You’ll Need Two Alarm Clocks When Sleeping On The Right Pillows

By the end of this article you’ll understand how to avoid the neck pain and headaches that are keeping you up all night and how to get amazing sleeps

I used to drink a lot of coffee. Everyone in an office of seven would get a round of them in each hour throughout the working day. I was so tired and needed the pick up just to get on with my tasks.

That takes a toll on a body, in fact, my heart hurts just thinking about it.

You end up getting so caffeinated you turn into the very zombie you swore to never become.

I knew why I was feeling so sleepy and it was entirely down to my inadequate pillow. It took me far too long to realise though.

It’s the intimate relationship you have with your pillow. It sees you in your ugliest states, you grow attached to how comfortable you’ve both become around each other and you don’t know if you can survive without it.

I’m here to tell you that if you’re thinking of cheating on your pillow then it’s not meant to be.

Common Traps

Signs you should break up:

• The pillow’s too thin and you get headaches from lying on your hands
• The pillow’s too think and you get neck ache

If you’re like me then you’re someone who enjoys a slightly thinner pillow. A Pillow Lite, if you will.

The trouble is not realising when you’ve gone past the point of no return. After spending years laying on the same cloth bag filled with feathers, the pancake is inevitable.

During the period of coffee over-consumption, I was sleeping on one that was much too thin and each night I’d be able to feel my knuckles on the underside.

You end up getting heaches from the pressure. That gets sore and when you’re sore you don’t sleep.

When you don’t sleep, you get irritable and drink coffee.

The opposite end of the spectrum is someone buying a pillow which is too thick for them.

Sleeping on a pillow that’s harder than you appreciate, qucikly leads to neck strain and extreme tiredness.

You guessed it, coffee gets guzzled by the gallon.

I’m a lover, not a fight. I don’t like seeing people in pain. Let me show you what to look out for so you can avoid

How do you sleep?

How you sleep is a great indicator of the type of pillow that’ll suit you best.

The best pillows for the back sleeper

If you sleep on your back then I hate to break it to you but you definitely snore. Alas, that’s for someone else to have a conversation with you about.

When sleeping on your back, you need a pillow of medium firmness which allows your neck to align a natural way.

The best pillows for the side sleeper

These are the people who can handle the firmest of the firm pillows.

Your shoulders and arms prop you up and give you a bit of leverage so you don’t lie with you neck at a 90 degree angle.

I’m not sure how you do it though, maybe I just have weak shoulders. I’m not one of the chosen few.

The best pillows for the stomach sleeper

This, however, is me. Hello. Now you know the real me, I feel like we’ve bonded.

I sleep on my front and if you do too, it’s important to aim for a thinner or softer pillow. Your neck is already in an unnatural position when it’s facing the side and doesn’t additional strain in the upward motion.

What goes in a pillow?

You thought that filling a pillow was as easy as permanently borrowing a goose’s extremely efficient insulting layer, did you?

Well, sometimes it is.

There are other ways though.

Let me guide you through them.

Memory foam pillows

Memory foam molds around the pressure points of whatever’s laying on it. In this instance, it’s your face.

By so effectively molding around your neck and head, it reduces the stress on the joints and liagments by supporting as much as possible. It’s like being in a swimming pool compared to above ground.

A negative with memory foam in general is that they are very good at keeping the heat it.

This isn’t very enjoyable when you’re sweating at 2am.

Mercifully, though, problems mean solutions. You can buy pillowcases which are made from material that’s excellent at transferring the heat away from your eye balls.

Additionally, there are even pillows marinated in cooling gel that causes the heat to dissipate faster than a Formula 1 car.

Down pillows

Remember the geese I mentioned earlier? They’re back.

Down is the fluffy stuff underneath the layer of feathers on birds including geese and ducks.

It’s very, very soft and because birds need to fly, it’s also very lightweight. You’re sleep like a baby.

If you buy a down pillow, you will become one of those people who’s constantly fluffing their pillows for maximum comfort. If you’re OK with that then we’re all good. I just need to make you aware, I can’t have you going into this blind.

If you suffer from any allergies then there’s a reasonably good chance these pillows will trigger them. They’re certainly the worst culprit out of all of the materials pillows are made from.

Other frustrations include a difficulty to clean and a sticking together of down when it’s wet.

These are the type of pillows you’ll either love or you’ll hate. Love them and you’ll never want to leave your bed again. Hate them and you’ll be wishing for neck ache again.

Feather pillows

You understand the underside of the bird, now it’s time for the part we actually see.

The feathers.

They’re similar to down pillows. They’re soft and lightweight.

However, it’s not uncommon for users to complain about smells coming from their feather pillows.

It may be the thousands of avian souls getting their own back on humanity once and for all.

As well as this, feathers still find themselves clumping together when they get wet and being notoriously hard to clean.

Polyester pillows

Polyester is a synthetic material used for hypoallergenic pillows. If you suffer from allergies then these are the pillows for you.

I’m not sure if these pillows have been to Weightwatches or if they’re just lucky to have great genes but polyester pillows are extremely lightweight.

Much like their memory foam cousins, they’re really good at absorbing heat and storing it for later use. Excellent is you like to sleep in a cold bedroom or live in Alaska.

Frustratingly, the polyester fibers end up clumping together. There’s a high chance you won’t have many enjoyable sleeps once that begins to happen.

Washing your pillow

I bet I can guess how many times you’ve washed your pillow in the last 5 years.

My answer is zero.

I knew it.

It’s time you started thinking about washing it more often. Your head’s laying there for a long time each night as you sweat out more than your fair share of oils and similar liquids.

Before you do anything, you need to check out what the label is telling you. I know most men don’t obvious things like reading labels but they’re there for a reason at the end of the day.

Some pillows can be put in the washing machine and some need to be dry cleaned.

If you’re going to put yours in the washing machine then make sure the cycle isn’t set to rocket launch. Additionally, the detergent you use should be mild enough that your face won’t corrode the night you sleep on it.

If you’d love to magic some loft back into the pillow, a bit of volume like in the shampoo adverts, put two tennis balls into the washing machine drum alongside the pillows.

This works by bashing all of the lumps out of the fibers like a premium massage. You’d pay $100 for the same treatment. I know you would.