme, and patchouli, which easily creates a strong and mixed smell that is pungent and overpowering. It not only fails to soothe the nerves, but also easily causes sensory stimulation, aggravating irritability and difficulty falling asleep. Summary of the Invention

[0005] To address the aforementioned problems, this invention provides a sleep-aid pillow derived from both food and medicine, and a method for preparing its core, which can make the sleep-aid pillow have a mild scent.

[0006] To achieve the above objectives, the technical solution adopted by the present invention is as follows: The present invention provides a medicinal and edible sleep aid pillow, including a pillow core; the filling of the pillow core is composed of the following cleaned dried raw materials in parts by weight: 15 parts of jujube seed, 10 parts of cypress seed, 10 parts of longan pulp, 15 parts of lily bulb, 15 parts of poria cocos, 7 parts of chrysanthemum, 3 parts of mint, and 5 parts of dried tangerine peel.

[0007] This invention provides a method for preparing the pillow core of a medicinal and edible sleep-aiding pillow, comprising the following steps: S1: Select raw materials: jujube seed, cypress seed, longan pulp, lily bulb, poria cocos, chrysanthemum, mint, and dried tangerine peel. Remove moldy, insect-infested, odorous, impurities, and non-medicinal parts. Rinse with clean water to remove mud and surface dust, and drain. Test the raw materials for heavy metals and pesticide residues to meet GB2762 and GB2763 standards. S2: Grind the jujube seed, cypress seed, poria cocos and tangerine peel obtained in step S1 into powder, pass them through a 20-mesh sieve, and retain them through a 40-mesh sieve to control the particle size to 2 to 40 mesh; trim the longan pulp, lily bulb, chrysanthemum and mint into whole pieces or granules with a side length of 3 to 10 mm. S3: Weigh out each raw material after step S2 according to the weight proportions, place them in a mixing device and mix for 10 to 15 minutes until the raw materials are evenly distributed; S4: Spread the uniformly mixed raw material obtained in step S3 into a layer with a thickness of 1 to 3 cm, place it in a hot air circulating low temperature drying equipment, control the temperature to 40 to 50℃, dry it until the moisture content is ≤12%, and then sterilize it by irradiation with 60Co-y rays at a dose of 5kGy. After sterilization, the pathogenic bacteria should not be detected, and the total number of molds and yeasts should meet the relevant safety requirements for food contact fillers. S5: The sterilized raw materials obtained in step S4 are packed into a food-grade non-woven pillow core bag according to the preset filling amount, ensuring that the filling is uniform, without lumps or leakage, to obtain the pillow core; S6: Seal the pillow core obtained in step S5 and store it in a cool, dry place with an ambient temperature ≤25℃ and relative humidity ≤65%.

[0008] The method for preparing the pillow core of the medicinal and edible sleep aid pillow provided by the present invention preferably involves a drying temperature of 45°C and a material layer thickness of 2cm in step S4.

[0009] The above technical solution has the following advantages or beneficial effects: This invention provides a medicinal and edible sleep aid pillow, relating to the field of medical technology, comprising a pillow core. The pillow core filling is composed of the following cleaned dried raw materials in parts by weight: 15 parts jujube seed, 10 parts cypress seed, 10 parts longan pulp, 15 parts lily bulb, 15 parts poria cocos, 7 parts chrysanthemum, 3 parts mint, and 5 parts dried tangerine peel. This invention solves the problem that existing sleep aid pillows typically use a mixture of highly volatile aromatic materials, which easily results in a strong and mixed odor, easily causing sensory stimulation and exacerbating irritability and difficulty falling asleep; thus, the sleep aid pillow has a milder odor. Attached Figure Description

[0010] The invention, its features, shape, and advantages will become more apparent from the following detailed description of non-limiting embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings. Like reference numerals denote like parts throughout the drawings. The drawings are not intentionally drawn to scale; the focus is on illustrating the spirit of the invention.

[0011] Figure 1 This is a wireframe flowchart of the preparation method of the medicinal and edible sleep aid pillow provided in Embodiment 2 of the present invention. Detailed Implementation

[0012] The present invention will be further described below with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments, but these are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. Example 1:

[0013] The medicinal and edible sleep aid pillow provided in Embodiment 1 of the present invention includes a pillow core; the filling of the pillow core is composed of the following cleaned dried raw materials in parts by weight: 15 parts of jujube seed, 10 parts of cypress seed, 10 parts of longan pulp, 15 parts of lily bulb, 15 parts of poria cocos, 7 parts of chrysanthemum, 3 parts of mint, and 5 parts of dried tangerine peel.

