(ThyBlackMan.com) Choosing a pillow to sleep on every night might not be an important consideration for some, but it’s a task you need to think about as it can affect your overall health. You may be unaware, but the pillows you use and how you care for them can affect the quality of your sleep as well as your overall health.
Ending a tiring day by resting on a comfortable bed is truly a luxury for most. Sadly, while pillows can provide you with an unmatched level of comfort, they might be responsible for causing harm to your body eventually. Using an old pillow can have a negative impact on your sleep quality as well as your spine and other vital organs.
Keep in mind that the type of pillow and how you use it can either provide you with a good night’s sleep or cause long-term health problems. Whether you go for a latex roll pillow, neck feather pillow, or knee pillow made of organic material, make sure it works well in supporting your favored sleeping position.
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Maintaining your spine in a neutral position is essential for a good night’s sleep. Some may not know it yet, but the spine isn’t completely straight. It has a natural S-curve that supports the stability and balance of the body. Hence, make sure you position your body correctly while sleeping, whether on your side or back.
If you’ve been having trouble sleeping or waking up tired, there are several ways a pillow can affect your health. The following are some of them:
- Trigger Pain Or Discomfort Upon Waking Up
Pillows may appear to serve the simple purpose of providing comfort to your head or other body parts while you sleep, but they play a critical role in your overall health.
When you sleep with the wrong pillows, it can affect your head, neck, and back. Using a pillow that’s too fluffy or flat can put your spine out of proper alignment in the long run. The misalignment it induces will likely cause neck stiffness and overall back pain.
If a pillow doesn’t properly support your neck, it will affect other muscles and ligaments. Choosing a pillow that allows the head, neck, and spine to remain in a straight line or neutral alignment is one way to avoid bodily pain caused by unsupportive pillows. Finding the right pillow usually depends on your preference and primary sleeping position.
Using the incorrect pillow while sleeping can bring about a variety of aches and pains, leaving you in a bad state upon waking up in the morning. Here are some of the usual discomforts you’re likely to face if you’re using the wrong pillows.
- Neck Discomfort
If your head is in a bent position for extended periods, especially when sleeping, it can result in discomfort upon waking up in the morning. Depending on your sleeping position, the firmness of your pillow is also an important consideration. Neck discomfort can be caused by a pillow that’s either too pliable or too firm.
When you’re sleeping on your side, it’s best to invest in a pillow that’s firm enough to provide adequate support for your neck so that it doesn’t bend to the side excessively. If you sleep on your stomach, a softer pillow is recommended because it’ll push your head back and cause a curve in your neck. Avoid using a firm pillow if you sleep on your back because it can cause misalignment by pushing your neck forward.
Position a pillow thick enough below your head to bring your neck to the same level as your spine. Don’t forget to place a firm knee pillow between your knees while bending your legs to support your lower back. The knee pillow is the ideal choice to relieve pressure on your hips and legs effectively.
- Backache
The manner in which a pillow supports your head, neck, and shoulders can affect how your back feels. Back pain can get worse if your spine is misaligned while sleeping.
If you sleep on your stomach, use a flat pillow to prevent lower back pain. If you’re a side sleeper, it’s best to invest in a pillow high enough to keep your neck and spine in one line, such as a buckwheat neck roll. Back sleepers should choose a pillow that supports the neck’s natural curve.
- Headache
It can often be hard to identify the exact cause of headaches. However, headaches may be associated with neck pain and tension in most cases. The base of your neck contains the suboccipital muscle group responsible for directly referring nerves to the skull, including the front of the head and the eyes. When these muscles become tense due to poor sleeping alignment, they transmit pain signals to the head, causing tension headaches.
Avoid using high pillows since they can cause the head and neck to round forward, adding tension to the suboccipital muscles. Excessive tension in these muscles can cause you to wake up with a headache or develop one in the morning after waking up.
- Stiffness Of The Neck Or Back
In most cases, stiffness occurs if your range of motion is limited by muscles stretching unnaturally for extended periods and then contracting and tightening when released. If you don’t have enough support in both your head and neck, your neck and back muscles will stretch out during the night instead of staying in a neutral position.
Once you wake up, the stretched-out neck muscles may contract and tighten, resulting in neck and back stiffness. The stiffness can be mild and go away after a few morning movements, or it can be severe and last all day even if you move around.
Using the right pillow can minimize neck tension while providing a better range of motion once you wake up.
- Activate An Allergic Response
If you’re having trouble sleeping and have a headache, sneezing and feeling tired during the day, one of the culprits may be the pillows you’re using.
Make it a priority to wash pillowcases regularly to lessen the likelihood of developing an allergic reaction. You might also want to invest in allergen-proof pillow covers to minimize their buildup. Remember that dust mites can be a trigger for some individuals.
