Choosing the Right Pillow: Tips from a Linwood Chiropractor for Better Sleep and Posture

Do you notice your hands falling asleep while you are asleep. Does neck pain wake you up or do you notice your neck is stiff in the morning. Well, in the pursuit of relief, better sleep and improved spinal health, selecting the right pillow tailored to your sleep position and specific needs is paramount.

As a trusted chiropractor serving Linwood, NJ, for over two decades, I’ve witnessed firsthand the transformative power of proper pillow selection in alleviating discomfort and enhancing posture. In this comprehensive guide, I’ll delve into tailored recommendations for back sleepers, side sleepers, and belly sleepers, as well as highlight the best pillows for posture optimization.

Back Sleepers: Pillows for Back Sleepers

For those who favor resting on their backs, it’s crucial to maintain proper alignment of the head, neck, and spine. Opt for pillows with medium support to prevent the head from sinking too deeply into the pillow, which can strain the neck into extension. Extension can be painful for certain neck misalignments. Look for pillows with contoured designs that cradle the natural curvature of the neck and provide adequate support. Memory foam pillows are an excellent choice for back sleepers, as they conform to the shape of the head and neck while offering consistent support throughout the night.

Spine Alignment: Ultimately you want to work toward your ear being in line with your shoulder and the pillow supporting a healthy curve in your neck.

ADDITIONAL TIP: If you have low back pain or tightness, when you sleep, try using a pillow underneath your legs.

Side Sleepers: Pillows for Side Sleepers

Side sleepers often require extra support to keep the spine aligned and prevent undue pressure on the shoulders and hips. A firm pillow with a higher loft is ideal for filling the space between the ear and the shoulder, ensuring proper alignment. Consider pillows with adjustable loft options, allowing you to customize the height to suit your individual comfort preferences. Additionally, contour pillows with a supportive indentation for the head can alleviate strain on the neck and promote optimal spinal alignment for side sleepers.

Spine Alignment: Straight on, your nose and chin should be in a straight line with the middle of your chest. From the side you ear should be over your shoulder.

ADDITIONAL TIP: Use a pillow in front of your chest to give your arms better support and allow better alignment for the shoulder, upper back, neck, and head.

Belly Sleepers: Pillows for Belly Sleepers

While sleeping on the stomach is generally not recommended due to the strain it places on the neck and lower back, some individuals find it difficult to adjust their sleeping position. For belly sleepers, opt for softer pillows with a lower loft to minimize strain on the neck and maintain a more neutral spinal alignment. Look for thin pillows or even consider using a flat pillow under the stomach to reduce pressure on the lower back. However, I encourage belly sleepers to gradually transition to side or back sleeping positions for long-term spinal health benefits.

Spine Alignment: Very hard to maintain spine alignment with the turning of your head for all those hours, so do your best to alternate the side of your face your are sleeping on.

ADDITIONAL TIP: Use a pillow in front of your chest and under your belly and hips to reduce the amount of rotation to your neck and extension in your low back..

Pillows for Posture: Pillows for Posture

Regardless of sleep position, prioritizing proper posture during sleep is essential for spinal health and overall well-being. Pillows specifically designed to promote proper posture can be invaluable in achieving this goal. Look for pillows with orthopedic features, such as cervical rolls or bolstered edges, to support the natural curvature of the spine and alleviate pressure points. Additionally, pillows made from supportive materials like latex or memory foam provide consistent support and help maintain alignment throughout the night.

Spine Alignment: Straight on, your nose, chin, chest, center of your pelvis should be in a straight line, just like when you are standing. From the side you ear, shoulder, hip, and outside ankle bone should be in line, like when you are standing.

ADDITIONAL TIP: Use pillows to support alignment or relieve tension. You can work on your posture before or after sleep. You can to work on posture, especially restoring the cure to your neck, 15 minutes each day. Then you can choose to another sleeping posture if you find it hard to fall asleep in the perfect posture. Hopefully, over time, normal posture will begin to feel normal again.

In conclusion, selecting the right pillow is a crucial component of achieving restful sleep and maintaining optimal spinal health. By choosing pillows tailored to your sleep position and posture needs, you can alleviate discomfort, prevent injuries, and wake up feeling refreshed and rejuvenated. As a seasoned chiropractor in Linwood, NJ, I emphasize the importance of investing in high-quality pillows that support your unique sleep habits and contribute to long-term wellness. If you have any further questions or concerns about pillow selection or spinal health, don’t hesitate to reach out for personalized guidance and assistance. Your journey to better sleep and improved posture starts with the right pillow choice.

