Sleeping constitutes a third of a day, making it a big part of everyday living. It promotes sharp memory, good heart health, a strong physique, a healthy weight, and improved immune defense. A Knee Pillow –
Having a good night’s sleep starts with a consistent length of sleep, around seven to eight hours per day. You’d also need to consider your manner or way of sleeping, such as sleeping on your back, stomach, or sides.
Sleeping posture is an important element of quality sleep. If you’re experiencing constant pain every time you wake up, you need to change the way you sleep, or better yet, use a knee pillow to aid in your sleeping position, especially when side sleeping.
That being said, you might want to consider using a knee pillow for side sleepers or for the kind of sleeper that you are. It may sound strange, but having a knee pillow is one of the best and simplest things you can do to improve your sleep health.
Knee pillows help align your spine to enhance sleep quality, as well as prevent body pains and aches. And, the good thing about them is that they’re extremely comfortable to use. With that, here are some ways knee pillows improve your sleeping posture:
- Knee Pillows Improve Spine Alignment
If you sleep on your sides, you might feel pain in your back, particularly on your lower back, when you wake up. Also, you might experience intense pressure around your shoulders and hips in the middle of the night. It happens because of the stress placed on your spine, and it can also happen when sleeping on your back.
That being said, it’s important to have a knee pillow that’ll maintain the proper alignment of your spine. Also, it’ll help reduce the strain on the sensitive pressure points around your hips and shoulders, giving you a more relaxed and comfortable sleep any time of the day.
On top of that, it can help you prevent spine conditions, including:
- Herniated Disc: This is a condition wherein a disc in the spinal column becomes ruptured, bulged, or slipped. Symptoms of a herniated disc may include tingling and pain in the arms or legs.
- Disc Degeneration: It happens when spinal cushions or discs change due to cracks or dryness. Symptoms may include pain in the lower back, thighs, and buttocks that may feel worse when you sit, move, or walk.
- Sciatica: It’s a spinal condition with pain that radiates throughout the sciatic nerve. Also, it can be very painful, with a burning and excruciating sensation.
- Spinal Stenosis: This condition happens when the spaces between your spine widen, resulting in pain that travels mostly on the lower back and neck.
These are just some of the problems or medical conditions your spine may suffer from if you continue to sleep without an aligned spinal column. Furthermore, all of these complications will be prevented by using a good knee pillow made with memory foam or filled with millet hulls stuffing.
- Knee Pillows Improve Hip And Pelvis Alignment
One of the most common problems of unhealthy sleeping posture is unaligned hips and pelvis, which often leads to chronic back pain. That being said, it’s important to correct your sleeping posture to prevent this from happening, and one of the most effective ways to do this is by using a good-quality knee pillow.
Knee pillows help correct your sleeping posture by maintaining the natural positioning of hips and pelvis when sleeping. Because of this improvement, the strain that stresses and inflames your ligaments and muscles will be reduced and eliminated.
If you want to check the alignment of your hips and pelvis, you might need to look for these three important signs:
- Check if your pelvis is parallel to the ground and on your shoulders.
- Check if your hips are tilted backward or forward. It should remain neutral and in place as much as possible.
- Check if your hips are properly leveled and balanced horizontally. It shouldn’t look like a seesaw where one side is high, and the other is lower.
The best way to check your hips and pelvis is by standing in front of a mirror. Then, check if everything’s aligned, from your shoulders to your pelvic bones. Furthermore, if you’re sleeping on your sides without pillows under your knees, you might have problems around the hips and pelvis.
With that, here are some symptoms you might want to check:
- Lower back pain
- Gradually increasing pain in the buttocks and hips when walking
- Painful back and hips during a long period of standing
- Painful back and hips when lying down in bed
- Unleveled walking
- Pain that radiates towards your knees
If you’re experiencing these mild symptoms, it’s time for you to consider using knee pain to improve sleeping posture by aligning your hips and pelvis in place. Then, you might notice a gradual improvement after a couple of days. This means that knee pillows were able to help balance the positions of your hips and pelvis, resulting in a better sleep posture.
- Knee Pillows Prevent You From Doing Unnecessary Movements
When you’re asleep, particularly a deep sleep, you might not be able to control your own movements. Also, there’s a high tendency you roll over your bed and do unnecessary movements that may promote bad sleeping postures, such as improper sleeping on your stomach, sleeping like a fetus, and side sleeping.
But, with a reliable and high-quality knee pillow, all of these bad movements can be prevented. Knee pillows may help you maintain the same position you have prior to sleeping. It reduces the chance of rolling over into a bad sleeping posture in the middle of your deep sleep.
A knee pillow is perfect for those who move a lot when they sleep. They’d really need to have a pillow under their knees that could minimize unnecessary movements while they sleep.
- Knee Pillows Help Distribute Your Weight Evenly
One of the issues when it comes to sleeping is the proper distribution of weight throughout the body. The uneven weight balance may result in backaches and pain, especially around your lower back, where the pain can be intense and excruciating.