Consider switching up your pillows if you recently experienced flare-ups of allergies and couldn’t pinpoint the cause. Remember that pillows attract dust mites over time, a common trigger for asthmatic symptoms.
In such cases, it might be time to buy new pillows. The more you use your pillows, the more dust mites, spores, and other potentially harmful elements it absorbs.
Sleeping on a pillow for several days allows it to absorb dead skin, body oil, hair, and any products you may be using on your face. It can be appalling, and it can also cause your pillow to stink over time.
All these factors foster a favorable environment for dust mites to thrive. Coughing, itchy eyes, runny nose, nasal congestion, sneezing, and an itchy sensation in the throat are common dust mite allergy symptoms.
- Sleep Disturbances And Sleep Deprivation
If you constantly toss and turn at night as you readjust your pillow, it can become a major nuisance to your sleeping schedule. Frequent tossing and turning can make it difficult for your brain to relax, which can lead to excessive fatigue the next morning.
When you lose sleep due to discomfort at night, it can have various consequences. In general, your body has less time for muscle growth, tissue repair, and other vital functions that happen while you sleep.
You might want to try bending your pillow in half. If you can’t get your pillow to straighten out again, it’s time to get a new one.
If you still fail to have quality night sleep for days or weeks, it can lead to sleep deprivation. Sadly, it can affect your appetite, mood, and thinking skills. Chronic sleep deprivation can lead to falls and health problems like heart disease, obesity, high blood pressure, and diabetes.
- Skin Issues
Your face comes into direct contact with the pillowcase if you sleep on your stomach or side. Thus, your pillow will pick up dirt, oil, and bacteria from your face. It can irritate your skin and cause acne and pimple flare-ups over time.
There are several steps to take to address this problem. One option is to change your pillowcase regularly or purchase a special pillow or pillow cover. You may also consider using pillowcases containing ionic silver, which can kill harmful bacteria.
- Snoring
An overly soft, fluffy, or firm pillow can cause your spine to misalign, increasing your chances of snoring. Snoring is more common in people who sleep on their backs.
If you wake up with back or neck pain, stiff neck, headache, sore jaw, or fatigue after sleeping more than eight hours, you’ve been snoring all night.
When you sleep on your back, make sure the pillow you’re using keeps your head slightly elevated toward the ceiling without causing a tilt in the jaw or crown of your head. Avoid using pillows with a high loft, which can cause your chin to sink too close to your chest, or pillows that are too flat, which can cause your head to fall backward.
Maintain perfect alignment of your head, neck, and back while lying in bed to help reduce snoring. Maintain a clear airway, too, so you can get a good night’s sleep.
- Intensify Breathing Problems
Individuals suffering from certain health conditions require the right type of pillow. One is sleep apnea, a respiratory condition that causes a person to experience repeated interruptions in their breathing throughout the night. Certain pillows may aggravate the condition because they don’t provide adequate head support to prevent airway obstruction between the throat and the palate. Pillows are also likely to disrupt continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment in people with sleep apnea.
The CPAP machines work by keeping your airway open through a bedside device that drives air through a mask a person wears while sleeping. Having a regular pillow will likely knock the mask off for side sleepers. In these scenarios, a CPAP pillow specifically designed to accommodate a CPAP mask may be a good option. Today’s CPAP pillows come in various styles, but most have cutouts or curves to allow individuals to sleep on their sides without the discomfort of the mask digging into their faces.
Aside from CPAP pillows, other pillows are recommended for sleep apnea sufferers. With its sloped design, a wedge pillow may be the right choice for those who sleep on their backs. It naturally elevates the neck while sleeping, helping lessen nighttime snoring. Another recommended pillow is the cervical pillow, which relieves neck and head pressure while keeping the airway open. Cervical pillows are suitable for back sleepers who find it hard to sleep on the higher elevation that a wedge pillow provides.
- Exacerbate Digestive Issues
Acid reflux occurs once the muscle between the throat and the stomach weakens, allowing acid to flow back into the throat and mouth. The condition can cause a painful burning sensation that interferes with sleep. Avoid using flat pillows that can’t raise the head and neck high enough to keep acid from reaching the chest and throat in such cases.
Final Thoughts
A good night’s sleep is crucial for anyone because it’s the key to reinvigorating your energy levels and mental awareness. Aside from boosting your mood and preparing you for the day ahead, getting enough sleep can also aid in the recovery from illness or injury.
If you’re having trouble falling asleep, waking up with pain all over your body, or feeling tired the next morning, the pillows may be the culprit. Now that you’re already knowledgeable about the various ways pillows can harm your health after reading this article, you should reconsider whether you’ll be using the right ones and how to position them correctly based on your preferred sleeping position.
Staff Writer; George Poole
