9 Health Benefits Of Using A Buckwheat Pillow

Updated on May 25, 2021

There’s no reason why taking care of your health shouldn’t extend to the hours you’re asleep as well! 

During daylight hours, you’re doing everything to take care of your general wellbeing, from workouts, diets, and the like; but what about when you’re sleeping? Unlike when you’re awake, you can’t trust yourself to keep the same good sleeping posture that your very careful self recently found out about. That’s where both a good pillow and a good mattress come in. To take care of your good health whilst you sleep. 

Most people assume that the quality of their sleep is almost solely dependent on the type of mattress they buy, so you’ll notice that most health-conscious people actually do have very good mattresses already, but what about the pillow? While oftentimes ignored, a good pillow can be a very big differentiator between bad and good sleep. If not attended to immediately, it can have significant negative effects on your health. 

Not All Pillows Are Created Equal 

Pillows are as different and distinct as the materials that go into making them. Some materials are just not made to offer the best support for certain kinds of sleepers. Take for example if you’re a side sleeper, the type of pillow you need is going to be different from the one needed by a stomach sleeper. Unless of course, you do get a super pillow that’d get everything covered for you!

Speaking of super pillows, let’s talk about the buckwheat pillow. The reason why it stands out is that across all pillow types, there tend to be limitations in performance for specific pillows. A buckwheat pillow, on the other hand, is almost unlimited and can offer support to anyone regardless of their sleep style. That’s why it’s widely recommended as a good investment to make and a safe choice if you want a pillow that will fit right into your changing sleep patterns. Here’s a quick look on this type of pillow:

The Secret Behind A Buckwheat Pillow’s Top Performance

Well, the secret is simple, it’s the buckwheat itself. Buckwheat refers to a grain that’s originally from Asia. They grow in a casing that looks like a shell where they’re protected until they mature. 

Pillow companies, in order to make buckwheat pillows, take the seeds out of their hulls, and then the hulls from which the seeds have been taken are now cleaned whilst the seeds are removed. These hollow hulls are then used as the primary material to fill pillow casings.

Before the de-hulling process, buckwheat seeds have three sides yet after undergoing the procedure, only two-sided shells remain. 

To complement these hulls, the pillowcases for buckwheat pillows are typically made from silk, cotton, or other natural breathable fibers. They’re also made adjustable to remove hulls when necessary and to add them back in. 

Benefits Of A Buckwheat Pillow

A buckwheat pillow is also called a Sobakawa pillow. With a lot of people touting it as one of the most comfortable and healthiest pillows on the market, it’s necessary to go deeper and look at how this comfort, among other things, can have a positive impact on your health. 

Depending on your existing health conditions, sleep patterns, or just preference, some of the boons of a buckwheat pillow might be different from person to person. But there’s a general consensus that they do bring to the table the following purported benefits:  

Improved Sleep

Now, everyone would welcome almost anything that would improve the quality of their sleep! Nothing such as sleep that’s too good, right?

Everyday life can be busy and sometimes you can’t get the right amount of sleep when you need it. On these nights (and basically every other night), nothing would be more welcome than a pillow that improves the quality of your sleep, even when you can’t add much in terms of the quantity of the hours.

If you’re a stomach or back sleeper, it’s said that the right pillow should be thin enough to hold your head at the same level as your shoulders. They also provide some support to the gap that’s created by your neck’s arch. 

On the other hand, when sleeping on your side, what you need from an ideal pillow is for your head to be held high between your shoulders. It’s believed that the material inside the pillow will have to also be enough to cover the gap between how high your head is held and the shoulder that’s resting on the mattress. 

A buckwheat pillow is perfect for all these functions because of how moldable it is. It’s designed to contour in line with your body’s shape and sleeping needs. It may also protect you against cervical misalignment or any injury that occurs to the spine. It’s believed that they may be caused or exacerbated by wrong sleeping postures. 

When your sleep posture achieves the perfect cervical alignment, you’ll be able to sleep better and encounter fewer interruptions of your sleep through the night. For this, a buckwheat pillow is an excellent choice.  

If you fail to get the exact quality of sleep you need after trying a buckwheat pillow, perhaps the problem might be deeper than what a pillow can address. In this case, you might want to complement your good pillow and mattress with a natural sleep aid to help you get just the right amount and quality of sleep you need. 

Reduced Snoring

How many more times are you going to hear jokes about people who snore before you finally get tired of it? More still because it seems to you to be a ‘condition’ that you can’t control because it, well, happens while you’re sleeping and mostly unconscious. 

Don’t worry though, it’s usually just a posture thing, and if you can work on improving your sleeping posture then you might as well consider this ‘condition’ cured or at least, significantly improved!

Most people who snore do so as a result of blocked airways due to their head either falling too far back or being held too high. Such a wrong sleeping posture then compromises their airways and it’s this that leads to snoring. Your airways are along the cervical spine and so, if you’re able to properly align this area, you should be able to greatly improve your snoring problem. 