According to experts, the best way to handle the issue of uneven weight distribution during sleeping is by sleeping on your back. This sleeping position helps your body spread the weight to your entire body. On a side note, this can be further improved with the help of knee pillows.
Knee pillows will help secure your posture when sleeping. Also, these help in reducing the stress of your vertebrae and preventing lower back pain. In addition, this even weight distribution helps minimize pressure points on your entire body and keeps all your internal organs in their proper places, reducing the likelihood of severe complications.
- Knee Pillows Relieve Muscle Cramps
Usually, muscle cramps at night are located on the legs. These are involuntary and painful contractions of muscles that may last for up to several minutes, affecting not only your sleep posture, but also your exercise routine and quality of life.
It’s difficult to sleep properly when there’s an aching or tensed muscle in different parts of your body, and sleeping in awkward positions may worsen such existing pains. Fortunately, knee pillows may help you reduce these problems by making sure that your knees are properly aligned and well-supported.
In addition, knee pillows keep your toes pointed towards the ceiling when sleeping on the back. This will help you get a more relaxed sleeping position than sleeping without knee pillows.
Also, putting pillows under your knees may help prevent injuries and alleviate pressure when you sleep. However, if you have worsening leg cramps, relying solely on knee pillows won’t be your best option. That being said, you might need to take additional steps to reduce the risks and prevent them from occurring, such as:
- Keeping yourself hydrated most of the time
- Avoiding too much alcohol and coffee
- Stretching legs before sleeping
- Wearing shoes that provide good support for your feet
- Performing frequent leg exercises
- Performing mild exercises, like walking or riding a bicycle before sleeping
Furthermore, the tips mentioned above not only lower your chances, but also help you manage the cramps you’re experiencing right now. But, overall, it’d be best to use a knee pillow to prevent them from becoming much worse.
- Knee Pillows Reduce Knee Pain
It’s never easy to sleep with knees rubbing off with each other, especially when you’re sleeping on your sides. This problem makes you move while you sleep, which may result in unwanted and unnecessary sleeping postures. As stated above, these sleeping positions may be bad for your health, and promote body pains and aches.
But, don’t worry, knee pillows are here to help. Knee pillows are your perfect sleep partner that effectively reduces the stress from knee rubbing and stacking. These soft cushions will evenly distribute the pressure from your knees up to your thighs, allowing you to sleep better and in pure comfort while relieving knee pains and aches.
Furthermore, if you’re suffering from sciatic nerve pain, which radiates from the lower back to the legs, having a knee pillow may help mitigate the pain. It allows your legs and hips to open a little, minimizing the pressure that stresses the sciatic nerves.
What Is The Right Way Of Using A Knee Pillow?
Having a knee pillow isn’t enough to help you improve your posture. You’d also need to know the right way of using it to get the most out of it. Learning the proper way of using a knee pillow is important to help you improve your sleeping posture.
Without the proper techniques, you won’t be able to take advantage of using a knee pillow. That being said, there are two ways of using a knee pillow based on how you sleep: sleeping on your back and your sides.
- How To Use A Knee Pillow When Sleeping Facing Sides?
When you’re sleeping on your sides, make sure to slightly curl your legs toward your chest. Then, place a high-quality knee pillow, preferably with memory foam or sustainable filling, in the middle of your knees. You’d want to make sure that your pillow is firm enough to support your knee and keep your hips parallel in a balanced position.
Lastly, you may add an extra pillow under your trunk if your body plunges down the mattress to keep your spine straight and in a neutral position while you sleep.
- How To Use A Knee Pillow When Sleeping On The Back?
When you’re sleeping on your back, you want to lay down your back on your bed as flat and natural as possible. Next, slightly bend your knees while making sure your buttocks are fixed on the bed. Then, slide a knee pillow under your knees and add more, depending on the comfort you want to achieve.
Furthermore, you may place a pillow under your legs to relieve the stress from your leg muscles during sleep.
What Do You Need To Look For In A Good Knee Pillow
Here are some key factors you might want to consider when buying a knee pillow:
- Firmness: Look for a pillow that’s not too soft, but not too firm. It should be firm enough to support your knees and legs, but soft to provide the right comfort.
- Shape: If you’re sleeping on your back, a cylindrical pillow might be best for you. But, if you’re sleeping on your side, an hourglass-shaped pillow would be better.
- Material: Look for a memory foam pillow that mimics and senses your movements to provide the best level of comfort you need.
Final Words
A knee pillow is one of the most functional wonders ever invented by mankind. It provides excellent support that may help you achieve a good night’s sleep, especially when it comes to sleeping postures.
Knee pillows improve sleeping posture by keeping your spine aligned, evenly distributing weight throughout your body, reducing knee pain, relieving cramps, and keeping your hips and pelvis aligned.
However, all of these can be achieved through the proper use of knee pillows. You may refer to the steps above for a detailed discussion. Also, don’t forget the essential factors when buying a knee pillow. Certainly, you won’t want to spend on something that may not even help you.
