Every day nowadays I seem to be waking up with a pain in the neck, and I think the problem is with pillows. And thinking about it, I think i’ve figurd out where the problem lies. It’s with the fundamental concept of pillows itself.
So the basic funda is that the ideal height of the pillow is different when you lie on your back than when it is when you lie on one side! One look at the human body will explain why. If you’re not convinced, just go look at yourself in the nearest full-length mirror. First, stand facing the mirror and look at yourself. Next, look at your profile. And you’ll know what I’m talking about.
So basically when you lie on your back, you need a fairly thin pillow – assuming that like in all humans the neck is only slightly in front of the back (in fact this is the biggest difference between humans and monkeys – the angle between the head and the torso) so you’ll only need to compensate for this small difference. So if you’re the types that normally lies down on the back you need only a small pillow.
Now, if at some point during the night you flip over on to one side, you suddenly need a much thicker pillow, since now the pillow needs to compensate for the width of your shoulder!! And considering NED happens to change pillow when you’re rolling over in bed in the middle of the night so you end up sleeping with a pillow much thinner than what you need and wake up with a pain in the neck!
I wonder why no one has come up with any studmax invention to solve this problem. And I don’t know what the solution to this is. Assuming you are the types who can roll over 90 degrees in teh middle of the night what is the optimal size of the pillow you should use? And is there any other configuration through which you can effectively manage this problem?
I don’t know whether they are available in India but here in Dubai you do get pillows for different kind of sleeping styles (side, stomach, back)..
Same problem. I use two pillows, one thin and one thick. I start with sleeping on the back. The thick one is placed is strategically so that when roll over to my right side, my face is now using the thick one.
I sleep on my stomach, on my back and on my side depending on how i am feeling..this used to affect me a lot as i change positions several times at night.
Solution
I use a thin soft pillow..if i sleep on my back it works fine. If i sleep on my side i fold the pillow in half.it becomes like a triangle and i can use it to alter the thickness as required.of i use the pillow vertically..or i put my hand under the pillow and sleep normally…i am so used to it now my body does it automatically
“in fact this is the biggest difference between humans and monkeys – the angle between the head and the torso”- lol
Hey .. I dont use a pillow and it works just fine.. After a couple of days you should feel comfortable..
two solutions:
1. there should be a pillow that is thin in the middle and thick on the sides. We can use the thin center when lying on the back and the higher side ones when sleeping sideways.
The height should be more like as shown below(the pillow and the bed)
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2. Use a towel as a pillow, flexible enough to fold into two. I use this during train travel.
I live in Hong Kong. There is a pillow available here that is thin in the centre and thicker on the sides. Works beautifully!