Offers Support To Your Muscles

Your goal, if you don’t want to wake up with a sore body, or most specifically, with a sore back and neck, is to make sure all your muscles are relaxed throughout the night. If neglected, they might become fatigued and result in you waking up in the morning with pain in your neck, back, and other parts of your body. 

As has been explained, a buckwheat pillow keeps your head and neck in the correct position which may help give support to the spine. 

They Allow For Cooler Sleep

The quality of your sleep can become a major health concern. Fail to catch that all-important good sleep and the fatigue will start expressing itself in different unpleasant ways in your body. Additionally, it can greatly reduce your overall productivity. 

A buckwheat pillow, because it’s made from buckwheat hulls, doesn’t compress when you add your weight to them. Instead, they just fit closely together in response to the applied weight. This makes buckwheat pillows allow free air to flow between the hulls as well as not radiate or keep heat. If for any natural or health reasons you feel hot when you sleep, they may be perfect for you. 

Aide Migraine Relief

The reason for having migraines isn’t uniform across the board. For some, it may be caused by spinal alignment while for others it may be any of the following: soft tissue strain, pressure points, or airways support among other reasons

A buckwheat pillow can in some cases greatly relieve migraines because of the support it gives to your airways, and soft tissues.

When sleeping on a buckwheat pillow, your neck and head are also believed to be able to receive soft pressure. This pressure on very specific points may help you relax by triggering blood flow regulation through your brain and a release of the famed feel-good hormone called endorphin. 

They’re Hypoallergenic

Some pillows are constructed using material that might be a good food source for some bugs that you might be allergic to. 

That’s why buckwheat pillows are generally considered a good hypoallergenic choice. The airflow they provide prohibits dust mites and bugs to collect in your pillow. 

If you’re still unsure, you might check with your doctor to make sure your specific condition is compatible with a buckwheat pillow, although typically there are very few cases of buckwheat allergies.

Adjustable

The fact that you’ll be able to remove or add hulls according to your specific comfort needs is a great advantage. Bodies are built differently and so should pillows! Therefore, the ability to adjust your pillow to suit your needs is a huge plus.

If you’re a side sleeper, a higher pillow will be most ideal for you to achieve the best cervical alignment, while for stomach sleepers, a high pillow would badly hurt their neck. They’ll need a very thin lift, close to non-existent that allows for their neck and shoulders to be on the same level. To get either of these effects, all you’ll have to do when you have a buckwheat pillow is to either add or remove the hulls that come in it. 

Free From Chemicals and Other Toxins

Most of the buckwheat hulls used in the construction of buckwheat pillows are organically sourced. That means that they have zero to minimal exposure to any kind of chemicals and pesticides. Manufactures also tend to typically top this with using organic material to make their pillowcases, so you don’t have to worry about what’s in your pillows and what you’re being exposed to, most buckwheat pillows already have that bit handled. 

Odor-Free

As opposed to most synthetic pillows, you won’t have to worry about the sensitivity you have to scents when using a buckwheat pillow. 

Already, before processing, buckwheat only has a very light earthy scent. In addition to this, manufacturers will thoroughly wash the hulls before using them to make your pillow. The end product is a very relaxing, almost non-existent scent. 

For those who might need an aromatherapy effect added to their pillows, there are buckwheat pillows specifically for this. Essential oils are added to serve these specific needs. 

Some Tips On Pillows And Alignment

Not even a good pillow will replace knowledge on how to properly use a pillow in the first place. Depending on how you sleep, you might need a pillow in different places and positions. Here are some additional alignment tips: 

  • If you’re sleeping on your back or generally do so, adding a small pillow under your knees is going to help de-stress your spine as well as to provide support to your lower back’s natural curve. This is of course in addition to the pillow for the head. 
  • Stomach sleepers need to watch out for how much stress they are creating on their back due to their spine’s misalignment, so go for a thin to a flat pillow.
  • As a side sleeper, one of your greatest needs is to keep your upper leg from pulling the spine out of alignment as well as reducing the stress on your hips and lower back. To do this, you’ll have to place a pillow in between your knees while they are pulled a little bit towards the chest. If this isn’t enough you may even add a small pillow under the waist for support. 
  • Basically, any gaps between your body and the mattress should be filled with a pillow. 
  • Practice turning without having to twist or bend the waist. Move your whole body in one go, as a unit. Also practice keeping your tummy pulled in and bend your knees towards your chest when rolling. 

Conclusion

Sleeping is after all a science! You can’t afford to just sleep any way you choose to, not if you value your health, and you probably do. 

Don’t find yourself being one of the many people who forget that the pillow they choose plays a very big role in the quality of their sleep, and their long-term health. 

Choosing a buckwheat pillow is one of the best choices you can make for the good of both your health and sleep. 

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