When it comes to shopping for new bedding, you might be focusing on which fabrics and styles go with your bedroom décor. However, an important factor to consider is how your purchases will affect your overall health. Despite getting enough hours of sleep, about 35% of Americans report that their quality of sleep is poor. People with insufficient sleep habits are at greater risk for diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and so on.

To improve your sleep quality and your health, one aspect you should focus on is your pillows and pillowcases. Take a look at how your pillow choices affect your health and how to pick the right ones for your needs.

How Do Pillows Affect Your Health and Sleep Quality?

The wrong pillow can exacerbate allergies, strain your muscles, and worsen sleep apnea.

Allergies

Some pillows aren't airy enough can become mildewy and end up being a breeding ground for dust mites - tiny bugs that can cause worsen asthma symptoms, such as wheezing, and allergy symptoms, such as sneezing and hay fever.

Muscle Pain

Your pillow should be filled with materials that provide adequate support. Pillows that are too tough or too soft and flat can hyper-extend the neck and cause pain and poor sleep.

Sleep Apnea

If you have sleep apnea, then the pillow you use can hinder your mask if you use CPAP equipment - especially if you are a side sleeper.

How Do You Solve These Health Issues?

If you have allergies, thankfully, you have lots of options for hypoallergenic bedding to choose from. Memory foam pillows or feather pillow are good choices for people with allergies because they repel mold and dust mites compared to cotton and wool.

Feather pillows can be better than polyester for some people, especially if your allergies can cause sensitivities to chemicals. Ironically, however, some people are allergic to the feathers themselves, so if that's the case, you could opt for a hypoallergenic outer covering or choose cotton a synthetic-down imitation filling.

Do you need more support to avoid muscle strain and headaches? Polyester pillows can be good choices since they are plush and offer solid support. And they come in various levels of firmness so that you can find the right fit for you.

Besides choosing the right material - like down or polyester, you need to choose the right pillow shape. For instance, if you have sleep apnea, you can choose a pillow with cutouts that your mask can fit nicely into so it isn't compressed or knocked off during sleep.

Side-sleepers, stomach sleepers, and back sleepers all need different shapes of pillows. For instance, side sleepers need firm pillows so their neck doesn't overextend. Stomach and back sleepers may do better with softer materials and flatter pillows.

Why Are Care Instructions Important When it Comes to Your Health?

If you've found the perfect pillow and pillowcase, then you may not give too much thought about care instructions, but they are important. If you don't take good care of the product, then the filler and case material could build up allergens and/or become less supportive for your head and neck. For example, feather pillows are very comfy and airy, but they can break down quickly and the feathers can poke through the pillow if you don't have a well-stitched tight weave fabric.

Ask your bedding supplier about the proper ticking for your pillow; the ticking is the tightly woven linen that will protect the filling and prevent your pillow from breaking down, thus protecting your muscles from poor support.

Do you understand washing instructions? If you wash a fabric that doesn't dry easily, it can attract mold; you need to know which of your pillows needs dry cleaning. If you want to wash your pillows often to decrease dust allergens, then polyester pillows can be good choices since they can be machine-washed and they dry quickly.

As you can see, your sleep quality and healthy can improve if you find the right pillow; but, once you have your pillows, you need to properly care for them so that their health benefits aren't eliminated. Reach out to us at Genie's Drapery Service for more help picking out pillows and other bedding.