How to Choose the Right Pillow

Your pillow can be as important as your mattress in determining the quality of your sleep.  The goal is to find a pillow that feels good and, at the same time, keeps your body in alignment throughout the night.  Finding the right pillow is worth your  investment in time and money.

Your first step is to determine how you sleep. Are you a side sleeper or do you sleep on your back or your stomach? Or maybe you sleep in all of these positions throughout the night.  Each sleeping position has different needs in terms of what pillow works best.

Things to consider include loft, or how thick the pillow is.  As a general rule, side sleepers need a pillow with approximately four to six inches of loft to fill in the space between their head and the bed. Back sleepers need less loft and stomach sleepers need even less.  Back sleepers need just enough loft to cradle their head and keep their neck in alignment while some stomach sleepers find that no pillow at all works best for them.

Once you have determined how much loft you need, you will want to consider the firmness of the pillow.  Do you like a firm pillow or a soft one?   The firmness of your pillow is a personal choice - just be sure that enough loft remains to keep your neck in alignment after your head sinks into the pillow.

If you are one of those people who change positions frequently throughout the night, you might do best with a pillow that is flexible and can be easily scrunched, folded and shaped to accommodate your various positions throughout the night.  This way you can adjust the pillow to give you the loft you need with each changing position.

A final and important consideration is what materials are used to make the pillow.   Since most people spend eight hours a night in close contact with their pillow, a pillow made of natural and untreated materials is a good choice.  Pillows are available in a wide variety of natural materials including wool, natural latex, kapok, buckwheat and millet hulls. 

Before you buy, test the pillow in the store.  Spend time with the pillow and compare it to other pillows.  Find the pillow that works best for you.  Don’t use price as your determining factor.  Remember, a good pillow is worth the investment.