“If your neck is bent in any way for an extended period of time, you’ll get uncomfortable,” explains Matthew O’Rourke, a physical therapist at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital. He says a pillow that’s too soft or too firm often leads to neck pain.
For example, if you sleep on your side with a soft pillow that doesn’t provide enough support under your neck, your head has to extend sideways to meet the pillow. If you sleep on your stomach—a position that hyperextends the neck backward—then using a firm pillow pushes the head back even farther. “If you’re on your stomach with your head to the side, you’re sleeping in a full rotation position, and that can become painful,” O’Rourke says.
Likewise, sleeping on your back with too much firm support pushes the neck too far forward.
The type of fill used within a pillow is a number one influence to loft and comfort. Much of what is used within a pillow determines the degree of softness or the firmness level. Different fills can also be used to help alleviate allergies or can be specific to cooling and warming needs.
The core difference of pillow fillings!
How many kinds of pillows have you used?
Materials can divided into six categories:
- 1 natural plants.
- 2 chemical fiber.
- 3 natural latex.
- 4 feather down.
- 5 memory foam.
- 6 new materials
There are all kinds of pillows on the market, such a wide variety of pillows, you can not be blinded, the key is to have a clear idea, choose the most suitable for you.
1.Natural plant pillows
Natural plant pillows are filled with a variety of materials.Buckwheat hulls are a natural fill alternative which is very popular in Asia and provide a somewhat similar feel to micro-bead, but they are made with an all natural rather than synthetic materials. The firmness is slightly softened as well making them a durable contouring material to rest your head upon.
2.Down pillow
Down pillow is generally duck down as a filling, It is light, breathable and low price.
Down is the natural underlayment of waterfowl to provide warmth and protection. The down of a bird is soft, cushioning, and very supple, and it is often mixed with feathers to provide malleable, luxurious pillow choices. Down on its own is not very supportive, hence why it is often mixed with the stronger feathers.
3.Chemical fiber
Polyester pillows often referred to as “fiber filling”, Which are the most common pillows on the market and cheap.
But polyester pillows have a short service life and need to be replaced every one or two years. They are easy to become flat and grow mites.
Polyester fabric has poor hygroscopicity and stifling heat on pillow, and easy to bring static electricity and dirt, which affects beauty and comfort.
4.Memory foam
Memory foam became popular due to its ability to contour your body shape and weight without sacrificing support. This material is popular in everything from ultra-slim pillow designs to more lofty side sleeping choices. Because of the close-cellular structure of this man-made material, it can become slightly heat retentive.
5.Latex
Latex pillow natural environmental protection, no pollution, strong elasticity, anti-dust mites, good support for the head and neck.
Correct the posture of leaning, sitting and lying, effectively promote sleep, etc.
6.New material
For example, some are filled with plastic hoses (granular, an upgrade of buckwheat skin), and some are filled with plastic wire and plastic sheets (floc, an upgrade of chemical fiber).
The second new material is Gel.
Gel-infused fibers and gel layers are very popular in pillows to help draw heat from your skin surface. Through the process of conduction, heat transfers from your skin to the cooler gel creating a cooling sensation
10 dimensions show you whether pillows are good or bad!
- 1 soft and hard.
- 2 elastic elasticity.
- 3 supporting force.
- 4 Cervical vertebra correction.
- 5 self-recovery ability.
- 6 postural degrees of freedom.
- 7 temperature retention.
- 8 weight.
- 9 size.
- 10 hight
Dimension 1: softness and hardness.
The soft and hard here mainly refers to the “surface touch”.
It’s about the hardness of the surface between 0 centimeters and 3 centimeters on the surface.
For example, a piece of granite has a hardness of 100.
Spread a piece of towel on the surface, the hardness will certainly be a little lower, but it is still relatively hard.
“soft hardness” has a special instrument to measure, called “sponge hardness tester”.
1) buckwheat husk: harder.
2) Cassia seed: very hard.
3) ordinary chemical fiber: very soft.
4) Natural latex: very soft.
5) Down pillow: very soft.
6) memory cotton: medium.
7) New materials: not necessarily
Dimension 2: elasticity.
Although the seller of latex pillows will emphasize “good elasticity”, I don’t think so.
Because, excessive flexibility, may aggravate your “sloshing” and produce “redundant action”.
What is redundant action, is that you want to lie down, but your head has to go through a process of vibration.
Dimension 3: support
Pillow material inventory down, plus new materials are only about 10 kinds.
Why is the material suitable for pillow core so few?
.
One of the important reasons is:
Not only the surface hardness should be as small as possible, but also enough to support the head, and it can only be achieved at a fixed height, which is really difficult to do.
Dimension 4: cervical vertebra correction
Most modern people’s cervical vertebrae may not be very good because they are sitting in the office or bowing their heads to play with their mobile phones on various occasions.
Dimension 5: self-resilience.
Self-healing ability is the ability of the pillow to restore itself to a “preset shape”.
The so-called “no deformation” in the mouth of the merchant is just what it means.
The “integrated” pillows made of latex, memory cotton, and some new materials are basically self-healing.
If you do not have the ability of self-recovery, and whether the outer layer of the pillow has a reasonable stereotyped design, then no matter what function of publicity, I am afraid it will be greatly reduced.
Fall asleep, pillows are flying, where there is the basis for the realization of function.
For example, the following kind, if there is no elasticity, can not restore its own shape, can it really fit the cervical vertebra?
Dimension 6: postural degrees of freedom.
This is an attribute closely related to “cervical vertebra correction” and “self-recovery ability”.
Dimension 7: temperature change
Memory cotton will be soft and hard with the change of temperature, the comfort will be better.
Memory cotton + gel, which is indeed a “reasonable match”, not only makes the surface softer (softer than memory cotton), but also helps to keep the temperature of memory cotton constant, which makes the soft and hard more stable.
Dimension 8: 10: weight, size, height.
Personally, I think that these characteristics have both “scientific” elements, but they may mainly lie in “habits”.
And these three basically have little to do with materials, all kinds of materials can be done almost as long as they want to do it.
Let’s make a summary of 10 dimensions:
How to choose comfortable pillow?
