Sleep is essential for general well-being. It promotes relaxation, helping you recharge. Experts advise adults to have at least seven-hour sleep every night to reap its benefits.
Obtaining quality sleep requires effort, or you’ll experience pain and discomfort resulting from poor posture. For instance, poor sleep posture is linked with back and neck pain. If your spine doesn’t maintain a neutral posture as you sleep, you’re a candidate for such discomfort.
Fortunately, due to the need to maintain a better sleeping posture, designers have developed excellent pillows, such as buckwheat and millet pillows. These pillows are famous for their breathability and adjustable nature. They’re also durable and sustainable.
Suppose you’re looking to invest in buckwheat or millet pillows. You should continue reading to learn more about these pillows, including how to use them.
What Is A Buckwheat Pillow?
Buckwheat pillows originated in Japan and slowly gained popularity in East Asian countries. Currently, many people have accepted the pillows due to their level of comfort. They can also minimize the chances of developing health issues resulting from poor sleeping postures.
As the name suggests, buckwheat pillows are filled with buckwheat hulls for a firmer and easily conforming nature to provide much-needed support. A buckwheat pillow is adjustable since you can remove or add the hulls to your specific needs.
While buckwheat pillows are among the best, it requires patience to get used to them, primarily if you’ve always used foam, down, or other alternatives. This video provides more information about a buckwheat pillow:
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What Is A Millet Pillow?
Millet pillows are filled with millet hulls. These hulls are ideal for trapping and circulating the air. Due to their breathability, millet pillows are suitable for different weather.
Millet pillows come in three sizes. Every size provides a different level of comfort, and an individual can use two different types of millet pillows simultaneously.
The smallest millet pillow is ideal for lumber support. You can also put a small millet pillow on top of another pillow for extra neck support. As far as the medium millet pillow is concerned, it provides neck and head support. A large millet pillow supports the neck, head, and shoulders.
How To Use Buckwheat And Millet Pillows
Using buckwheat or millet pillow is similar to other traditional pillows. However, the difference in using these pillows lies in the level of comfort. For instance, a conventional pillow doesn’t allow the fillings to shift to enhance comfort. On the other hand, buckwheat and millet pillows offer that option. Like buckwheat, millet pillows enable you to alter the hulls until you attain an ideal body-conforming version of them.
Suppose you can’t get enough sleep, wake up to crunched shoulders, or experience discomfort in your back. Your pillow might be the root cause. In that case, investing in a buckwheat or millet pillow might be a good decision.
When using these pillows, lie down to feel if they offer the support you’re yearning for. If not, determine if they need to be lowered or require additional fillings. If after using either a buckwheat or millet pillow, you still experience issues with your shoulders, the pillow might be leaving some space between the head and the shoulders. To correct such an issue, add more hulls until the pillow is firm enough to support the head, neck, and shoulders.
Whether using a buckwheat or millet pillow, it’s essential to ensure you position your entire body correctly. Failure to do so will lead to discomfort. Straightening your spine will positively impact your back and neck comfort. It’s therefore advisable to use extra pillows to support your arms and legs since they, too, play a significant role in your spine alignment.
For example, while using an under-the-head pillow, you can also practice hugging a smaller pillow to align your arms and upper back. When you sleep on your side, a between-the-knees pillow will elevate your hips, reducing stress on the spine.
Using A Buckwheat Or Millet Pillow As A Back Sleeper
If you’re a back sleeper, you’re probably familiar with the discomfort of sleeping on a poor pillow. If you don’t wake up to tense neck muscles, you’ll likely experience back pain after lying down. Unfortunately, sleeping on the back is among the most common sleeping postures. For this reason, many people are likely to experience discomfort after waking up.
When lying on your back, typical pillows may not properly fill the gap between the head and the shoulders. Therefore, your neck will likely bend downwards or upwards, resulting in muscle strain. Luckily, buckwheat and millet pillows don’t leave any space under the neck due to their adjustable ability. As a result, you maintain the correct sleeping posture throughout the sleeping period. Don’t forget to ensure your pillow is thick enough to provide unbeatable neck and back comfort.
Using A Buckwheat Or Millet Pillow As A Side Sleeper
Sleeping on the wrong pillow can cause sleep-associated health issues for side sleepers. Many side sleepers who don’t use sleeping pillows or use poor-quality pillows experience severe back and neck pain from time to time. Since this is the most common sleeping position, many side sleepers enjoy their sleep using high-quality pillows such as buckwheat or millet pillows.
Using A Buckwheat Or Millet Pillow As A Stomach Sleeper
While many people sleep on their stomachs, avoiding this position is advisable since it challenges maintaining the correct spinal position.
This position places your head and spine unnaturally, resulting in restless sleep full of back and neck pain. However, if you must sleep on your stomach, your buckwheat or millet pillows should have as few hulls as possible, contrary to cushions for back and side sleepers.
Although it may seem difficult to control how you sleep, making small changes can have significant benefits. Start by positioning your body in a neutral alignment, keeping your head and neck straight to ensure proper spinal alignment.
This position is easily achievable and can be supported by buckwheat and millet pillows for back and side sleepers. This is because these pillows are designed to conform to your sleeping position whenever you move when sleeping. Avoiding sleeping on your stomach is advisable since even the best pillows are unlikely to offer excellent neck, head, and spine comfort in this position.
