One of my major goals as we started the New Year was to improve the overall quality and length of my sleep.
I know full-well the benefits of quality sleep when it comes to my training, recovery and my overall well-being.
But, like many of you, getting enough quality sleep isn’t always easy.
Something always seems to get in the way of good sleep; getting to bed late because of family or work, needing to get up super early to fit in training, or sometimes just tossing and turning all happen on a far-too-consistent basis.
So I wanted to examine getting better sleep from all angles; pre-bed routines, supplements, best practices, and how to improve sleep quality.
Over the next few weeks you’ll see a lot of content on our end about how to get better sleep, from podcasts to videos and articles. I’ve already started implementing a lot of what I’ve learned from research studies as well as our expert podcast guests and it’s made a huge difference.
Today, we’re going to start by looking at the research studies on pillow selection and dig into the data on how little things like pillow fill, contour, and height can have a huge impact on your quality of sleep.
How Much Does a Pillow Impact Your Sleep?
I knew for me, that one of the first things I needed to work on was sleep quality.
Not only have I felt at times that even after 8 hours of sleep I didn’t wake up well-rested, I know that getting to bed earlier, etc won’t matter much if I am not getting restful, deep sleep.
One thing that kept popping up as I began my research on sleep quality was how much of an impact your pillow makes on restful sleep.
In fact, one elite runner, Caitlin Keen, posted the data from her Whoop that showed her deep, restorative sleep increased by 52 minutes after she switched her pillow to one matched to her sleep profile.
So, I started digging into the research about what aspects of a pillow are most important and how much impact they can have on sleep quality.
In short, the research consistently showed four “characteristics” of pillows make the most impact on sleep quality: (1) the type of filling used; (2) temperature regulation; (3) sleep position; and (4) pillow height.
To help you dive in more, let’s take a look at the research on each of these characteristics.
What’s Your Pillow Made Of?
Pillows are generally made out of three materials: feather, microfiber/polyethylene, or memory foam.
Luckily, there have been a few studies conducted on which type of filling is best.
Most studies have found that pillows with a feather filling are the worst when it comes to sleep quality and comfort. For example, this 2011 paper concluded that “feather pillow users provided consistently low reports of pillow comfort and sleep quality.”
This was attributed to lack of cervical (neck) support and the inability to regulate temperature (more on this below).
On the other hand, most studies agree that memory foam filling offers the best and most consistent neck support and temperature regulation, thus leading to the most optimal sleep quality.
Thus, when choosing your next pillow, look for something with memory foam to increase your comfort.
Pillow Temperature
Related to filling, your pillow’s ability to regulate your body temperature plays a critical role during sleep.
This is because your sympathetic nervous system is less excited and calmer in cooler conditions, especially during sleep. This leads to deeper sleep.
As mentioned above, the filling of your pillow can have an impact on head temperature when sleeping.
Feather pillows performed the worst and memory foam pillows performed the best when compared to the most common types of pillow filling.
Another consideration to pillow temperature I found in the research was “head to pillow contact area”. Basically, ventilation and cooling are slowed when more of your head is touching the pillow.
Researchers posit that pillows that mold around the head and neck area may feel more comfortable initially, but lead to impaired sleep because they “decrease the air circulation and prevents thermal dissipation to the surroundings, ultimately increasing the temperature of the pillow.”
To combat this, researchers recommend pillow filling that is breathable and also one that contours to your sleeping position.
Sleep Position and Pillow Height
One thing I definitely didn’t realize before embarking on my pillow-research rabbit hole is that side sleepers and back sleepers need different pillows.
This has to do with how the pillow needs to support the neck while sleeping.
People who sleep on their sides generally need a thicker pillow to fill the space between their heads and shoulders.
Back sleepers don’t need as much loft (pillow thickness) as side sleepers, but the pillow should be thick enough to keep the head elevated. Otherwise, you may be more likely to snore or develop neck pain.
Most research points to side sleepers finding a pillow loft of 5 inches or more to be optimal whereas back sleepers usually find optimal comfort with a pillow loft of 3 to 5 inches.
Final Recommendations
I was thoroughly surprised when I began really digging into the research on pillows.
I obviously knew a high quality pillow could make a huge difference in sleep quality (as does anyone who has ever slept on a poor quality pillow in a hotel), but I didn’t realize how individualized a pillow could be to different sleep positions and preferences.
After reviewing the research, it seems the best option is to choose a pillow made from higher quality materials and one you can adjust to your sleep position, especially the option to add and remove fill.
One of the best options I found on the market is from Lagoon.
Lagoon specializes in making pillows designed specifically for runners and athletes to help them optimize their sleep and recovery.
What I liked most is that they have you take a sleep quiz that helps pair you with the perfect pillow for you based on sleep position, body size and more.
Being the data nerd I am, I also wanted to test to see how much of a difference a quality pillow could make on my sleep quality. So, I got to testing with my apple watch.
Using my old pillow, my apple watch data showed that I woke up an average of 6 times each night and spent 2 hours in deep sleep.
When I switched to the Lagoon pillow matched for me my average number of times waking dropped to 2 per night and my deep sleep increased by 45 minutes.
Both “experiments” were conducted in two week blocks so I could ensure any outlier data didn’t throw off the numbers. In my opinion, this is a huge result considering an extra 45 minutes of deep sleep per night adds up, especially over the course of weeks and months.
I for one am definitely glad I dig into the research. I hope this deep dive also has you examining your pillow choice and making sure you have the optimal filling, firmness and height for your sleeping preferences.
