f*cking pillows!!!

[crowdpleeser]

Are pillows actually necessary to sleep, or are they something that we have invented and become dependent on, like sugar? Do they actually serve any use? Does anyone think I can become comfortable sleeping without a pillow?

[5029]

I never used to sleep with a pillow, its only recently that I started using one, and quite often i wake up and I've pushed it to the side, so my answer would be that it's a matter of choice

[Squirrel]

I've heard of neck and back problems that resulted from having pillows stacked too high, and I think it can be bad if you always sleep on one shoulder. You can buy "contour pillows" that claim to be more comfortable and better for your back than normal ones; my dad got an inflatable pillow and he said it was the best night's sleep he'd had in years! So I suppose it depends on the elevation and the distribution of the weight of your head, too.

[Anim8]

if your pillow is more than five years old, it is 10% dustmites.. polythene bag and freezer for you pillow..

[Lennon]

The purpose of them is so that your neck is n a straight line with your spine. If you imagine sleeping without a pillow and then imagine what your spine would look like, it would go straight and then your neck line would make it tilt down - hence the idea of the contour pillows as mentioned by Squirrel. Then it comes down to whether you prefer 1 or 2 pillows (as all spines are different) or like my boyfriend you could just screw them up and squash them which annoys the hell out of me!! :)

[WendyW]

The very best pillows of all are made by Dunlopillow ... a bit more expensive BUT they never go flat or out of shape AND you get a brilliant nights sleep.

[KARL]

I rather think pillows are a matter of preference. By preference, both my sons slept entirely without pillows into their mid-to-late teens, while my wife and I use one foam pillow (exactly like Dunlopillo but another make) each. You can recognise people who use two or more thick (e.g. feather) pillows stacked up because they have already developed the often-mentioned "vulture neck". Reading in bed is often the start of increasing pillow thickness. The salesman patter will try to persuade you to buy all sorts of things based on "scientific" logic but in the end you need to feel comfortable and be able to rest well and that may be a block of wood or a ball of twine - all up to you. Like sprung, soft beds (they always end up sagging like hammocks, no matter what the initial praise), pillows can be less than helpful to posture and skeleto-muscular wellbeing. To a certain extent, pillows may be purely a comfort-sop (like the comfort-rag), something to have against the skin and to cuddle. Note that, when you see people raised in the developing world, they have a posture to die for and are far more supple than we are. Note also that they sleep without pillows on very hard surfaces (no posture controlled springs, etc.) . Could there be a connection ?

[crowdpleeser]

ok, but what's does some one with a vulture neck look like?

[KARL]

When perched a vulture has its neck arched forward and down which is a very characterisitc and recognisable pose (have a look at a photo of one, or perhaps you remember the trio in the original Disney Jungle Book - "What are we gonna do ?" ...). Now have a look at people in the street, some have a posture which is ver remeniscent of this but is clearly not a "hunch-back" birth defect. It is something that has acquired the colloquial name of vulture neck possibly because many vultures have a sort of collar of feathers at the base of the neck whereas the neck is naked (just like someone in a suit with the shirt visible).

[Gef]

Obviously you will sleep best when comfotable. If this is with none, one or three pillows etc. then so be it.

[xyzzy@bok]

f*cking pillows; what a strange concept.