Is Your Pillow Helping or Hurting Your Sleep

Apart from having a roof over your head, clothes to wear and being on a healthy diet is not enough as sleep is also an important part and contributes a lot to your overall health. For instance, it helps keep you alert and focused during the day; it helps relax your brains thus being grumpy and easily irritable becomes a thing of the past. Research says that if a person stays for seven days straight without sleep, you may die, that’s just how essential sleep is. However, getting to sleep is not a big deal, but the question is how comfortable are you and how does it leave your body feeling. For instance, if you keep waking up with neck and back pains, that is enough evidence that your sleep is not comfortable. There are many things which contribute to good sleep such as the pillow. But it is not always all of them, that is why we have put together a list of factors which will help you determine, is your pillow helping or hurting your sleep.

Signs you are using the wrong pillow

If you keep on readjusting your sleeping positions

Apart from waking up with a stiff neck, constant toss and turns during your sleep are a good indicator that you are not using the right pillow. There are several reasons behind the continuous readjustments one being that the pillow is too hard hence hurting your neck and causing you to keep on tossing, or it is either too soft thus not offering sufficient support.

Physical signs to look at

Lumps

To know whether your pillow is the culprit for the back pains, check out whether it contains lumps in the morning. Set it on a flat surface in the morning to assess it. If it has lumps, then it means one side of it is flat, and the other one is raised thus your back and neck are not aligned in a proper position, and additionally, it is not giving you enough stability. Therefore, if you want to know if your pillow is hurting you or helping you sleep check this aspect out as it is often the most visible sign.

Conduct the fold test

When you fold a good pillow, it will slowly return to its original size while a bad one will even adopt the shape of how you folded it. For instance, a pillow filled with natural materials is fluff and firm enough which is why it cannot stay in the fold position for long. That is proof enough that will align and support your neck properly all through the night. In short, if your pillow passes the fold test then it will help your sleep, and any form of pain will be a thing of the past.

It has bad odor

In addition to neck and back pain, other factors which may hurt your sleep include bad odor. A smelling pillow may cause you a restless night as the air coming from it is not fresh. Additionally, it comes with some health hazards such as migraines, asthma and even breathing problems. Stay away from a smelly pillow as it will affect your sleep and even leave you with breathing problems.

Material

The stuffing material for a pillow plays a significant role in determining whether you will have a good night sleep or you’ll wake up feeling as if you had tones of rocks placed on you. Per http://bestpillow.reviews, below are some of the different filler materials and their effect on your siesta.

– Stay away from feather pillows

Most feather pillows are affordable and lightweight which make them suitable for your car or when you are studying in your living room but keep away from the bedroom if at all you want to get to enjoy your sleep. They are not firm and fluffy enough to offer you support through the night. Therefore, if you have a pillow which has feather as filler materials then keep away.

– It contains buckwheat

One way to know if your pillow is the reason why you wake up with back pains is if it has buckwheat. Yes, a pillow which contains buckwheat filler materials comes in handy if you are looking for warmth. Reason being lots of air circulates in between which gives you warmth. However, they are more likely to give you an aching neck in the morning as they filler tends to move and make noise which means that the support is not stable.

What to opt for

– Latex and memory foam

If your pillow has latex, poly or memory foam as a filler material, then you’re most probably getting some good slumber. They are firm and adapt to your weight thus they will elevate your neck position placing your neck and back in an aligned position. So in the morning, it’s granted that you will wake up fit and ready to face the day.

Samantha

Samantha hails from Virginia and is a proud wife to a retired Deputy Sheriff and mother to two amazing little boys named Jack & William. A veteran product reviewer; Samantha has been reviewing products for 8 years and offers high quality product reviews with original photography.