A Good Pillow for Quality Sleep

For the lucky ones we spend around one third of our lives sleeping. So it makes sense to put in effort in choosing the right "sleep-equipments".

"A bad pillow can be damaging your back, insomnia, neck pain shoulder pain, back pain and also headaches" says Marnie Douglas, a physiotherapist and a pillow expert. "Most people have the wrong pillow and they don't know what to look for when choosing a pillow."

Pillow design has become high-tech science. You can buy all sorts - for pregnancy, snoring, allergies, back and neck problems. In polyester, latex, foam, duck down, luxurious goose feathers, special NASA developed materials, even filled with water or buckwheat. They cost from just S$10 up to S$1000.

In fact, a study show that in HK, 90% people already suffer from moderate spinal misalignment due to improper sitting and standing posture, injury or simply lack of physical activity. Misalignment in the spine may cause compression to spinal nerves, thus giving pain. And if your spinal muscle cannot relax completely during sleep (probably due to a bad mattress and pillow), the misalignment problem may be worsen. (NB: click here for more info on "sleep science") So how should you choose a pillow? It was a myth that the firmer the better. In fact, one should checkout how a pillow re-bounce after compression. The stronger the pillow re-bounces, the more likely it may cause cervical misalignment.

Chiropractors use a little trick used to choose pillow, u can give it a try:
1. Lie face-up on the pillow.
2. Raise one of your arms at 90 degree (like pointing to the ceiling)
3. Ask a friend to press your arm down towards your hip, but at the same time u try to resist it.

--> if your body tremble or your head lift off the pillow while you try to resist the pressing force from your friend, it means the pillow does not provide sufficient support for your head.

Of course, if u already have a good pillow and u want to further improve your sleep, practice Pilates so that u can sleep better after de-stressing and re-connecting your mind with the body.

Anyway figure below is a good comparison (extracted from Next Magazine) of 4 common pillow fills for your reference. Click on image to enlarge. English translation follows.

	Pros	Cons	Life-Span	Price	Grading (5* being the best)
Buckwheat	Highly breathable; low re-bounce; conform to body shape regardless of sleep posture, well support the neck	Not machine washable; to be sanitized regularly with sunlight.	Up to 20 years	S$60-200	* * * * *
Foam	Soft; supportive; conforms well to head	Strong re-bounce; may turn moldy as sweat is not easily evaporated	~ 3 years	S$5-200	* * * *
Cotton	Less man-made material; Soft to touch.	The fills condensed & stiffen up with time. Not breathable and go moldy easily	1 year	S$6-10	* *
Goose Feathers	Soft	Not breathable, does not absorb sweat, may cause allergies	3-7 years. Dry-cleaned yearly	$10-100+	*