How to Use a Body Pillow Properly in Simple 10 Ways?

Pillows are used mainly to support your head. But you can also use pillows for your hips or to raise your feet. But what’s a body pillow? Is it hard to figure out how to use a body pillow? How do they help you sleep?

Those are good questions, and we have the answers you want. The most important answer is that they may be able to help you improve the quality of your sleep, if you can learn to How to Use a Body Pillow properly.

A body pillow doesn’t look much like a regular standard pillow. They’re usually large enough to match the regular height of a person. What these body pillows do is to assist your body into the proper sleep postures so that you can feel comfortable, sleep well, and wake up refreshed and pain-free in the morning.

Body pillows are viable options for those who need to sleep on their back, but they’re used to different sleeping positions. Another type can make side sleepers more comfortable as well. Some are meant to offer pain relief. Other types are designed primarily for pregnant women.

How to Use a Body Pillow?

Using the body pillow properly depends greatly on your favorite sleeping position, and how the body pillow was designed. Basically, they’re meant to either help you attain the right sleeping position or it’s to reduce the inherent drawbacks of the position in which you sleep on.

1. Back Sleepers

Back Sleepers

For most people, sleeping on your back is the best for the health. It keeps your spine properly aligned, and you’re able to breathe more easily. Your weight is spread out. It can even help with your cardiovascular system and reduce problems with acid reflux.

Not everyone sleeps this way, though. But a body pillow can help you stay on your back when you sleep. It can also match the contours of your body and make sure your spine is kept properly aligned.

2. Side Sleepers

While sleeping on your back is best for most people, it’s not for everyone. Some people just like to sleep on their side, and there’s a body pillow designed for those people. If you sleep on your side, you can just hug the body pillow to let your arm and your leg rest comfortably over the pillow. Your arm and leg won’t hang awkwardly, and your knees won’t knock together.

Some types of body pillows even assist your body into sleeping on the side. This type of pillow is great for those who suffer from sleep apnea (stopping breathing temporarily while sleeping). The pillow can also provide proper support for a pregnant woman to sleep on their side, as doctors may recommend that they don’t sleep on their back.

3. Customizing Your Body Pillow

Some body pillows can be customized by unzipping the cover and removing the amount of fill you need to get the pillow into the shape and form you want. This allows you to adjust the form of the pillow, and perhaps you can even adjust its height.

Customizing your pillow offers similar benefits to having your suit or dress tailored to your body shape and preferences. When you’ve customized it properly, a body pillow maximizes your comfort and minimizes your pain. You get just the right “feel” that you want for your pillow.

Of course, it helps when you get the right body pillow right from the start. Here’s how you do that:

4. Pick the Shape of the Pillow You Need

Pillows come in several shapes:

  • I-shaped pillows. These are often long and narrow, and they’re meant to be hugged by side sleepers. It lets your arm rest at the right angle and they support your knees too. These can also offer relief from back pain as it can help realign your shoulders and your back.
  • U-shaped pillows. These are used in the inverted “U” position, so that the curve is at the head of the mattress. This curve serves as the pillow for your head. The other parts of the U-pillow then wrap around your body. With this, when you settle in to position (either on your back or on your side), the arms of the U-pillow jeeps you from turning your body when you sleep.
  • J-shaped pillows. The J-pillows has the curve supporting your head, while you hug the stem of the pillow like you would with the I-pillow.

5. What’s the Material of the Pillow?

What’s the Material of the Pillow

Pillows can be made from many types of materials. In general, you’re better off with natural and organic materials, although some types of advanced synthetic “down” fill can offer many advantages.

6. Choose a Cover

It’s best that you have a removable cover for your pillow, so that they’re easier to clean. You can choose designs on the cover to personalize the pillow too. But just make sure they feel good for you, instead of scratchy and irritating.

7. Try It Out

The best body pillow for you isn’t the most expensive, nor is it recommended to just get the cheapest one you can find. It’s not about the number of people who has bought a particular type, or how many rave reviews a particular type has received.

Instead, it’s about how you feel about it. It’s great if you feel comfortable and relaxed when you use it, you fall asleep quickly, and you don’t feel body aches in the morning.

That’s why you need to try it out first. Buy a pillow with a proper “satisfaction guaranteed” return policy. Try it, and return it if you don’t like it.

8. Body Pillows versus Down Pillows:

Body Pillows versus Down Pillows

Down pillows refer to the luxurious feathers than can be found in certain expensive pillows. But a body pillow is not just about the fill inside. It’s about the design of the pillow and how it can support your whole body, not just your head.

  1. Pain Relief Pillows. Most down pillows are meant for you to feel comfortable. But some body pillows are specifically designed to
  2. Soft vs Firm Pillows. While soft pillows may be comfy, they may not offer the support you need. If you tend to wake up feeling uncomfortable when you sleep with a soft pillow, it may be time to shift to a firmer pillow.
  3. Pillows for Special Needs. Check out the body pillows that are designed for special needs. Whether the issue is that you’re pregnant, you have arthritis, or you’re just getting older, there’s a pillow waiting for you.
  4. Body pillows for maximum comfort. Maximum comfort means waking up pain-free. If a down pillow fails to give you that in the morning, you better switch to a body pillow.
  5. Body Pillows with Memory Foam. This helps to conform to your shape and avoiding putting painful pressure points.
  6. Body Pillows for Pregnancy. There are body pillows for pregnant women to help them sleep comfortably on their sides.

9. Body Pillows are Not for Everyone

The body pillow is actually meant to help you feel more comfortable and to provide pain relief. But some people actually end up feeling aches and pains in the morning because they used a body pillow. If that’s the case, you ought to stop using that body pillow right away.

The problem may be because you’re using the wrong model, or the wrong type of body pillow. You may not even be suited for any type of body pillow at all. It happens. You may want to talk to your doctor so that you can get professional advice regarding the right type of pillow for you.

10. Body Pillow Benefits

There are quite a few notable benefits to using a body pillow, though that depends on what type you buy.

  1. It can help keep your spine aligned.
  2. It can provide relief for your pressure points.
  3. You may feel less stressed when you use a body pillow.
  4. The right pillow can keep you from tossing and turning.
  5. It can provide the right support for pregnant women and mothers with infants.

So you’ve bought a mattress specifically designed for your sleeping position and weight. You’ve even bought down pillows that feel utterly luxurious and comfy. If they’re not enough, a body pillow may just be the solution for your sleeping issues. Try to get a handle on what your problem is, and then the body pillow designed for that specific problem. Whether you’re a side sleeper or you sleep on your back, there’s a body pillow out there that can really cradle you gently into sleep.

If you have any more questions on How to Use a Body Pillow, please leave us a comment. We will try to answer it.

Billy L. Osorio
 

My name is Billy. I am a computer engineer by profession. So, most of my work is on the desk. In my past days, I had many back pain issues due to a long time sitting, eating, working habit. I did a lot of studies and consulting for overcoming my problem. Now, I am trying to share my knowledge.

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