How Sleeping Without A Pillow Helps With Neck Pain

A little over a year ago, we set up temporary desks at home in order to stay safe amidst a global pandemic. These desks weren’t meant to be used in the long term, leading to a subsequent epidemic of neck & shoulder pain for most people. 

After a long day’s work on a desk with poor ergonomic structure, sleeping on soft, fluffy pillows can be pretty tempting. However, depending on the position in which you sleep, it can be far more beneficial for your neck to sleep without a pillow. 

First of all, it’s important to note that most pillows fail to offer the right kind of support that your spine needs. Elevating your neck at what might be even a slightly inaccurate angle can lead to an awkward position throughout the night. This may build up chronic neck pain in the long run. Heavy sleepers may even end up sleeping in a less pleasant position throughout the night. Resting your head in a tilted position may even reduce airflow to your respiratory system, causing that slight headache, grogginess and light-headedness many of us experience every morning. 

Another factor that comes into play is the position in which you sleep. If you sleep on your side or on your back, sleeping with the right pillow that offers perfect neck and shoulder support is very important. But if you sleep on your stomach, ditching the pillow is far less likely to cause visits to the chiropractor. 

When you sleep on your stomach, you tend to turn your head to either side. On top of that, a pillow may even cause your neck to bend towards the back. So if you really think about it, if you sleep on your stomach, with a pillow, your neck is bent both sidewards and backwards. That’s a lot of pressure to put on your neck! 

Hence, stomach sleepers are better off with ditching the pillow for maximum comfort.