If you would like and evaluation you can call Fresh Start Chiropractic Linwood NJ 609-926-8900.

LINKS TO: Standard Pillows , Pillows for Side Sleepers , Pillows for Back Sleepers , Pillows for Belly Sleepers , Pillows for Posture , Pillow for all Sleeping Position

MOST IMPORTANT!! THIS IS GREAT INFORMATION TO HELP YOU FIND THE BEST PILLOW. HOWEVER LITTLE CHANGES THAT HAPPEN TO OUR NECK AND BACK THROUGH THE YEARS MAY REQUIRE US TO GO THROUGH SOME TRIAL AND ERROR.

ONCE WE HAVE A GOOD STARTING POINT, HOW WE FEEL WHEN WE SLEEP AND HOW WE WAKE UP WILL GUIDE US TO THE PERFECT PILLOW TO MEET OUR NEEDS. THESE NEEDS CAN CHANGE ONCE WE GO FROM PAIN, TO RELIEF, TO IMPROVING POSTURE.

SO YOU CAN REFER BACK TO THIS ARTICLE. ALSO, MAKE SURE YOU FIND A PILLOW THAT HAS A GOOD RETURN POLICY IN CASE IT TAKES A COUPLE TRIES TO FIND THE BEST FIT

Here is a video overview:

Excerpt from Dr. Fresh’s Book: WINNING MOMENTS: The Health Equation:

Chapter 1

HOURS 0-10

BEFORE BED/SLEEPING/GETTING UP/GETTING READY FOR THE DAY

BEFORE BED

Great news!!! Before the alarm rings in the morning we are already 9-10 hours into our workout, depending on how well and long we slept. So let’s make sure we’re making the most of our time asleep. The first thing is, before we even go to bed, begin to slow down the rush of thoughts from our day. Some people use a song or a landmark on the drive home as a cue to remind themselves to at least attempt to decompress and get ready to be present at home. Before we get home, once we get home, or before we go to bed we should relax and refocus with deep breathing, meditation, and my favorite, prayer. This also works great in the morning or anytime throughout the day. 

Deep breathing, meditation, and prayer are like a superpower that can penetrate the greatest amount of stress and provide us with the strength we need to get through anything, even when we don’t know how we are going to get through it.

We should also do light stretching to unwind areas of stress that have snuck their way into our body throughout the day before they negatively affect our health while we’re sleeping. This is a pivotal winning moment because of the impact it has on how we will sleep that night! 

The sooner we remove stress from our body the better the body can perform what it’s naturally designed to do which is heal, repair, and provide us with what we need to have the best life possible….Health!

It is important right before you go to bed, or anytime,  that you are being careful about what images, shows, sounds, or information you are allowing into your brain before you go to bed. That can be the information your brain focuses on and influence how well you sleep. There are many articles that talk about the negative effects of cellphone and other devices. The light and the EMF’s (electromagnetic fields) emitted by electronic devices have a negative effect on rest and health. These devices include cell phones, routers, cordless phones, smart meters, baby monitors, and other wireless devices. If you would like more information about EMF’s or other great information, Mercola.com is a great resource. If you can, meaning there are no emergencies or people that need to reach you, put your phone on airplane mode and keep it away from the bed. Keep a notepad and pen or pencil by the bed to jot down any thoughts, so your mind can rest easier.

SLEEPING

A.

When we lay down to sleep we want to lay in the same posture we would be in while standing in a power posture. A Power Posture is when looking at ourselves in a mirror(Image A), from the front view of ourselves, the middle of our forehead, nose, and chin should line up straight down the middle of our chest, and straight down between the middle of our legs. 

When visualizing a power poster from the side(Image B), our ear should be over the middle of our shoulder,  and our shoulder over the middle of our hips. Since our knees may be bent when we sleep they may not line up, but our hips should still line up with our ankles.

 B.

We can use whatever pillows and positions necessary to achieve our power posture, use pillows to support our head and neck(Image C…This picture shows good alignment, but does not show the pillow supporting the neck, which I recommend), pillows to keep our arms supported(Image D), or pillows between our legs(Image E) to keep good hip alignment for side sleepers. 

C.D.E.

Using pillows as supports for many people has reduced or eliminated headaches, neck, back, sciatica, and hip pain, it has even helped people who experience arm and hand pain, numbness, or tingling while they sleep. Back sleepers may want a pillow under their knees(Image F) to keep them slightly bent. All back sleepers should have a pillow(Image G) that keeps their neck in a good posture.     

