Your Sleeping Profile: Choosing the Correct Pillow
Have you ever woken up so tired that you couldn’t even imagine being productive? We’ve all been there and we all know that there’s nothing better than starting your day after getting the perfect night’s sleep. Lucky for us, choosing the correct pillow can ensure a great night’s sleep time after time and eLuxury is here to help!
"Pillows can not only impact the quality of our sleep, but also how healthfully we rest and recharge," says sleep expert Michael Breus, PhD, a clinical psychologist and author of Beauty Sleep: Look Younger, Lose Weight, and Feel Great Through Better Sleep. However, choosing the incorrect pillow may lead to worsened headaches, arm/shoulder numbness, neck pain, and other crippling body discomforts.
"A bad pillow won't be the cause of any of these problems, but using the incorrect pillow can certainly exacerbate many of the underlying problems linked to these symptoms, and it certainly can keep you from getting a good night's rest," says Hecht, the co-chief of spine surgery at Mt. Sinai Medical Center in New York. When is time to replace your pillow? Experts typically state that a good rule of thumb is to replace a pillow every 12 to 18 months.
If your pillow is older than two years it definitely needs to go ASAP! So we’ve learned a little bit about pillows and we’ve decided that your current pillow is falling short and must go immediately. But how can you ensure that your next pillow is the correct pillow? The first step is to consider your typical sleeping position and to purchase a pillow that contours to that particular sleeping style.
A majority of sleepers fall into at least one of the three following sleeping profiles: the back sleeper, the side sleeper, and the stomach sleeper. But what are the pillow needs of these sleepers? "The goal of using a pillow is to help keep your head in what is called a 'neutral alignment,' meaning your head is sitting squarely on your shoulders without bending back too far or reaching too far forward," says Kammi Bernard, PT, a physical therapist at the Baylor Health Care System in Dallas.
The Back Sleeper
The average back sleeper needs a thinner pillow so that the neck is properly support, but not forced too far forward. In addition it is good for one to look at a pillow with a bit of extra loft in the bottom third of the pillow to cradle the neck.
The Side Sleeper
Side sleepers typically require a firm pillow that can adequately fill the void between the ear and the outside of the shoulder so that the head is in “neutral alignment”. We recommend our 50/50 Goose Down blend pillow.