Each person spends too much time in a dream not to pay much attention to the choice of bedding, of which the pillow is quite important. The question of whether to choose a hard or soft pillow is not easy. Your sleep, and even your health, can depend on this choice. So what are the pros and cons of these pillows?
Medium firmness pillows vs. soft pillows
It is known that a soft pillow is considered more comfortable. People prefer to sleep on it for the reason that it adapts well to the shape of the head as if wrapped around it. At the same time, it does not create excessive pressure on the head and does not interfere with blood circulation and blood supply to the brain. There is no doubt, of course, for many people a soft pillow is more comfortable than a hard one. However, does this mean that it is better than a medium pillow? The answer is not straightforward. Many soft pillows, due to the fact that they are strongly compressed under the weight of the head, do not support the head in the optimal anatomical position. As a result, the vertebrae are in the wrong position, which can ultimately lead to unpleasant consequences.
A medium firmness pillow does not wrinkle so much and, with the correct selection of rigidity and shape, ensures the correct position of the vertebrae. However, getting used to such a pillow can be difficult.
In addition, how a person is accustomed to sleeping can influence the choice of stiffness. For example, those who are accustomed to sleeping on their side often complain that the next morning they have a sore ear. This is understandable because the whole night it withstood the weight of the head, which strongly pressed it against the pillow. And although such a consequence is not life-threatening, it can cause night awakenings, nightmares, and several rather unpleasant minutes immediately after awakening. Not the best mood for the day ahead.
Pillow sizes UK
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51 cm x 76 cm (Oxford).
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51 cm x 86 cm (Standard).
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51 cm x 102 cm (King).
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65 cm square (European).
Firm pillows: choose and use in the UK
Today, the Internet raises pillows of medium firm into the category of absolute good. What is behind this, real medical research or a clever marketing move, everyone decides for themselves. It is difficult to find references to fairly extensive, representative, randomized medical trials conducted according to all the rules, the results of which are accepted by the scientific community or at least published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.
However, a hard pillow may still be required when a doctor recommends it. In this case, you will have to come to terms with the inconveniences, especially since most people still get used to them.
In addition, there are quite a lot of pillows of various densities on the market today. This allows you to choose a pillow of a certain medium density, closer to soft or closer to hard. It is important that you feel comfortable and that your head does not sag.
It is important to remember that an incorrectly selected pillow height or the habit of sleeping incorrectly can lead to a disruption of the blood supply to the brain. The consequences can be both short-term and passing (headache), and long-term accumulating (deterioration of the brain, atherosclerosis, etc.).
Today there is another compromise opportunity - the purchase of orthopedic pillows with adjustable stiffness. This became possible due to the fact that the pillow actually consists of three pillows, three layers. Two pillows are soft and one is hard. To get a hard pillow, the hard layer must be on top, and one of the soft layers must be removed. For a medium-hard pillow, a soft layer should be placed on top, and for maximum softness, the top two layers should be soft. Thanks to this choice, you can not only make yourself a pillow of optimal rigidity but also change the rigidity and height of the pillow at your discretion.
