Image credit: Casper Beds/Good Homes
How to choose the right pillow for your sleep type
Unlock your best night’s sleep with savvy advice from the bedding experts
Image: Casper
When you think that you spend a third of your life in bed (if you’re getting the recommended eight hours), we should at least spend a few moments choosing the right bedding to give us the best possible night’s sleep. Your pillow supports your neck and head for hours on end, and if you’re not comfortable or are feeling any kind of strain, falling asleep becomes a nightmare. We asked three top bedding companies for their expert advice on picking the right pillow, but first, here are our quick tips:
- Sleep position matters. If you sleep on your side, you’ll need a firmer, thicker pillow – ideally the same depth as the measurement between your ear and shoulder. Soft pillows are the reserve of front and back sleepers, but if you suffer from any neck pain, look for more support; and if your back is playing up, try a pillow under your stomach.
- Pillows need replacing every 18 months, otherwise they aren’t giving you the support you need. A good test is to simply fold your pillow in half; if it stays folded, chuck. If it springs back, you might have some life in it yet.
- Goose down is the softest fill option, followed by duck down. They are also the most expensive choices. Synthetic down is cheaper but will require replacing more frequently, and polyester fill will flatten in time and will tire out the quickiest. Memory foam is a heavy material that shapes to your body and distributes the weight evenly across its surface, which can help people with back and neck pain. However, it’s heat retentive, so if you’re a sweaty sleeper it may not be the right choice for you.
Image: Tielle Love Luxury
Expert #1: Tielle Love Luxury
At the risk of stating the obvious, the right pillow will play a very big part in determining the likelihood of you getting a decent night’s sleep or not, which in itself is an integral part of our health and wellbeing. We owe it to ourselves to invest in our sleep and in the pillow that is best for us.
Whilst there is a huge amount of debate and discussion on the choice of pillow, never lose sight of the fact that the primary function of a pillow is to deliver the correct level of support for the neck and head of the user. This will vary from individual to individual according to personal taste from soft through medium to firm or even ultra-firm to assist in relieving pressure on these two areas during our night’s sleep. A degree of trial and error may be required, but thankfully some rules never change; more feather content = more firm; more down = more softness.
We bring a level of expertise in identifying and specifying the components to make up all our products, and it’s quite simply unmatched by any other supplier. We supply bedding to a variety of 5-star hotels, and so if they can withstand the rigours of this luxury commercial environment, you can be certain you have chosen the best for your own home.
Image: Casper
Expert #2: Casper
Choosing the right pillow is important to support your head and neck for spine alignment throughout the night, no matter how much you move around. However, we feel that support should not compromise the second most important factor: comfort.
In our Casper Sleep Lab in San Francisco, we invented our pillow that combines both support and comfort. It accommodates all people and sleep positions, since research shows nearly everyone shifts around during the night. Thanks to its tiny, silky fibres, our uniquely designed double-layer pillow doesn’t pancake when compressed and keeps its shape all night long. The gusset is the backbone of our pillow’s construction that provides neck support and better spine alignment. In addition, the breathable 100% cotton cover ensures proper air circulation throughout the pillow, leaving you cool and comfortable all night long.
Image: Nanu
Expert #3: Nanu
Using the wrong pillow can cause stiffness in the neck and back, making it more difficult to get a good night’s sleep. One of the simplest ways to improve sleep and reduce aches is choosing a pillow that is suited to your needs and can support your neck properly. The benefits of a good night’s sleep include reduction in stress, improvement in memory and making the brain more productive. We are all different shapes and sizes and should therefore be sleeping on pillows that are suited to our own personal needs.
The choice of pillows on the market can be daunting, especially when you don’t know which are best suited to your needs. Nanu is the world’s first personalised pillow, a pillow specifically made for you. We simply take information about how you like to sleep (on your back, front or side), together with your height and weight measurements and allow you to choose your firmness level from super-soft through to firm. All these factors are fed into an algorithm to create a tailor-made product for you.
Do you have any tips for choosing the right pillow? Lets us know by tweeting us @goodhomesmag or posting a comment on our Facebook page.