F. G. 

 Every part of your body should be supported in a power posture by your pillow and mattress, with no spaces in between. If there are spaces that means your muscles will have to work harder and overtime a poor posture will develop from your body sagging to conform to the bed. If we have poor posture when we sleep, think of how it would feel, night after night, to have your head, neck, back or hips turned, tilted, or twisted for eight hours. This can help us realize how powerful sleep can be beyond just the rest we’re getting and the repair that our body is doing. This is also a great time for us to do our cervical curve work(Image H).  Either early in the morning or before we go to sleep while lying on our back on the bed or floor. Place a small foam roll, rolled up towel, or a small rounded pillow in the middle of the neck. Our head and shoulders will rest on the bed or floor, while the middle of our neck will be lifted up in an arc shape (think of what the curve of a bridge looks like) over the roll, towel, or pillow. Start out for a couple minutes at a time, working up each day to 15 minutes.      

                                                                                              H.                                     

It is vital that we reverse the damaging effects and loss of curve in our neck that occurs with computer work, reading, looking at our phone or other devices. This ultimately is one of the major causes of tech neck or poor posture. It happens from any neck and shoulder postures that cause us to look down, bringing our chin closer to our neck, or our head to move forward in front of our body, while our shoulders are rounded and slumped forward, for long periods of time. This poor posture will multiply the amount of stress on our entire spine(Image I).                                                                                      

                                                                                        I.

Poor postures over time cause a straightening or even reversing of the curve in our neck. Losing our neck curve alone has been linked to many health issues that lead to a decreased quality of life. When our time is up from doing our neck curve work we need to use our hands to lift our head up off the roll, towel, or pillow. The neck muscles are very relaxed and stretched when we are doing our curve work, we want to give them an opportunity to reset before we ask our neck muscles to start working again. 

We shouldn’t be too hard on ourselves when considering sleeping.  All we can do is start in the right posture and hope we sleep in that position longer and longer each night. The less stress we are under while sleeping, hopefully, the less we will move from our power posture. We also need to do our best to not use our head and neck to turn when we sleep, it can injure our neck trying to lift our body. It is better to use the hand of our top arm to push off the bed to help us turn or move.

A very common question I get is the type of pillow or mattress someone should be using. Everyone needs to be on the best possible pillow and mattress for them because of how important sleep is and how much time we spend sleeping. Here are some obvious signs that you are on the wrong pillow or mattress for you. You went to sleep feeling fine, but you wake up with headaches, neck, back, arm, or leg stiffness or pain. You wake up tired or feeling worse than when you went to bed. When people tell me they wake up with problems or wake up feeling worse, I know we need to address their pillow and mattress. My opinion is that it is very difficult to recommend one pillow or mattress that will be perfect for everyone. My first suggestion before you go out and buy anything is to talk to a chiropractor about the proper posture and support, for you, as you sleep. Earlier we had talked about the best postures to sleep in(Image J), however, some people have unique factors, like neck, shoulder, back, or hip problems that need to be taken into consideration when determining the best sleeping posture for them. It is important for you to know what position you should be in when sleeping. Next, experiment with what you have access to right at home. You can start with the proper sleeping posture while making sure you are supporting every part of your body as mentioned in the sleeping section above(Please review the power posture for sleeping and how to support your entire body).

  J.

When you get into your best posture take a 5-10 minute deep breath relaxation body scan test. Scan your body as you are taking deep relaxing breaths. Make sure that each and every muscle is releasing and relaxing. Every part of your body should be supported by the pillow or mattress, your head, neck, the side of your body, your hips, everything. There should be no space between you and the pillow or mattress. This is a great test for pillows, mattresses, recliners, couches, anything you spend a good amount of time on each day. If your body is not passing the relaxation test than chances are that through the night those parts of your body are not getting the alignment, relaxation, and rest they need. This can be the reason you are waking up in the middle of the night in pain and the reason you are waking up in the morning tired, tight, or in pain.

Here are some more things you can do to find the right pillow and mattress for you. After you have tried all the pillows and mattresses in your house remember if there has been any pillow or mattress that you had gotten a good night’s sleep on, like at a hotel, friend, or family members house. Find the name and characteristics of that pillow or mattress to get you started. If you feel your mattress is too soft, take off the pillow top or put a board in between the mattresses to make them more firm. If your mattress feels too firm, get a pillow or foam mattress topper to try something softer. When you go to a mattress store test each mattress in the position you sleep in and take the 5-10 minute deep breath relaxation body scan test. This will give you some of the best information you will need to pick the best pillow and mattress. I have a great story that illustrated how well this works. I had a patient come in while I was writing this book. They told me they got a mattress they love. I said, what did you do to find the perfect mattress, hoping to glean some additional insight. They said I did what you told me, I went into the mattress store, laid on the mattresses, took a couple of deep breathes and picked the one that felt the best, that supported me the most, and I felt the most relaxed. When I saw them again, I asked, how do you like the mattress, they said, it’s great!

