Sleep is essential for our health and the overall quality of our life. However, one of the most prominent impacts is that of our pillow. Its size, shape, material, as well as our sleeping position, have so much effect on the quality of our night’s rest. Even though the quantity may be just right, we can still feel really tired in the morning, barely able and very unwilling to get out of bed. Your pillow actually may have a lot to do with it, so here are a few things you should pay attention to.
Other Factors Affecting Your Sleep Quality
Before you start going around blaming your pillow for your poor sleep quality, remember that there are so many factors that affect the quality of our slumber.
They range from the obvious ones such as your bedroom, bed,the quality of your mattress, to those not so easily traceable such as your diet and overall health.
How to Tell If You Need a New Pillow
One of the signs you need a new pillow is constant readjusting and changing the position while you sleep. This means you’re not comfortable so your body keeps trying to find a better spot. It is often caused by an inadequate pillow, either too hard or too soft. In either case, it doesn’t provide proper support to your body.
Neck pain is another signal it’s time for a new pillow, as it clearly indicates your body is not in a proper position during sleep. It can be either due to the inappropriate softness or thickness of the pillow, but can also be caused by the age of the pillow.So, if you’ve had your pillow for more than five years, it is definitely time to change it, since this is the estimated period after which it loses its efficacy and no longer provides adequate support for your body.
Another unmistakable indicator that it’s high time you replaced your pillow is change in color. Namely, if you notice the color of your pillow has gone from white to yellow, it is no longer suitable for usage. This happens due to the dust mites and dead skin cell which settle in it. We shed dead skin which accumulates over time. To be precise, we shed around 10.000 cells of dead skin which serve as food to the mites living in the mattress or pillow fibers, unless you use a hypoallergenic variety of both.
How to Tell What Pillow Is Right For You
As already mentioned, there is a number of factors that define a good, or more importantly, an adequate pillow. A lot actually depends on your sleeping position. A majority of people are side sleepers, (which is the recommended position), and they’ll prefer thicker pillows. Back sleepers will rather opt for low loft pillows, just like those who sleep on their stomach.
If you have chronic pains or aches, this can also affect your choice of pillow, depending on the part of your body that hurts.
The material out which the pillow is made also has a major impact. Regardless of the condition of your health and quality of your sleep, it is always recommended to look for pillows made of natural materials.
Of course, if the pillow is too high or too stiff, it is likely to cause you problems with neck and upper spine. It can also make breathing more difficult as it pushes your head forward, thus restricting the airway.
Picking the right pillow is almost as important as picking a suitable mattress for the overall quality of your sleep, as well as for your health.
