Best Pillow for Side Sleepers with Neck Pain!
The best pillow for side sleepers is the one that can provide consistent support for your head night after night without flattening out and causing your head to drop while sleeping. In this article, we'll help you find the best neck pain pillow for yourself as a side sleeper, and we'll also explain why most pillows can't provide the proper support for your head and neck while you're side sleeping.
Why Side Sleepers Struggle the Most?
The reason side sleepers struggle the most with neck pain is because most pillows can't properly support your head. The average adult's head weighs about 10 to 12 pounds. Most regular pillows made with feathers can't support your head because they're too soft. In addition, these pillows are not even thick enough to fill the huge gap between your head and the mattress when you sleep on your side.
This causes many side sleepers to fold their pillow in half in the middle of the night to increase its height or to place their hand underneath the pillow for extra support. We believe you know this all too well by now.
Pillows for Side Sleepers
One of the features that stands out when you look at a pillow designed for side sleepers is the two raised sides. These two parts are the highest compared to other parts of the pillow. They help fill the gap between your head and the mattress as well as the gap between your head and your shoulders. These two criteria must be met for a pillow to be considered the best pillow for side sleepers.
Pillows for side sleepers are often made from a few different materials, such as water, polyester, memory foam, and latex. Out of all these, we believe water pillows are the ones you can eliminate. They're more suited for back sleepers because their raised sides are too thin for side sleepers, especially those with wide shoulders. Now, if your mattress sinks a lot, then things might change a bit. Because at that point, you don't want your pillow to be thick anyway. The thicker the pillow is, the more your head will be pushed forward and place tension on your neck.
As far as polyester, latex, and memory foam go, all of these can be good candidates for you as a side sleeper. But keep in mind that memory foam and latex can last you for at least 2 years — and even longer if you take good care of them — while polyester usually lasts only somewhere between 18 to 24 months. So, pay attention to the shape of your pillow because once it loses support, your body will no longer be in perfect alignment, which eventually leads to neck pain.
Maintain Your Body's Perfect Alignment
A perfect alignment of your body is when you look at yourself in the mirror while standing upright with your back straight. This is the exact posture you should keep while side sleeping, which means no head dropping or neck bending. Maintaining this perfect alignment is a goal that every single pillow designed for side sleepers must achieve. Otherwise, they're not worth using.
Now you've already learned everything you need to know about what it takes to be the best pillow for side sleepers. You should be able to find one that fits your body while helping you relieve morning neck pain and stiffness. Keep these tips in mind as guidance on your journey to find the best neck support pillow for yourself.