for years we've lived with information
about the need to have a suitable bed
for a good night's sleep lost in the
middle of all that the need for a good
pillow Helen willings
investigates a bad pillow can be
damaging your back it can lead to
Chronic insomnia neck pain shoulder pain
back pain and also headaches we spend
around onethird of Our Lives sleeping so
the correct pillow for your health and
well-being is as essential as a good bed
at last I found the ideal pillow but
because we can't properly try out a
pillow before we buy we often end up and
put up with a dud it's quite hard it's a
little bit like sleeping on a doorstep
most people have the wrong pillow and
they don't even know what to look for
when choosing a pillow and generally the
staff in the store aren't qualified to
give you advice on on what's the best
product as well pillow design has become
Hightech science you can buy all sorts
for pregnancy snoring allergies back and
neck problems you can pay from just $10
up to 300 you look for a pillow that's
going to support in between the head and
the shoulders so that whether you're
sleeping on your back or sleeping on
your side your spine is actually
straight tonight our pillow expert
physiotherapist man Douglas from ergo
Works guides you to the best pillow for
your size weight and sleeping position
our testers also trial these the latest
high-tech models Kelly walligan Francis
Cen and Katherine stubs all suffer from
neck and back pain I like a firm pillow
and most pillows are pretty soft and
when you roll over um you know you have
to readjust and fluff it up again but
this was perfect the pillows we tested
all claimed to give pain relief better
support and improved quality sleep we'll
tell you soon which ones our testers
preferred and whether they're also
recommended by our expert
physiotherapist first the complete
sleeper Deluxe in polyester and foam
from $59 it's height adjustable and
comes with removable inserts to adapt to
your particular comfort and posture
needs the Denton's Contour pillow around
$70 is molded for the head and neck it
does come in a range of sizes so this is
the low profile ATT tesing if you're
bigger um build than um I am you can
obviously use a high profile and there
are water beds but there's also the
mediflow water-based polyester
hypoallergenic pillow around
$109.95 your head floats over a layer of
water temperature controlled by a
thermal insulator it's certainly very
comfortable but it it didn't give me the
support that I was looking for I was
still waking up in the morning with a
saet um the medif flow is probably my
favorite um that's the water one it's
quite heavy now cuz it's got about 5 L
of water in it the Dentons very similar
to this tontine foam pillow recommended
by the physiotherapists Association of
Australia is a favorite of man Douglas's
because it gives Firm contoured support
but again horses for courses it wasn't
number one with our testers it didn't
work as well as I had hoped Kelly and
Francis the complete sleeper was tops
and our expert also recommends it I'd
give this a perfect score 15 out of 15
as soon as I put my head on it it felt
like sleeping on a cloud it was just I
just melted right into it it was great
it kind of mold into my head my favorite
one was the cheapest out of the lot
which just goes to show that you don't
need to spend a lot of money to find a
solution to the problems that you have
with your bad back or your neck so how
about really cheap a $10 pillow it
doesn't actually provide a huge amount
of support when you're sleeping on it so
it's not ideal for a back or side
sleeper if you are a tummy sleeper this
would be the best sort of pillow to get
this temper NASA pillow at
$275 should be the ultimate expensive
pillow this would probably be better for
a larger person this sort of pillow for
me would probably push my spine the
other way and I'd wake up in an awkward
posture The Firm latex type can last a
few years but she advises don't rest on
your laurels you should seek advice from
your physiotherapist as to which pillow
is most suitable for you we need to
change your pillow over every 6 months
to 2 years because as soon as it lose
its firmness it also loses its support
so your head may be in an awkward
position while you're sleeping Helen
willings report