A Good Organic Pillow Can Help You Get A Good Night’s Sleep

Mattresses tend to get all the credit (and admittedly, all the bad press) when it comes to getting a good night of sleep. However, the type and quantity of pillows that you have also plays a major role. A good pillow can help you get a good night’s sleep even if your mattress is only so-so. In order to enjoy a restful night of sleep, you need your spine to remain aligned all the way from your neck to your pelvis.

A good mattress and pillow work together - in conjunction with your sleeping position, of course - to achieve this perfect alignment. If you do not have the right pillow, your spine can become misaligned and you will wake up feeling achy and sore the next morning. So how many pillows should you sleep with? The answer is highly individualized, but in most cases, you really only need one. But there are some exceptions, of course, and some other considerations that you will need to take into account. Here’s what you need to know. 

Are You Frequently Experiencing Neck or Back Pain?

If you are reading this article, your answer to the question above is likely a resounding, “yes!” And if that’s the case, you have come to the right place for more information. If you have neck and back pain, whether it is when you first wake up in the morning or all throughout the day, there is a good chance that you are sleeping in a position that is too awkward for your body and sleeping style. You need to select a pillow that is the ideal height for your spine and neck. There are thousands of pillows on the market, though, so this can be a tough shopping decision to make. Below, we will give you some more information on what kind of pillows are best for back, spine, and neck support - regardless of the position in which you choose to sleep.

Before you continue reading, ask yourself when the last time was that you replaced your pillows. Replacing your pillows is not just about hygiene, but that is an important factor. Besides odor, the buildup of hair, skin, and body oil on your pillow can lead to the accumulation of dust mites. If you have allergies, you will need to replace your pillows more often than anybody else. In addition, it is time to replace your pillow if you notice that you are waking up with aches and pains in your neck and shoulders. You may also wake up tired or with serious headaches. You may wake up sneezing from dust mites, or you might notice stains on the pillow from baby oil and sweat. Sometimes, visible lumps are apparent, too.

Finally, if you constantly feel the need to fluff your pillows - or if you find that your pillows stay folded in half when you fold them instead of fluffing back out - it is time to go shopping. Most pillows last about three years or so, but some only last six months. This depends on the material out of which your pillow is made as well as its overall construction. In general, feather, latex, and memory foam pillows tend to last much longer than pillows made out of polyester, down alternative, or feathers.

The Right Pillow

Usually, the job of a pillow is to support your neck and align your spine and neck bones. Therefore, it makes sense that one pillow usually is more beneficial than multiple. If you always feel the need to slide a second or even third pillow in there, there is a good chance that the pillow you have selected is not the best for your unique position and body type. It’s important that you take the time to find the right pillow. A poor sleep posture can lead to a whole host of health problems, including headaches, fatigue, and of course, the aforementioned neck and back pain. There are several factors that come into play when you start talking about how to align your body and keep it neutrally aligned when you sleep. This list includes mattress type, general health, and more, but one of the biggest influencers is in how many - and what type - of pillows you have.

A pillow that is elevated too high or too low can cause your neck to bend away from its neutral alignment, leading to inflammation, stiffness, and severe aches and pains. There are many types of pillows you can choose from. From memory foam pillows that mold to the back of your head and provide reliable support to adjustable pillows that let you add or remove filling until you reach the desired thickness, there are plenty of options for you. In the pillow industry, the height of your pillows is referred to as pillow loft. Pillow loft can be separated into one of three categories. A low loft is considered to be three inches or less, while a medium loft is three to five inches high. A high loft is more than five inches. Depending on your anatomy and sleeping position, different lofts are recommended. Your body type can dramatically influence which kind of loft you naturally prefer. For instance, individuals with wide shoulders or bigger heads generally like higher lofts, as they provide additional comfort. Those with narrow shoulders or smaller heads do better with lower lofts.

So how do you choose the right pillows? Consider this information.

Side Sleepers

As a side sleeper, you should usually have two pillows - but you aren’t going to stick them beneath your head like you might expect. Instead, you will want to put a second pillow between your legs. By placing a pillow between your knees, you will prevent your top leg from rotating and stretching your spine out of its alignment. This can also relieve the stress that the sleeping position puts on your hips and lower back.

If you are a side sleeper, a higher loft is recommended than with any other type of sleeping position. A memory foam pillow is a great way to achieve this high loft without sacrificing comfort. Your pillow height or thickness should match the length as measured from your neck to the end of your shoulder.

