Choosing The Right Pillow & Mattress
FINDING THE RIGHT ONE
We spend on an average of 6-8 hours sleeping every day.
However, quite often, people undervalue the importance of getting the right pillow and mattress. This leads to sore shoulders, sore neck, sore back or other issues.
Sleeping posture should be as neutral as you would standing upright:
The spine should not be curved sideways due to too high or too low of a pillow, and the spine should maintain its lordotic and kyphotic curve with good support from the mattress.
Our major rule for sleeping:
Do not sleep on your belly!!! (common causes of neck pain, headaches or migraine from the long duration of twist in your neck)
Choosing pillow
Make sure your pillow supports your neck and allow your spine to be aligned when you lie on your side.
General trend for trying out new pillows:
Females: Try the low side of a contour pillow first
Males: Try the high side of a contour pillow
It takes 5 to 7 days to get used to a new pillow
On average, change your pillow every 2 to 3 years
Check out our YouTube video for more pillow picking tips!
Choosing Mattresses
A resource we often recommend our patients is bedbuyer.com, they have reviews on different mattresses done by chiropractors
Find a good balance between comfort and support (every person might be different for this!)
Spring mattress can help distribute the force better if you have a partner
Latex mattresses are not the best for people who are hot when they sleep
It takes 3 weeks to 3 months to get used to a new mattress, so be patient 😉
If you noticed your mattress sags or is more than 7-10 years, that’s a sign to change it!
Try this: get someone to observe your sleeping posture because what feels comfortable may not have the right support for your body type.
Watch Dr. Winnie’s (Chiropractor) Facebook live with a mattress shop owner for firsthand tips on picking the suitable mattress.