One of my friends here at Penn State swears to me up and down that sleeping without a pillow betters a persons posture. At first, I was skeptical of this thought because to me it just didn’t make sense. I am 18 years old and I have always slept with a pillow, how could it be bad for me?
It turns out she is right to a certain degree. Sleeping without a pillow can better your posture and ease your neck of pain. This is the case if you regularly sleep on your back. When you sleep without pillows, you are able to move around more and not have to fight against pillows. Resting your neck on a pillow when you sleep on your back encourages you to curl forward and it teaches your back to slouch and curve. According to Sleep Mentor, the constant curvature of the spine when sleeping with the pillow, can cause misalignment of the spine and can become permanent.
Using a pillow when you sleep on your side or stomach is crucial. The pillow supports your your neck and keeps you from straining the muscles in your neck. Sleeping with pillows also helps a person to fall asleep faster because they are comforted by the cushioning.
To me, I believe that it is 100% preference if you decide to sleep with or without a pillow. There is science behind the positives and negatives to using pillows and to not using pillows, it is a matter of what suites an individual best. Because I am a side sleeper, I will continue to sleep with my pillows.
This actually makes so much sense! I sleep on my back with a pillow but I have been tending to wake up with my back hurting and I have been noticing myself slouching more and more. I’ll try sleeping without a pillow tonight! Thanks!
Hello, my name is Stephanie! I had never heard of or thought that a pillow could really affect one’s posture. As I think about it, I can start to see how this is a valid point to make. Unfortunately, I have been known to have bad posture as I often slouch. I am starting to think that I should consider not using a pillow at night. The neck pain caused from the pillows makes sense as I have woken up having pain. I realized by pillow was positioned oddly, causing the issue to occur. I found an article in which states that pillows may also be responsible for wrinkles. http://www.webmd.com/beauty/wrinkles/aging-skin-do-you-look-older-than-you-should . It seems like pillows may do more harm than good at this rate.
I found this to be extremely interesting because I hate sleeping with pillows. All my roommates think I’m so weird but I honestly hate them. I find them to be very uncomfortable. I find I get my best sleep when I sleep without them and my head is resting flat on my mattress. I found an article that doesn’t recommend not sleeping with them but doesn’t recommend it either. Good Sleeping Posture This article believes it has to do with the right mattress and pillow that you select for yourself and that’s the sole reason why you might have pain or other complaints while sleeping. Personally, I believe it’s a matter of preference as to whether you like sleeping with one or not and the level of comfort we feel while we sleep.