Pillow
Quality sleep makes a difference in how you deal with your day. Without quality sleep, you may suffer greatly. You may become sluggish and unproductive. You may even lose the momentum to start your day with hope and joy. One of the many ways to remedy your sleep quality is to have the right mattress, blankets, and pillows.
With so many varieties in the market, you may find it hard to choose suitable pillows. Some may claim that they can help you sleep peacefully, while others can help with your back pain. Although some may be true, it all falls to the materials or fillers they use. One of which is the buckwheat pillow.
Where Sobakawa Pillow Originated
Another term for buckwheat pillows is Sobakawa pillows. To learn how they can help boost your health and wellness, you should start knowing their history and why they became popular.
Introduced in Japan, these pillows have been a standard accessory during bedtime because of their solid structure and customizability. The creation of these pillows was inspired by the Japanese concept of the healthiest body condition ‘ZU-KAN-SOKU-NETSU,’ which signifies warm feet and a cold head.
Their construction includes an organic cotton cover loaded with buckwheat hulls: small and solid outer shells of buckwheat seeds. These materials let you feel like you’re lying on a sturdy, heavy beanbag.
Where To Buy Sobakawa Pillows
Although they originally came from Japan, you can now find many buckwheat pillows everywhere. Sobakawa pillow from various online stores now caters to delivering them worldwide.These manufacturers have innovated well that there are lots of sophisticated versions in case you want something modern.
Benefits Of Sobakawa Pillows
Although buckwheat pillows are pretty costly compared to other kinds of pillows, their benefits are good enough to compensate for the amount you paid.
Here are some of the benefits you can enjoy with sobakawa pillows:
Toxin-Free
Although eating healthy and exercising regularly can help your health, you may be reversing their effect by using synthetic pillows. To fully enjoy the benefits of a healthy diet and regular exercise, you should also use organic pillows, like the sobakawa or millet pillow.
Some synthetic pillows and other beddings contain toxic chemicals, like formaldehyde. This toxic chemical, when regularly inhaled, may cause lymphoma, leukemia, nasopharyngeal cancers, and different types of cancer because formaldehyde is a carcinogen.
Not only that, but some synthetic beddings also contain hazardous materials as a treatment to make them fire retardant. Thus, pillows using polyester foam or polyurethane can emit carcinogens and toxins they obtained when manufactured. If you’re sensitive to such emissions, you may experience short-term side effects, like eye irritation, sinus issues, and headaches. The long-term side effects may include certain types of cancers, as mentioned.
You can avoid all of these side effects when you choose natural pillows. With buckwheat hulls, you can enjoy a pillow free from chemical fiber because they’re organic or unbleached. However, you should carefully check the manufacturer’s website or label them not using synthetic and chemically-treated buckwheat hulls. That way, you can prevent inhaling toxins while you’re asleep as they’re toxin-free.
You may want to check out this video to learn about the materials they use for sobakawa buckwheat pillows:
Ease Neck Pain
Besides having a toxic-free pillow, you may also prevent or decrease neck pain when you use a buckwheat pillow. It can offer consistent support, as well as customized height and comfort, which you need to fit your neck and head’s contours. As a result, you can provide a neutral alignment or straight support for your spine, head, and neck.
Your head won’t fall too far back, and your chin isn’t elevated when you sleep on a buckwheat pillow. Thus, you can minimize developing neck pain. As mentioned, you can easily customize a buckwheat pillow depending on your body’s shape and curves. The pillow’s shape will make your body fit; thus, it can prevent touching and creating pressure points on your body when you use a rigid pillow.
Moreover, it can form a firm surface where your body can stay in place once it fits the hulls. You don’t have to worry about your body being out of alignment because sobakawa pillows aren’t likely to shift through the night. Thus, you can have support for your muscles.
Buckwheat pillows won’t be too thin or too thick for your body type because they’re adjustable. You can remove or add fill from their zippered opening to adjust their loft or thickness. That way, you can have the correct elevation to support your head no matter how you sleep or your body size.
With such, they can also evenly distribute your head’s weight to conform with your head’s shape. As a result, you can eliminate the pain-causing pressure points from the uneven distribution of your head’s weight. All thanks to the ability of the pillows to hold their shape when the hulls produce friction, they won’t suddenly collapse when you’re sleeping at night.
Unlike traditional soft pillows, buckwheat pillows won’t cause your neck to bend downward because they don’t flatten even with your head’s weight. You can also avoid bending your neck upward caused by folding your pillow in half when you use a buckwheat pillow.
Control Temperature
Another reason you may have a low-quality sleep is that you can’t achieve the correct temperature needed to sleep. It’s discomforting to have a very cold or scorching temperature, right? Although you may have to use an AC to keep the temperature cool or warm, you still have to use beddings, like pillows and blankets, to help you sleep.
With foams, you may still feel hot and sticky, making you toss and turn at night. However, with buckwheat pillows, you can avoid having to lie down on a hot and sticky pillow. Since the buckwheat hulls can move around quickly, they can optimize air circulation and air movement. As a result, they can control the temperature as they’re highly breathable.
