Can a buckwheat pillow help promote better sleep?

Sleep is an essential part of good health. Find out how a buckwheat pillow can help to promote better sleep.

As a part of a puzzle, a healthy diet and exercise are not enough without good quality sleep. Your body must have enough rest to recover, and it’s vital to healthy brain functions.

Getting enough sleep – around seven to eight hours – gives your body enough time to replenish lost energy. For that, it’s essential to create the right conditions for a restful and uninterrupted sleep.  

There are many reasons why people suffer from sleep deprivation. Stress and pain are some of them. The pillow is just as important to support the neck and head while asleep. And just the same, the wrong pillow can cause your body pain after waking up.

A buckwheat pillow, or sobakawa in Japanese, takes center stage as it receives many positive reviews to aid sound sleep. 

Seven ways a buckwheat pillow can help improve your sleep

Here are seven of the reported sleep benefits of a buckwheat pillow. 

1) It helps you avoid aches and pains 

A pillow that’s too high stretches your neck muscles and can cause back pain when the cervical, thoracic, and lumbar spine are out of alignment. It forces your body to adapt to an unnatural curvature, resulting in pain and fatigue after waking up.

Sobakawa Pillows are not too high or fluffy. The buckwheat hulls are not bulky, so the neck and spine doesn’t need to adapt as the buckwheat pillow works another way around. 

Stiffness is also avoided because the muscles receive better support for long periods as you sleep. Buckwheat pillows can also help reduce morning headaches after waking up. The proper alignment eases the tension on the muscles of the neck’s base. These muscles support the nerves to the skull and the front of the head.  

2) It’s resistant to dust mites 

If you have asthma or allergies, you’ve likely been sleeping on a bed and pillow where dust mites thrive. Dust mites are living allergens that prefer humid conditions of up to 77 degrees Fahrenheit. They need moisture and shedding of human skin to survive. They live in beddings, carpeting, and upholstered furniture.  

Switching to a bamboo buckwheat pillow will minimize dust mite allergies because buckwheat doesn’t create conditions where dust mites can thrive. The airflow inside finely woven pillow covers makes it cool, and it doesn’t trap moisture. Making the switch to a buckwheat pillow can help lessen your allergy symptoms this way.   

3) Buckwheat pillows are moldable 

A characteristic of a right pillow is one that you can use to support various sleeping positions. Therefore, it should be able to adapt to the contours of your head and neck.

In the past, people thought that memory foam can do the same, but pre-shaped geometric memory foam pillows can collapse over time, and they do not adapt to your sleeping needs.  

Buckwheat pillows, filled with empty hulls of buckwheat, have the freedom to move around inside the cover. You have the choice to add or remove more buckwheat hulls from the pillow so you can get the right malleability. It offers the proper support on your neck and shoulders, making it best choice to align your body.  

4) They’re good for hot sleepers 

Another advantage of buckwheat pillows over foam pillows is temperature regulation. Buckwheat pillows keep you cool because they don’t absorb heat.

Buckwheat hulls are not compacted but a collection of tiny solid objects that trap and allow better air circulation inside the pillow. The pillow doesn’t retain moisture and keeps dry. It’s unlikely to make you sweat, and your temperature won’t rise quickly, which in turn keeps your body cool for better sleeping conditions.  

A good quality buckwheat pillow such as the one featured in this video can help improve your sleep and reduce the amount of interrupted rest:

5) It contains natural fillers 

Polyester and polyurethane foam themselves can be toxic over time because they release carcinogens. They’re also non-biodegradable, which means that they can hurt the environment even more when dumped in landfills once they’re too old to use. The majority of cushions are made of foam because the material is inexpensive and malleable. 

Today, there are better options, such as a buckwheat pillow. Buckwheat hulls are purely natural, and buckwheat doesn’t even need chemicals to grow.

They also don’t contain animal products as buckwheat hulls have no use for them. They’re easily compostable because they’re biodegradable. Buckwheat pillows are hypoallergenic and perfect for those with allergies. You can sleep more comfortably without constantly sneezing.  

6) There are no unpleasant smells 

Some pillows made of foam retain a plastic-like smell that’s not acceptable to some discerning sleepers. The scent may keep them awake, especially if they’re sensitive to smells. However, a buckwheat pillow is odor-free, and the processing of the hulls involves thoroughly getting rid of their earthy scent.

Some buckwheat pillows do have added essential oils that can help relax individual sleepers. You can opt for the natural version if you prefer your pillows to be odorless.   

7) It can help to minimize snoring 

Sleeping beside a person with snoring problems can be next to impossible. This can also affect your health due to sleep depravity. One cause of snoring is obstructive sleep apnea or blocked airways. Snoring is due to the escaping vibrational sound that soft tissues in the throat make through breathing. The snoring can be worse depending on how narrow the airways are.  

Buckwheat pillows help stop snoring because it doesn’t sink and is stable enough to support the head. You can prop up the malleable buckwheat pillow to help elevate your head and keep your airways open. The flap-like tissues in your throat can relax but will still allow an opening this way. No snoring is possible if the airways remain unblocked.  

Can a buckwheat pillow help to improve YOUR sleep?

Buckwheat pillows can make a better choice than foam variants because they help create the right conditions for better sleep. Overall, a buckwheat pillow is better for your health because it’s natural and allergen-free.

When you’re unbothered by the heat and your allergies subside, you have more chances to get a deep and continuous sleep to help revitalize and get you ready for the next day.