Pillow Time

Change Your Pillow Like You Change Your Tooth Brush

Do you wake up with neck pain, headaches, muscle spasms or reduced motion in your neck? Its now time to take a look at that pillow you have on your bed.

The average person spends between seven to eight hours every night on their pillow. Knowing when to change your pillow will help you get a restful sleep and keep you healthy.

Top Reasons to Change Your Pillow

1. Allergies

Your favorite pillow holds an entire ecosystem of disgusting bugs and potentially deadly fungi, a new study suggests.

The typical pillow contains more than a million fungal spores, researchers found. That’s several thousand spores for every little gram of material.

Other studies have shown pillows and other bedding harbor dust mites, microscopic spider-like creatures that feed on flakes of human skin.

Research in 2000 by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) concluded that 22 million U.S. homes had bedding with dust mite allergen concentrations exceeding a level thought to trigger asthma symptoms.

2. Support and Firmness

With the average person sleeping over seven hours a night. Head and neck posture during that time can have a huge impact on cervical structures such as neck curvature, muscle strain, and head position. Would you sit with your head bent in an awkward position all day? Why would you not want to have your head in the proper position while sleeping

Pillows can become weak or out of shape over time. Foam pillows can become broken down and start to crumble. This results in little support for your head. If the pillow needs to be shaken to fill in the holes, the pillow should be thrown out and another one purchased. Another way to test a pillow is to fold the pillow in half. The pillow that stays folded or at least takes awhile to return to a flat position is old. This pillow is not performing in the way it is intended and certainly not the way that it was purchased. A pillow that stays folded should be thrown out. If you wake up during the night and feel the need to readjust and fluff your pillow, your body is trying to tell you something. The pillow is definitely not allowing you to get a good night sleep. Absolutely toss this pillow and buy another pillow as soon as you can.

3. The Doctors Recommendation

To reduce the risk of neck pain, headaches, muscle spasms and reduced motion Dr. Josh Koenig recommends a proper cervical pillow that allows your head to drop back to the surface of the bed.

Dr. Koenig recommends Tri Core Pillows to all of his practice members. You can purchase them at his office at a reduced rate.

http://www.coreproducts.com/asp_catalog/catalog.asp?pca=21

So how often do you need to replace a pillow?

At Koenig Family Chiropractic we suggest our practice members to replace their pillows every 8-12 months. This ensures the pillow has the correct support structure and is not full of fungi and other bugs.