[0014] Compared to existing technologies, which have complex formulas and dispersed effects, and often use highly volatile and strong aromatic raw materials such as lavender, litsea cubeba, thyme, patchouli, agarwood leaves, and alpinia galanga, the medicinal and edible sleep aid pillow provided in Example 1 of this invention uses only mild-smelling materials. Sour jujube seed (15 parts): sweet and sour in taste, neutral in nature, and enters the heart and liver meridians. Its core functions are to nourish the heart and calm the mind, reduce sweating and aid sleep. It is the principal ingredient in this formula, addressing insomnia due to deficiency and restlessness, difficulty falling asleep, and frequent awakenings.

[0015] Ten parts of cypress seed kernels, sweet in taste and neutral in nature, enter the heart, kidney, and large intestine meridians. They nourish the heart and calm the mind, moisten dryness and relieve spasms, and assist jujube seed kernels in enhancing their calming effect, improving palpitations, restlessness, and insomnia.

[0016] Ten portions of dried longan pulp, sweet in taste and warm in nature, enter the heart and spleen meridians. It nourishes the heart and spleen, replenishes blood and calms the mind, and improves insomnia, easy awakening, and palpitations caused by insufficient qi and blood; at the same time, its natural sweet fragrance harmonizes the medicinal taste, making the aroma mild and not pungent.

[0017] Lily bulbs (15 parts): sweet in taste, cold in nature, and enters the heart and lung meridians. They clear the mind and calm the nerves, nourish yin and moisten dryness, clear away irritability, anxiety, and internal heat, stabilize emotions, and help one fall asleep quickly.

[0018] Poria cocos (15 parts) has a sweet and bland taste, is neutral in nature, and enters the heart, spleen, and kidney meridians. It calms the mind and soothes the nerves, strengthens the spleen and removes dampness, stabilizes the mind and eliminates irritability, while also preventing the formula from being too rich and cloying and hindering digestion.

[0019] Chrysanthemum (7 parts), sweet and bitter in taste, slightly cold in nature, enters the lung and liver meridians. It clears heat and calms the liver, clears the head and eyes, relieves tension in the head, and makes inhalation refreshing and comfortable.

[0020] Three parts peppermint, pungent in flavor and cool in nature, enters the lung and liver meridians. It clears the head and eyes, and its aroma opens the orifices, giving it a fresh and clear scent, avoiding a stuffy or turbid fragrance, and enhancing olfactory comfort.

[0021] Five parts dried tangerine peel, pungent and bitter in taste, warm in nature, and enters the spleen and lung meridians. It regulates qi and strengthens the spleen, dries dampness and harmonizes the middle jiao, regulates qi stagnation and prevents the aroma from becoming stuffy, while also harmonizing the cold and cool properties, making the overall formula warm and cool in balance.

[0022] This formula uses jujube seed and cypress seed to nourish the heart and calm the mind as its core ingredients, combined with longan pulp and lily bulb to nourish blood and clear the heart. It is further supplemented with poria to calm the mind, chrysanthemum and mint to clear the head and eyes, and tangerine peel to regulate qi and harmonize, and longan pulp to soothe the mind and regulate qi. It achieves the following effects: nourishing the heart and calming the mind, nourishing blood and replenishing qi, clearing the mind and relieving irritability, balancing warmth and coolness, and having a mild aroma. It improves insomnia, dreaminess, easy awakening, irritability, and difficulty falling asleep from the root cause. Moreover, the aroma is light, soothing, non-irritating, and non-suffocating, making it suitable for long-term use. Example 2:

