Here’s What Sleeping with a Wedge Pillow Can Do for Your Health
Are you looking to get better sleep? What if you could improve your sleep and your health with one simple change to your bedroom? You can — just add a wedge pillow.
Sleeping on a wedge pillow elevates your upper body gently, and it’s believed that this can relieve a range of health problems exacerbated by lying flat. It could stop your snoring, treat your upper back pain, help you manage your glaucoma, and more. Let’s take a look at the health benefits of wedge pillows.
Curb Snoring and Prevent Sleep Apnea
When you fall into deep sleep, the soft tissues in the back of your throat relax completely. They can relax so much that they block your airways, resulting in snoring. But if you sleep with your upper body slightly elevated on a wedge pillow, gravity itself keeps those soft tissues in the right position, so you’re not keeping your bed partner up all night.
Nor will you be as likely to wake up with sleep apnea. Some people who snore can actually stop breathing for short periods in the night, a serious disorder called sleep apnea. Sleeping elevated keeps your airways clear to protect against sleep apnea as well as snoring.
Treat Neck and Back Pain
If you suffer from neck and back pain, keeping your spine aligned and supported during sleep can help, but lying down flat on a mattress makes it hard to support your spine that way. Instead, sleeping slightly elevated on a wedge pillow can help you stack your hips and shoulders so that your spine is aligned and you wake up pain-free.
If you have lower back pain, on the other hand, you can still use a wedge pillow to treat it. Those with lower back pain will benefit from placing a wedge pillow under the knees, elevating the knees and supporting the lower legs and feet. You could even use wedge pillows to achieve the zero gravity position, with one wedge pillow elevating the upper body and a second wedge pillow elevating the knees.
Prevent Sinus Trouble
If you suffer from sinus problems or a cough caused by post-nasal drip, sleeping slightly elevated on a wedge pillow can help your sinuses drain completely, so that mucus doesn’t pool in the back of your throat the way it does when you sleep flat on your back. That means no more coughing during the day, and less sinus pressure. Even if you just have a cold or flu, sleeping on a wedge pillow can help ease sinus symptoms.
Relieve Eye Pressure
Glaucoma is a disorder in which high levels of pressure inside the eye damage the optic nerve and can cause vision loss. Lying flat can increase the level of pressure inside the eye, so it’s advised that patients with glaucoma sleep in an elevated position on a wedge pillow.
Provide Sleep Support for Pregnancy
When you’re pregnant, the most comfortable sleeping position may be on your side. But you need support for your knees and for your pregnant belly as it grows.
Tucking a wedge pillow between your knees can provide support for both. Use the wide end of the wedge to support your knees, with the narrower end facing towards and supporting your belly. Or stuff another pillow between your knees and wedge the narrow side of the wedge pillow under your belly from the side for more support.
Ease Heartburn
If you have gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), you might wake up in the night coughing and choking on stomach acid that has flowed back up your esophagus. You could easily lie awake with heartburn symptoms.
Sleeping with your upper body elevated on a wedge pillow takes advantage of gravity to help keep your stomach acids where they belong. It can relieve your symptoms of nighttime heartburn so you have fewer incidents of acid reflux during the night.
If you’re struggling with back and neck pain, acid reflux, glaucoma, sinus pressure, or sleeping during pregnancy, you should try out a wedge pillow. Wedge pillows are available in a range of heights and sizes to accommodate people of all heights and shapes. A wedge pillow can help you sleep better, keep you from snoring, and even flips up into a comfortable lounging cushion when you want to watch TV or use your laptop in bed. Get your own set of wedge pillows, and find out just how much more comfortable you could be.
