Proper Pillow Placement for Any Sleeping Position
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Sleep is one of the most elemental of human needs. Good sleep refreshes and rejuvanates the body and soul; bad sleep can make for a miserable day, week, month, or even year!*
Getting enough sleep can be difficult, and it certainly doesn't help if you can't seem to find a comfortable position. When you wake up in the morning with a cramp, what are the first words out of your mouth? "I must have slept wrong." Avoid tossing and turning (and prevent cricks in the neck!) by using proper pillow placement to align the spine and muscles for optimal relaxation.
*Trivia: There is a family in Italy for whom insomnia runs in the genetics. Upon reaching adulthood, carriers of the gene gradually get less and less rest, in spite of all attempts at treatment, until they eventually pass away from sleep deprivation.
Pillow Placement for Good Sleep
Did your parents ever tell you to "stand up straight?" As it turns out, they were giving you bad advice. The spine, when in proper alignment, possesses a natural S-curve, which pillows should support during sleep, so that your muscles don't have to. Misalignment causes your muscles to seize up, causing the cramps that wake you up in the middle of the night or the sore shoulder that bothers you for days after a bad sleep.
Proper pillow placement varies for different sleeping positions, but the principles are the same. Your body is probably used to sleeping one way, but you may want to try all the positions anyway, as pillow placement can make quite a change. It may feel unnatural at first, but when your body adjusts, it will end up thanking you.
Pillow Placement for Stomach Sleepers
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You've heard that stomach sleepers shouldn't use a pillow, or worse, that you should never sleep on your stomach at all. The fact is, sleeping face down is a natural human instinct, and with proper pillow placement, there is nothing wrong with it at all.
Place a pillow under the hips to take stress off of your lower back and neck. If you have a hard mattress, or otherwise find it too uncomfortable not to have cushioning for your face, try shifting the other pillow from your hips to under your ankles.
Pillow Placement for Side Sleepers
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Sleeping on your side comes highly recommended by chiropractors, and, if you snore, your spouse as well. Also called the fetal position, this is the position God or Nature chose for us for the duration of our 9-month stay in the womb.
Place one or two pillows under the head and neck, depending on their thickness, to ensure that your cervical spine (see first illustration) is straight and elongated. An extra pillow between the knees opens your hips and prevents knees from knocking together or legs from chafing.
Another option is to buy a body pillow, which provides a "partner" to throw your limbs over... and best of all, it doesn't move just when you're getting comfortable.
Pillow Placement for Back Sleepers
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Sleeping on your back opens the lungs... and, unfortunately, can sometimes result in the worst snoring, for those prone to it. If you're not one of those (or if you sleep alone), put a pillow under the head, and another under the knees to relieve pressure on the lower back.
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Comments
I LOVE my buckwheat pillow. You just squish it around until it's in the perfect position and it stays like that. Great neck support for back or side sleeping.
Thanks for the lovely blog, very informative, useful. I am going to bookmark it. Thanks a lot.
wouldnt placing a pillow in that area (for stomach sleepers) have effects on parts of the body?
cdosrun:
I'm not sure what you mean. Pillow placement under the hips/lower stomach is designed to align your spine, and therefore increase circulation and facilitate uninhibited communication between your brain and different parts of the body. Sleep is, after all, primarily for restoration, neurally, physically, and psychologically.
Haven't dared to sleep on my stomach for years (lower back pain results). I'll try the pillow technique--thanks!
Great news and most of it new to me. will be trying it.
I enjoy fours of sleep per night
Thank you
i have been sleeping in a uncomfortable bed,,,,. i always wake up in the middle of the night,..,.,
Thanks for the hub, I have a memory foam myself, but I'm not sure if its doing me good, bad, or the same. I guess that makes it no better than the others.
Although I don't have back problems myself I still think it's good to prevent pain in the first place. My Dad has had to suffer from back pain for years so trying out these techniques sounds like solid advice. I tend to sleep in my front so will try sleeping with a pillow as indicated in the diagram.
Hi Maddie, great info on this hub. I am putting this link in my hub about getting a good nights sleep. :-) Thanks so much.
I am so glad to know that sleeping on my stomach is ok. I always sleep on my stomach and my brother in law, who is a chiropractor says that only snakes sleep on their stomachs.... oh well.... guess what I am....I think it is time to go to bed....zzzzzz
Maddie, great hub on sleeping/pillow positions. Being 6'4" I've always struggled to keep my back in good shape and sleeping incorrectly in the past has really lessened that effort. This hub will help me sleep in a more constructive manner.
Thanks Maddie, I will mention this hub to clients who have difficulty sleeping,
WHAT USEFUL INFO! I'm gonna try your suggestions and I'll get back to you.
Now all I need to know is how to sleep on my back (bliss!) and NOT snore. Unless everybody else is away, I always try to stay on my side.
Hmmmmmm, I am already sleepy
great post- I really liked the diagrams and the different types of sleepers, thank you for this hub
I didn't realize that you would use a pillow if you were sleeping on your stomach, but I will have to try it out.
Is there any magic place to place a pillow to stop snoring?
This is the sort of information that is becoming more important as I grow older. It seems that I am becoming more attached to one pillow, and things like sleeping in a hotel room are torture without the old standby.
does the material of the pillow affect how well you are properly aligned, for instance in the head and neck area? I have used tempurpedic pillows, but they don't keep there shape. But cheap regular pillows, don't seem to do it for my head neck area either....... I would ne a fetal position sleeper, with an occasional back sleep. maybe it is the 3 year old hogging my bed and pushing me off the edge, that prevents a comfortable nights sleep.
Amber, the problem with tempurpedic pillows is they mould to where you put your head - so if you lie down in a bad position, you're more likely to stay there. I have an old neck injury and found a tempurpedic pillow, even though it was specially moulded, made it worse. I now use an ordinary latex pillow and find it great.
I am a restless sleeper. I think it's time to invest in a few good pillows. Thanks for the illustrations for various positions.
I don't know there alot of positions using pillows....
thanks
Thanks for creating this info. I'm always looking for tips on pillows and how to get the best sleep. This was very useful.
Christine Blowes
Very good article and let's not forget the material in the pillow can also affect your sleep as well.
Very informative Hub! I am more of a back sleeper. And for ages i have been using one pillow under my head and one beneath my knees without even knowing that is the correct way of sleeping.
Haha I only snore when I'm visiting a friend or my in-laws are over.
I'd be adjusting my pillows all night!!!! I can't sleep in any one position for more than a few minutes. Of course, maybe if I just had the pillow right.......
I'll have to try it out.
..thats very nice.... thank you...
yerr
Thank you for the tips.
Good hub and informative hub! I just joined hubpages and this is my first comment
for the back sleeper, won't it make more sense to place a pillow under the neck(not head) and under the back not(knees)? Because that's where the curves are(neck and back)? umm I think there are 3 curves I read, where is the other one?
Oh, by sleeping these ways, it will help you gain a proper standing postion right or they called ("striaght back")? not really straight but looks you are standing straight.
That's really interesting. I'm a dyed in the wool stomach sleeper, but always wake up on my side! I'm going to give some of these tips a try!!
Any sleeping position seems to work for me, but I always seem to sleep better when I have my Teddy Bear to hold on to or at least a big, fluffy pillow.
Nice hub.. very usefull
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gaussmarkov says:
2 years ago
interesting ... i did not know that stomach sleepers had a special pillow position. i thought it was just bad for your back to sleep on your stomach. i guess that pillow fixes that.