[0023] like Figure 1 As shown, a method for preparing a sleep-aiding pillow derived from both food and medicine is characterized by comprising the following steps: S1: Raw material selection: jujube seed, cypress seed, longan pulp, lily bulb, poria cocos, chrysanthemum, mint, and dried tangerine peel. Remove moldy, insect-infested, odorous, impurities, and non-medicinal parts. Rinse with clean water to remove mud and surface dust, then drain. Test the raw materials for heavy metals and pesticide residues to ensure they meet GB2762 and GB2763 standards. This step removes inferior parts and ineffective impurities from the raw materials, ensuring the pillow filling is pure, free of mold, odor, and foreign object irritation. This avoids respiratory discomfort, allergies, or hygiene and safety risks caused by inferior raw materials, ensuring safe use. Rinsing with clean water removes mud, dust, and residual dirt adhering to the surface of the raw materials, improving the cleanliness of the pillow filling and preventing leakage of mud and dust during use that could irritate the head, face, and respiratory tract. Draining also facilitates subsequent drying and sterilization. Testing the raw materials for heavy metals and pesticide residues controls the safety of the raw materials from the source, ensuring the pillow filling meets food contact safety standards. This avoids potential health hazards from long-term contact with heavy metals and pesticide residues, meeting the safety requirements for long-term, close-range, head and face contact use.

[0024] S2: Grind the jujube seed, cypress seed, poria cocos, and dried tangerine peel obtained in step S1 into powder, pass them through a 20-mesh sieve, and retain them through a 40-mesh sieve to control the particle size to 2 to 40 mesh; trim the longan pulp, lily bulb, chrysanthemum, and mint into whole flakes or granules with a side length of 3 to 10 mm; Grind the jujube seed, cypress seed, poria cocos, and dried tangerine peel into powder, and by controlling the particle size to 20 to 40 mesh, the cell walls of the raw materials can be moderately broken, so that the calming active ingredients can be released slowly and stably, improving the sleep-aiding effect, while avoiding leakage, dust, and coughing caused by excessively fine powder, and preventing the pillow core from becoming hard and pressing on the head due to excessively coarse particles, thus ensuring the comfort of use; Trimming the longan pulp, lily bulb, chrysanthemum, and mint retains their natural shape and structure, so that the volatile soothing aroma can be released for a long time, avoiding the rapid loss of aroma due to grinding, while maintaining the fluffiness of the pillow core, preventing clumping and compaction, and ensuring breathability and softness.

[0025] S3: Weigh each raw material from step S2 according to the weight proportions, place them in a mixing device and mix for 10 to 15 minutes until the raw materials are evenly distributed; ensure that raw materials of different particle sizes and forms are evenly dispersed, without agglomeration or segregation, and ensure that the scent, softness and sleep-aiding effect of the pillow core are balanced and uniform throughout.

[0026] S4: Spread the uniformly mixed raw materials obtained in step S3 into a 2cm thick layer, place it in a hot air circulating low-temperature drying device, control the temperature at 45℃, and dry until the moisture content is ≤12%. Then use 60Co-y Sterilization is achieved through 5kGy irradiation. Post-sterilization testing shows no detectable pathogens, and the total number of molds and yeasts meets the relevant safety requirements for food contact fillings. Low-temperature hot air circulation drying at 45℃ maximizes the retention of volatile calming and aromatic components in the jujube seed, longan pulp, chrysanthemum, and mint ingredients, preventing damage to active ingredients and aroma loss due to high temperatures. Uniform drying rapidly reduces the moisture content of the raw materials to ≤12%, preventing moisture absorption, mold, and clumping, thus extending the product's shelf life. A 5kGy dose of 60Co-γ irradiation kills molds, yeasts, and pathogens in the raw materials without damaging their efficacy and aroma, ensuring the pillow filling meets food contact safety requirements, eliminating hygiene and safety hazards, and guaranteeing safety for long-term contact with the head and face. This ensures no detectable pathogens and that microbiological indicators meet safety standards, achieving controllable and stable quality in the finished product, meeting the hygiene requirements for long-term storage and use.

[0027] S5: Fill the sterilized raw materials obtained in step S4 into a food-grade non-woven fabric pillow core bag according to the preset filling amount, ensuring that the filling is uniform, without lumps or leakage, to obtain the pillow core; using a food-grade non-woven fabric pillow core bag for filling has the characteristics of being breathable and fragrant, preventing powder leakage, and being skin-friendly and non-irritating. It can ensure that the calming aroma of the raw materials is released slowly and stably, while avoiding the leakage of powder or debris that irritates the respiratory tract and head and face, thus improving the safety and comfort of use; filling according to the preset filling amount and ensuring uniform filling, so that the overall softness and aroma distribution of the pillow core are consistent, avoiding local areas that are too hard or too soft or uneven in aroma, and ensuring a stable user experience.