If you want, you may keep your head warm or cool by heating or freezing the buckwheat hulls. As mentioned, most buckwheat pillows are zippered so that you can add or remove the fill. Thus, you can microwave or freeze the buckwheat hulls, depending on the temperature you want to achieve.
Relieve Migraines
One of the effects of not having a good night’s sleep is developing a headache. Or, migraines can even be a reason why you may not fall asleep. Since your head will have a throbbing pain or pulsing sensation, you may find it hard to shut your eyes and sleep. Worse, it can even cause you to vomit, become nauseous, and sensitive to sounds and lights.
You can solve such pains with buckwheat pillows. Since you can have the right temperature when sleeping, you can sleep straight. As a result, you won’t get a headache from lack of sleep.
You can also encourage sleep and relieve migraine with buckwheat pillows, too. It’s because buckwheat pillows offer soft pleasures on your skull and neck’s specific points. Thus, you may feel better and relaxed because the targeted pressure points release endorphins and regulate blood. They also provide your airways and soft tissues the right amount of support to help you sleep easier.
Lessen Snoring
Likewise, buckwheat pillows can reduce your snoring since they provide you with better sleep posture. Although these may not be effective for sleep apnea, they give better airway openings due to better sleep posture.
When your airways are blocked, you’ll snore. Depending on the airways’ blockage, your snoring can get worse. The common reasons your airways get blocked are the result of unrelaxed neck muscles due to your head falling too far back or holding too high. Because of this poor posture and support, your spine isn’t aligned correctly. Since your cervical spine is where your airway runs, you should support your spine to support your airways, too. However, if the underlying cause of your snoring isn’t the changes in your posture, it’s best to consult your doctor.
As mentioned, buckwheat pillows can support the alignment of your head, neck, and spine because they’re stable and doesn’t sink. You can prevent your airways from being blocked by elevating your head when you prop up your buckwheat pillows. This results in opening your airways while relaxing the tissues in your throat. Only then can you stop snoring because you keep your airways open.
Improve The Quality Of Your Sleep
The most crucial benefit of using buckwheat pillows is to improve your sleep quality. Whether you’re a side sleeper or not, you can find comfort in buckwheat pillows. They can align your spine and neck with their firmer encasing and filling, thereby promoting a better sleep position.
Since buckwheat pillows can keep your sleep position neutral by filling in the gap between your head and neck, you can enjoy a better sleep quality. With a better sleep position, you can avoid waking up cranky and tired because you don’t have to toss and turn to find a better position.
When you sleep on buckwheat pillows, you’re contouring your body’s and head’s shape. Thus, you can enjoy a more relaxing and natural way to sleep.
Things You Should Know Before Getting Buckwheat Pillows
Buckwheat Pillows
If you plan to buy one, you must know the following information about buckwheat pillows:
Price Don’t Come Cheap
Buckwheat pillows may be costlier than regular pillows. On average, you may have to pay USD$50-USD$150 for queen and king sizes. You may also need to replenish the hulls of such pillows when the time comes. However, their price will be worth it because they can last longer than standard pillows.
Size
Nowadays, you can find almost any size of buckwheat pillows, from small to large sizes, depending on your preference. But, the size can be 14″ x 20″ as per standard Japanese size.
You may even want to customize the size by requesting it from the manufacturer. That way, you can choose to have a customized body pillow, especially if you’re a side sleeper.
Effect Takes Time
Like any other product, you may not feel immediate results when you start using buckwheat pillows. At first, you may have to get used to using one because it may feel hard. But, as time passes by, you’ll get used to it, and you won’t have to feel pain, only unparalleled pressure relief.
Other Uses
Aside from using buckwheat pillows for sleeping, you can even use them for other purposes. These include pillows for your couches and support for yoga. Since buckwheat pillows are known to support the neck, they can be perfect pillows for yoga.
Low-Maintenance
One of the most exciting characteristics of buckwheat pillows is that they’re easy to maintain. Unlike soft pillows that need professional cleaning to keep them soft and fluffy, buckwheat pillows don’t need it.
Since the covers are zippered, you can easily remove the buckwheat hulls, wash the covers and air-dry or sun-dry them. Also, you only need to air-dry the buckwheat hulls to get rid of their dampness. Especially if you spill any liquid on the pillow, you can replace the damaged hulls and not the entire pillow—another reason why its cost is worth it.
Conclusion
Even if the price can be costlier than standard pillows, the benefits you get when using sobakawa or buckwheat pillows can outweigh the cost. Imagine the expenses you’ll incur when you develop cancer because of buying cheap pillows that may contain highly toxic and carcinogenic materials. With all the treatment and checkups, you may need to shell out thousands of dollars.
As they say, prevention is better than cure. You may be better spending USD$50-USD$150 to avoid inhaling toxic chemicals. Add to that the other benefits you get to enjoy over a long time. No longer do you have to keep on adjusting your AC because you can regulate the temperature you need to sleep. Thus, you can avoid getting low-quality sleep, or, worse, migraines. All thanks to buckwheat pillows.