What Are The Benefits Of Using Buckwheat And Millet Pillows?
Buckwheat and millet pillows aren’t just simple pillows. They come with lots of benefits lacking in typical pillows. The benefits associated with using buckwheat and millet pillows include the following:
They Maintain Proper Temperature
Nothing is more heartbreaking than failing to sleep well in summer due to lying on a pillow that increases the temperature. Also, you wouldn’t want to spend a long night on a cold pillow in winter. Fortunately, these fears are eradicated when using buckwheat or millet pillows. These pillows remain cool, providing better grounds for perfect sleep regardless of the season.
It’s vital to mention that your body temperature rises and falls occasionally. After a long working day, your body temperature begins to fall in the evening, and the trend continues in the first hours of sleep. As you prepare to wake up in the morning, the temperature begins to rise.
Suppose your body temperature increases at night due to warm duvets and typical pillows. The discomfort causes you to wake up before your usual waking time. Fortunately, unlike typical pillows, buckwheat and millet pillows are breathable and allow perfect air circulation to help you feel comfortable and cool.
They Last Long
When it comes to improving the quality of your sleep, you want to invest in a long-lasting solution. Luckily, this is precisely what you get when you invest in buckwheat and millet pillows.
Buckwheat hull pillows are heavy and can weigh up to 10 lbs when full. The hulls are so heavy that they can tear weak casing. Nevertheless, manufacturers are aware of this, hence the reason for using high-quality, durable cases.
While the hulls are likely to break and lose shape with time resulting in flatter pillows, proper care and maintenance are the cornerstone for their prolonged use. In fact, with good care, buckwheat and millet pillows can last for several years before the hulls begin to break down.
You should also note that crushed hulls don’t mean the pillows cease to offer comfort. If your buckwheat hulls get crushed, they offer a sensation similar to millet pillows.
They Provide Back Alignment And Reduce Pain
Your sleeping position can negatively or positively affect your spine. It can facilitate better sleep or cause strain, pain, and injuries. To always wake up without pain, ensure your spine remains as neutral as possible for the entire sleeping period. Again, maintaining a neutral spine depends on how you sleep, which comes down to which pillow you use.
While aligning your spine using a pillow sounds simple, many pillows can’t provide adequate support. For instance, sleeping on an overfilled fiber pillow can twist your neck, interfering with your spine alignment. On the other hand, if your pillow isn’t well-filled, your head will sink, resulting in a poor sleeping posture that can cause neck and back pain.
Fortunately, buckwheat and millet pillows offer unbeatable support for proper alignment. They’re firm and remain the same throughout the night. Additionally, they’re adjustable to enable you to get the right size for your needs. With a perfect pillow, your spine remains neutral, resulting in better, pain-free sleep.
They Prevent Dust Mite Allergies
Allergies are among the leading causes of respiratory health issues. Unfortunately, allergens aren’t only found outside; they can be closer than you imagine. For example, dust mites are the most common allergens living on carpets, mattresses, curtains, and pillows. These allergens thrive under dark, moist conditions, especially in areas that aren’t regularly cleaned. For this reason, dust mites are likely to prefer living in your pillows.
You don’t have to worry about these allergens if you’re using buckwheat or millet pillow. Dust mites are unlikely to live in such pillows since they’re breathable and don’t encourage moisture accumulation. Due to their hypoallergenic and antibacterial nature, buckwheat and millet pillows enhance sleep quality and make breathing easier.
They Provide Support When Working
You’re probably familiar with the importance of maintaining an upright posture when sitting. Unfortunately, many people ignore this importance, making back pain severe by forcing the spine to be straight. To avoid stressing your spine and ensure it remains neutral when sitting, placing a good quality pillow at the lower back is advisable. This method allows for natural spinal alignment and promotes good posture by supporting the lower back.
Regarding using a pillow to support your sitting position, it’s vital to avoid using just any pillow. Instead, settle for buckwheat or millet lumber pillows since they’re sturdy enough to accommodate the weight for a prolonged period. Since these pillows are breathable, they don’t accumulate heat and will remain cool for the entire day.
They Are Sustainable
When it comes to sustainability, buckwheat and millet pillows take the lead. Buckwheat and millet hulls are the leftovers after the dehulling process. Since these hulls aren’t edible, they’re cleaned and used as fillers for pillows. As a result, these materials are prevented from making their way into landfill, making the world a better, cleaner place.
Moreover, using buckwheat and millet pillows supports farmers and local communities who cultivate these crops. By purchasing a pillow made from these materials, you can contribute to the development of sustainable agriculture and help reduce the impact of single-use products on the environment.
Conclusion
Buckwheat and millet pillows are pillows filled with organic material. These pillows are comfortable, breathable, and long-lasting. They are also adjustable and allow you to remove or add the hulls to fit your needs.
Unlike individuals using traditional pillows, people using buckwheat or millet pillows are unlikely to experience back and neck pain since they fit under the neck perfectly. These pillows come in different sizes to offer maximum comfort. Finally, they’re easy to use since you only need to adjust the size until you’re comfortable. If you’ve been experiencing sleep-related pain, consider investing in buckwheat or millet pillows.
