Improve your health with the proper pillow

These days, life seems to rush along at an increasingly fast pace while appreciation of proper sleep habits seems to diminish at the same speed. We start our day with too much caffeine and end it with too little sleep. The natural consequence of this is insomnia and other sleep problems. Chiropractors have all likely seen their fair share of patients with stiff necks, shoulders or backs due to "sleeping funny." This can be a double whammy, as an uncomfortable pillow may not only exacerbate existing sleeping problems, but also can undo all the good done by an adjustment. In an effort to help you experience a more restful night.
Often times a persons current pillow may be so familiar to them that they have no idea how much better they could feel with a new one that properly supports them. As Lisa Lounsbrough of Pivotal Health Solutions located in Watertown, S.C. noted, Keep in mind that if people have been sleeping on an old filled or flattened-out pillow, a more supportive pillow may take several nights to get used to as the body readjusts to correct alignment. They should begin getting adjusted by their doctor prior to using their new orthopedic pillow.
Kend Greenawalt, president and CEO of Roanoke, VA- based Foot Levelers, agreed that it may take time for a person to get used to a new pillow. As he explained, A pillow with proper corrective support may initially feel less comfortable than 'old squishy,' but the benefits of improved sleep posture by way of a properly supported cervical pillow will reveal themselves to the person in due course.
As you know, people come in all shapes and sizes, as Charles Halley, DC, with Heavenly Pillow and Mattress in Tampa, Fla., explained that the person's height will determine the best contour pillow to suit their needs: "The average person will take a 4 1/2-inch-thick pillow; that is usually somebody from 5'6 to 5'll. Taller people will take a 5-inch pillow and people shorter than 5'6' will take a 4-inch pillow. This is all based on your height being relative to the width of your shoulders. This is not always true, but it does hold 90 percent of the time."
Leslie Edwards of Therapeutica, based in Ontario, Canada, explained that two of the biggest culprits for many of these conditions are immobility and gravity. According to Edwards, this becomes important when trying to explain things in terms people will understand.
She explained, "A good portion of your day is spent immobile. If you add the hours you spend sleeping, sitting at the office, travelling to work, sitting at mealtimes and in front of a television or computer, you will get a number between 20 and 22 hours per day. Immobility is not in itself bad; everyone needs to physically rest. The issue is that our backs were designed to support the survival of an active individual. Thwenty hours a day of immobility was never in the plan. Gravity bears down on us 24 hours a day whether ware mobile or immobile. Damage is caused by the cumulative stress from incorrectlyu positionaing our back during the meany hours we are immobile."
Of course people will want to know exactly what conditions might be helped by trading in their favorite pillow for a brand- new one. As Nagel explained, There are many conditions a proper orthopedic pillow can help resolve, but the first consideration is ensuring that people can have a resful and god night's sleep. Proper and adequate sleep will help restore energy and allow a body to heal naturally. Conditions that may be helped or improved byuse of an orthopedic pillow include
-general neck pain/stiffness
-sleep apnea
-snoring
-whiplash
-breathing difficulty
-acid reflux
-blood circulation issues
-back pain
-shoulder injuries
-sciatica
-tension headaches
and more.
Experts recommend sleeping on the back or side, rather than face down.
As Edwards (Therapeutica) noted, Your sleep environment is essential to quality sleep. Some of these things can be easily addressed; the amount of light, noise and temperature in you're room. Your mattress and pillow play a vital role in the quantity and quality of sleep you achieve. People should be educated to understand this value. A pillow that offers no support to the neck or upper back is an impediment to quality sleep.

Artican by DCPI Staff