A night of uninterrupted, peaceful sleep is facilitated by a quality pillow. In the absence of a pillow, the head and neck regions must support their own weight, which sometimes leads to soreness in the muscles. If a pillow is overly soft, this support may also be absent. Conversely, if the pillow is too hard, the head can't comfortable rest against the surface.
Perhaps more important than the comfort is an unseen feature of the pillow: the fill. The wrong kind of fill can cause sleep-disrupting allergies such as a congested or runny nose, along with inflamed, red teary eyes.
The reason down fill can cause allergies is partly due to dust mites, a microscopic household creature not even visible to the naked eye. Dust mites take up residence in the natural clusters of down fiber. The dust mites produce an allergen which is incorrectly recognized by the immune system of some people as an infectious invader. The body starts off an immune response which leads to allergy attacks.
Many people suffering from down allergies will turn toward down alternatives for their pillows. Such pillows may be effective at reducing allergies depending on the exact kinds of sensitivities. There are three major kinds of down alternatives. The first type is constructed of natural material, in most cases silk. The second type is polyester-derived fibers that mimick down. The third is high tech foam which contours to the body but retains its original shape.
The silk natural down alternatives have an enthusiastic following due to its natural hypoallergenic properties, light weight but high warmth rating. In fact, silk is the fill of choice for many on the Asian continent. The drawback is that the price point of silk is quite high, comparable to down or more expensive.
Polyester fiber down alternative pillows are probably the most popular type of pillows after down. Advances in manufacturing such fibers have progressed to the point that certain types are very close to achieving the high warmth-to-weight ratio of down. Already used widely in camping gear and insulating garments, polyester continues to both improve and be available to people with all kinds of budgetary constraints. However, expect to pay more for high tech polyesters, otherwise you will be stuck with a cheap but uncomfortable synthetic pillow.
Rather than stuffing a fabric cloth with down to make a pillow, some manufacturers have created pillows out of a single piece of foam. The special properties of memory foam is such that it can deform and mold exactly to the outline of your head. The next morning the memory foam will return to its original shape when you stop exerting weight on it. Memory foam was originally developed by NASA research for its space program. One problem with memory foam is that many people report being sensitive to strange chemical smells coming from the foam.
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