Back Sleepers

Back sleepers may find that a thin pillow beneath the knees can help reduce the air gap between the surface of the mattress and the small of the back. The knee pillow pulls up the knees, elevating them ever so slightly, which encourages the lower back to slide deeper into the mattress. For the head, a back sleeper generally requires a thinner pillow. Ti only needs to be thick enough to allow the neck to remain aligned with the spine during sleep. A pillow that is a low to medium loft will be the best, particularly those that already have divots built in for the head. These will give you additional height beneath your neck with a dipped-in area for your head.

Stomach Sleepers

Sleeping on your stomach is not recommended by sleep specialists. However, if this is the only way that you can either fall or stay asleep (or both), then you should sleep in this position. You just need to make sure your pillows meet your needs. Stomach sleepers should use one thin pillow because you will want your back and neck to be as little angled as possible. The thinner the pillow, the better - you can even go sans pillow if you so choose.

As a stomach sleeper, you will want to go for a thin, low-loft pillow. This pillow will help you keep your spine straight and aligned. Just as with back sleepers, you can also choose a pillow with a divot for your head - except that should be one that will enable you to sleep facing down to ensure the best possible spinal alignment while also allowing you to breathe.

When One Pillow Isn’t Enough

There are some situations in which it’s worth sleeping with a double stack of pillows. For instance, if you’re a side sleeper, you will want to keep one pillow beneath your head and one between your knees, as we mentioned. Similarly, back sleepers may feel the most comfortable with a pillow positioned between their knees. As a stomach sleeper, you will have a more difficult time achieving a neutral neck and spine alignment. Therefore, you may want to add a full-body pillow that can allow you to create additional room for airflow and good breathing patterns. If you are a pregnant woman, you may also want to reconsider the way you sleep. Most pregnant women are urged to use body pillows while they sleep since they are dealing with a wide variety of uncomfortable and unique pains and aches. In addition, pregnant women are encouraged to sleep on their side to ensure good blood flow and optimal fetal health. A good body pillow will help you stay aligned on your side, while other pillows propped beneath your knees, below your stomach, and even behind the back will give you the best possible support.

Another exception to the one pillow rule is for people who suffer from chronic back pain. If that sounds like you, you might be able to get some relief by sleeping our side and placing thin, dedicate pillows either against your ribs or beneath your ribs. If you are one of those people who thinks that they can layer multiple thin pillows to get the same effect as one denser pillow, that sadly is not the case. This assumption is made with good intentions, though  -after all, if you have a stack of pillows that reaches the same eventual height as one thicker pillow, you’ll get the same level of support, right? Wrong. Your head pillows are not intended to be layered on top of one another, and their design is such that fillers can easily shift and move place while you are asleep. Also, a whole pillow can slide off to the side, negating your efforts in the first place.

When in doubt, stick to a single good pillow - and skip the doubling up.

Pillow-Less Sleepers

You may have noticed that there’s one option that we haven’t discussed yet in this article - what about if you prefer to use no pillows at all? There is, in fact, a good argument for pillow-less sleepers. Do we actually need to use pillows when we sleep? If you think about our biology and evolution as a species, there is a good case for doing away with pillows entirely. After all, when you walk around during the day, your head and neck remain in vertical alignment, coming together at the top of your spine. When you lay your body flat on a bed, you will theoretically be the most aligned without a pillow.

There are lots of other reasons, many related to our health, to forego a pillow altogether. For instance, ditching pillows can reduce acne and also help to relieve allergies or other issues caused by the dust, dirt, and other impurities found on a pillowcase. It can also help reduce the appearance and presence of wrinkles. That being said, most people are simply just not ready to give up on the pillows quite yet  - and we can’t blame them! If you’re looking for answers about how many pillows you should sleep with, the general consensus is that one pillow is plenty.

Get Quality Sleep On Your Next Organic Mattress With The Right Amount Of Pillows

Not sure what kind of organic pillow is right for you? Consider shopping around various manufacturers. Some offer a free trial period in which you can test a pillow out before deciding whether it’s the right choice for you. If you can’t decide which way to go, this can be a good option - and one that can help you save some stress and some money, too. If you have been piling two, three, or even four pillows beneath your head, it might be time to rethink your stacking - especially if you have noticed some health problems as a result.

Shana Thompson is a full time professional writer and editor. Shana has worked extensively in the fields of content marketing, on-page and off-page SEO (guest posts, backlink acquisition), and creative writing. As an experienced pro content writer, Shana has worked on several magazines, publishing companies and marketing agencies. Many recent projects have included everything from nutrition and health services, where a lot of research and citations were needed, to writing about health, sustainable, eco-friendly products.

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