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How to Choose a Right Pillow for Comfortable Sleep

The right pillow for you? Here’s how to choose

By Elice MaxPublished 2 years ago 8 min read
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It is an understood fact that to acquire a good and healthy lifestyle, you need to start with a decent amount of a good night’s sleep. And you can only be able to get good quality sleep when you have better sleeping conditions.

Keeping your comfort in mind, people tend to focus primarily on the mattresses they sleep on. The reason why a mattress typically gets a lot of attention is that they are a large part of your entire bed and really just the major investment you make for your sleep. However, it is really important to note that a pillow is equally or sometimes even more of an important element for decent sleep.

Some stores offer student discounts on pillows that are enrolled in college. Students get excited when it comes to shopping and finding out student discounts. They can get comfortable pillows at a reasonable price.

Why Pillows Matter

Most people do not realize how much of specific role pillows play in our sleep. They go beyond just giving you comfort. Took me a while to realize the crucial role of a pillow and the significant impact it has on the quality of when I take rest and my entire well-being.

Why pillows matter so much is because it provides the utmost support to my neck and my upper back when I need to rest after a long day. They just tend to provide a different kind of comfort than when I am resting without the support of one. I could get sleep without a pillow too but I’d end up waking up with a rather stiff back and neck. The reason why this could happen is that our spines are naturally curved and in order to keep them aligned, we need efficient support or it’ll just negatively affect our routine.

Even if I do own a pillow and it’s not supportive to my neck, back and shoulders, It is very likely for me to suffer from an angle that causes craning, twisting, or crunching. All of these factors can result in a strain or discomfort in my back and neck and of course, I’d pretty much have trouble sleeping often.

Things to Consider When Buying the Right Pillow

At the end of the day, a pillow’s major role is to support you and whatever sleeping position you opt for, the entire night. When I have my billow, I already know that it does not just have to be cozy and comfortable but also supports the natural curvature of my spine.

The factor of comfort can be really personal too. Because what I may find comfort in a pillow might not be comfortable for another. These variations widely depend upon an individual’s size of the body, their health conditions, and what sleeping positions make them sleep at ease. A pillow must be able to fulfill a person’s individual needs. But just very generally, if you lack support from your pillow, you are most likely to be uncomfortable in your sleep.

To better suit your sleeping schedule, this could just be your pillow buying guide.

Following are some of the main things to consider when I buy my pillow that you could too:

Sleeping Position

The positions you mostly sleep in decide a lot about the sort of pillow you require. If I am used to sleeping on the side, I would be requiring a somewhat different type of support than someone who is used to sleeping on their back. You could be advised to sleep on your back by your physiologist if you have a medical condition and so, you would be needing a pillow to make it easier and more comfortable for you to sleep on your back too.

  • If you are a back sleeper

This means your neck and head do not require much support. Therefore, you may need to get yourself a low or even a medium-density pillow also known as a contour pillow that keeps your body in alignment while also supporting your neck.

  • If you are a side sleeper

This means your neck and head do require a lot of support so that they can stay in alignment with your entire body. Because if a pillow is not able to grant your head and neck the support they need, it can result in shoulder pain. Therefore, you may need to get a medium-density pillow so that it supports your neck and takes off the most burden on your shoulders without having to overextend your neck when sleeping sideways.

  • If you are a stomach sleeper

In this position, you need to keep your neck from being overextended sideways as you are laying on your stomach with your head turned sideways. In this case, you may have to go for a low density and preferably a softer pillow because they will take the burden off of your neck and keep your body well aligned.

Pillow Sizes

Another major thing to consider when getting a pillow is how the size of it will greatly impact the quality of your nap. When I buy my pillow I know that I need it for my support and comfort but I also make sure I find my pillow to complement the size of the bed I sleep on. So not only does it look good, it sure does provide enough support no matter how much I may have to move in my sleep.

3 common sizes of pillows are:

  1. King ( 20 inches by 36 inches)
  2. Queen (20 inches by 30 inches)
  3. Standard (20 inches by 26 inches)

The thickness and thinness of your pillow also come when you are selecting a size of a pillow for yourself. Some pillows are also made in ‘specialty shapes’. These certain pillows are to offer an additional amount of support to your neck and head.

Cervical and contour pillows can increasingly help people with back pains and contour pillows alone can also provide relief for some of the pressure points in an individual’s body.

The Filling in Your Pillow

When I buy my pillows I make sure I notice what different fillings are in different pillows and exactly which type I require. Pillow fillings make a great difference in how a pillow will hold up and in what shape it will stay in after a certain amount of time has passed. How my head, neck, and back are supported is also based on the pillow fillings and the kind of comfort it gives me.

Following are the types of pillow fillings used in pillows:

  • Memory foam

Molds, according to the body, offer customer support to relieve pressure. Mostly beneficial for side sleepers. This type of foam was invented, and created by NASA.

  • Down

Made up of soft and fine feathers of ducks. They are very luxurious and very comfortable as they benefit your head and neck to sink in the pillow. They are not very costly. Though they are one of the best pillow fillings, some people can be found to be allergic to down.

  • Wool

These pillow fillings are found to be hypo-allergenic and are naturally kept away from mold occurrence and dust mites. These fillings can regulate your body temperature while you are sleeping e.g. keeping you warm during the winter season and cool during the summer season. This is major because wool takes away the moisture from your head and neck.

  • Feathers

Made up from birds’ feathers. Mostly very soft and remain blush for a very long time. Do not wear out as often.

  • Polyester

Is most common and cost-friendly. They are lush, soft and at the same time hold up their shape longer than the cotton pillow fillings. However, they turn lumpy and start lacking support with time and have to be replaced quite often.

  • Cotton

Are breathable fillings and can be taken care of very easily however, they wear out early as the cotton filling inside tends to flatten after a certain time which is very soon. Requires to be replaced often.

  • Latex

Firmer than down pillow fillings. Provide utmost comfort and keep their shape for a long time. They are not easily squashed into positions you want them to but they are resistant to mold and dust mites. Offer a lot of support to your head and neck.

All of the aforementioned types of fillings provide a different kind of support and comfort that you can choose from.

The Firmness of Your Pillow

Which can vary from being:

  1. Soft
  2. Medium – soft
  3. Firm
  4. Very firm

Availing Online Coupons and Discount Codes can Help Save Money

I know I require my pillow to be soft, plush, and super comfortable but at the same time, they can be quite expensive. Pillows have to be replaced sooner or later so I’ve sometimes felt the need to consider how and where I can buy my pillows cheap. Choosing where to get my pillows from has been quite a task for me so I figured out the concept of online coupons and discount codes.

This procedure lets me buy the same pillows but at a lesser/ discounted price when I apply the codes and automatically helps me save my money.

Coupons and discount codes are used to urge customers into buying a new product, in this case, a pillow that is more profitable. Coupon marketing is a promotional way used by a business to boost customer loyalty as they seem like rewards so they can have you keep on buying from their store. So never feel hesitant when you have to use discount codes or avail an online coupon.

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About the Creator

Elice Max

I am a blogger who writes on emerging trends, pop culture and lifestyle. One of my key areas of interest is money-saving, and leading a frugal life. Hypocritically, I do enjoy Broadway once in a while.

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