GETTING UP 

Alarm clock rings, we jump out of bed! STOP! We hear so many people say their backs are tight and sore when they first get up in the morning and as the day goes on it loosens up. So before we jump out of bed, let’s not miss an opportunity to improve our health. When we wake up it’s a good idea to do a nice slow stretch, by reaching our hands over our head,  stretching our feet and toes down, while giving our body an internal squeeze(Image K).                      

K.

It can also feel good while lying flat on our back with our feet together to let our knees fall away from each other, opening our hips, like a butterfly stretch(Image L). While in the butterfly stretch you can do gentle side stretches.

  L.

Then we can pull one leg at a time into our chest, then both legs(Image M). While doing your first-morning stretch or stretching with your knees into your chest you can alternate flexing one foot at a time by pointing your toes. You can add flexing your feet to many leg, hip, or low back stretches. It is equally beneficial to add stretching your hands to many arm, shoulder, neck, or upper back stretches. While both knees are into our chest we can do small circles with our

knees.  

 M.

Next, we can do gentle windshield wiper movements with our feet on the bed, with our arms straight out our sides for support, allowing our knees to slowly fall from one side to the other while keeping our back flat on the mattress(Image N). Our tailbone should be tucked under in a neutral position, with our core engaged. 

N.

Remember to use smaller movements when we are first waking or getting up. If there is soreness or pain only bring the knees into the chest, and if you feel okay, do small circles with your knees. Do this for a couple of days before attempting to add any twisting motions. We should not do twisting movements when we are in pain. Our intelligent body is the ultimate doctor and will use discomfort and even pain to tell us exactly what it does and does not want us to do. This communication, discomfort and pain, aka symptoms, guides us to better meet the needs of our body. This information in this book is a good starting point, but your body may require slight variations and special requirements to meet its’ specific needs. Consult with us or your chosen health professional to help you determine your body’s’ specific needs.

It is important, with any stretch or activity we perform that we warm up and start with smaller movements first because we always want to be warmed up before we go into deeper movements and stretches. If we have different activities we enjoy doing, like fishing, bowling…, don’t wait for the season, train your body to perform those activities throughout the year.

As we turn to our side to get out of bed we can do a little side stretch by using the back of our elbow or forearm(for more of a stretch) to hold the side of our upper body away from the bed, as the side of our hip and leg rest on the bed. Then move to the foot of the bed to stretch the other side(Image O). 

O.

When you are ready to get out of bed do not kick yourself up if you are lying on your back. You should get out of bed by lying on your side first. It is also important when we are lying on our side before we get out of bed to not push with the elbow we are lying on and use our shoulder muscles. The body is too heavy to be lifted by our shoulder alone and this could cause a shoulder injury. Either side we sleep on is fine, but some people may have an injury that needs to be taken into account. The best way to get out of bed is by lying on our side and allowing our feet to come off the bed while the hand from the top arm pushes off the bed. This will cause our body to teeter on our bottom to a sitting position without having to use our shoulder, stomach, or back(Image P).   

P.        

Once sitting we should take a couple of seconds to sit up tall, engage the core and go through mild gentle range of motion exercises with our neck and back to pump the discs and get them ready for gravity(Image Q). 

Q.

Now it’s time to get up, with our head and shoulders over our hips and our hips over our feet we can stand using our legs. We can also use our hands to push off the top of our legs to keep weight off our back. We want to use our legs as much as possible and our back as little as possible. Getting up from bed can be another winning moment in the quest for the 24-hour workout.

There are 3 ranges of motion our neck (cervical and upper thoracic spine) and back (mid-lower thoracic and lumbar spine) need to be stretched in each and every day. They are flexion(neck:head down/back:bend forward at the waist) and extension(neck:head back/back:body reaching tall), right(neck:tilt right ear towards right shoulder/back:tilt upper body towards right hip) and left(neck:tilt left ear towards left shoulder/back:tilt upper body towards left hip) lateral flexion, and right(neck:turn face towards the right/back:turn chest towards the right) and left(neck:turn face towards the left/back:turn chest towards the left) rotation.