[0028] S6: Seal the pillow core obtained in step S5 and store it in a cool, dry place with an ambient temperature ≤25℃ and relative humidity ≤65%. Storing it in a cool, dry environment with a temperature ≤25℃ and relative humidity ≤65% can inhibit the growth of microorganisms, slow down the oxidation and decomposition of the active ingredients in the raw materials, maximize the product's shelf life, and ensure that the product's safety, comfort, and sleep-aiding effects do not diminish during its shelf life.

[0029] In summary, the medicinal and edible sleep aid pillow provided by this invention relates to the field of medical technology and includes a pillow core. The filling of the pillow core is composed of the following cleaned dried raw materials in parts by weight: 15 parts of jujube seed, 10 parts of cypress seed, 10 parts of longan pulp, 15 parts of lily bulb, 15 parts of poria cocos, 7 parts of chrysanthemum, 3 parts of mint, and 5 parts of dried tangerine peel. The medicinal and edible sleep aid pillow provided by this invention solves the problem that the pillow cores of existing sleep aid pillows usually use a mixture of highly volatile aromatic materials, which easily results in a strong and mixed odor, easily causing sensory stimulation and aggravating irritability and difficulty falling asleep; it can make the scent of the sleep aid pillow milder.

[0030] The preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above. It should be understood that the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiments described above, and the devices and structures not described in detail should be understood as being implemented in a manner common to the art; any possible variations and modifications made by those skilled in the art without departing from the technical solution of the present invention, or equivalent embodiments with equivalent changes, do not affect the essential content of the present invention. Therefore, any simple modifications, equivalent changes, and modifications made to the above embodiments based on the technical essence of the present invention without departing from the content of the technical solution of the present invention still fall within the protection scope of the technical solution of the present invention.

Claims

1. A sleep-aiding pillow made from medicinal and edible ingredients, characterized in that, Includes a pillow core; the filling of the pillow core consists of the following parts by weight of cleaned, dried raw materials: 15 parts jujube seed, 10 parts cypress seed, 10 parts longan pulp, 15 parts lily bulb, 15 parts poria cocos, 7 parts chrysanthemum, 3 parts mint, and 5 parts dried tangerine peel.

2. A method for preparing a pillow core as described in claim 1, characterized in that, Including the following steps: S1: Select raw materials: jujube seed, cypress seed, longan pulp, lily bulb, poria cocos, chrysanthemum, mint, and dried tangerine peel. Remove moldy, insect-infested, odorous, impurities, and non-medicinal parts. Rinse with clean water to remove mud and surface dust, and drain. Test the raw materials for heavy metals and pesticide residues to meet GB2762 and GB2763 standards. S2: Grind the jujube seed, cypress seed, poria cocos and tangerine peel obtained in step S1 into powder, pass them through a 20-mesh sieve, and retain them through a 40-mesh sieve to control the particle size to 2 to 40 mesh; trim the longan pulp, lily bulb, chrysanthemum and mint into whole pieces or granules with a side length of 3 to 10 mm. S3: Weigh out each raw material after step S2 according to the weight proportions, place them in a mixing device and mix for 10 to 15 minutes until the raw materials are evenly distributed; S4: Spread the uniformly mixed raw material obtained in step S3 into a layer with a thickness of 1 to 3 cm, place it in a hot air circulating low temperature drying equipment, control the temperature to 40 to 50℃, dry it until the moisture content is ≤12%, and then sterilize it by irradiation with 60Co-y rays at a dose of 5kGy. After sterilization, the pathogenic bacteria should not be detected, and the total number of molds and yeasts should meet the relevant safety requirements for food contact fillers. S5: The sterilized raw materials obtained in step S4 are packed into a food-grade non-woven pillow core bag according to the preset filling amount, ensuring that the filling is uniform, without lumps or leakage, to obtain the pillow core; S6: Seal the pillow core obtained in step S5 and store it in a cool, dry place with an ambient temperature ≤25℃ and relative humidity ≤65%.

3. The method for preparing a pillow core as described in claim 2, characterized in that, In step S4, the drying temperature is 45℃ and the material layer thickness is 2cm.

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