Best organic pillows : how to choose the right one

Before you dive into the post about best organic pillows, I would like you to pay attention to something important:

What you are going to read here is based on the studies done by the groups of researchers from different universities located all around the world, and other respected organizations focused on health. We quote several experts as well. Yet, before trusting what they say, please first trust and listen to yourself. First: See how you have reacted to the pillows and beds you use. Second: If the result is promising, you feel good, wake up well-rested, keep doing what serves you well. However, when you wake up with pain in your neck or the lower spine, it might be a sign to change the pillows and beds. The researchers say, that the harder beds are good for you. Listen to yourself, if you suffer much, because you have painful joints, the softer organic bed filled with spelt hulls might be a solution for you. 

Listen to your body and make your own decision, or consult it with a chiropractor / doctor. It is your health and your life, a precious thing. Take good care of it.

He said: “if they don’t sleep well, they bite and destroy stuff…”

A dog psychologist’s light bulb moment. How to have a good night’s sleep and why it is so important to us and dogs…

Mr Waldemar is a well-known dog psychologist. He loves dogs, and observes their behaviour. Then he comes up with fascinating ideas you would not hear from anyone else. A few days ago we had a chat. And he shared his thoughts with me.

As many of us know, dogs have similar emotions to us humans. They can be sad or happy, depressed or relaxed. Moreover, dogs remember well, can love deeply, teach us how to love, and be in a moment… Just touch your beloved animal and watch him “melt” momentarily, out of joy and love for you. Also, dogs read our emotions through the expressions on our faces (study done by Marcello Siniscalchi, Serenella d’Ingeo and Angelo Quaranta of the University of Bari Aldo Moro in Italy. Published in Springer’s journal Learning & Behavior). Moreover, they have very similar needs to us humans.

Dogs and a good night’s sleep

So… in the space of a few weeks, mr Waldemar had clients who came to him with troubled, difficult to train puppies. The animals were nervous, biting things. Normally, a dog trainer would start training them and their owners. But Waldemar wanted to know more. He is a dog psychologist, and there was a thought on his mind, that perhaps, the dogs were nervous for a reason.

Healthy dogs sleep a lot. They sleep most of the time. The quality of their sleep is reflected in their activity during the active hours.

When Waldemar talked to the dog owners about the atmosphere and activity at their homes. He found out, that the homes where the “nervous” puppies lived were full of children, noise and movement. When the animals tried to sleep, their rest was interrupted, resulting in tiredness and lack of inner balance, so they barked and were difficult to train, ate shoes, furniture etc.

The dog psychologist finds out how to help the dogs

The trainer’s brilliant ideas was, that what would help in the first place, was a safe place to sleep. Dog’s own bed, and quiet atmosphere. Not the training itself, but having the ability to sleep peacefully.

Similar to dogs, we need to know how to sleep well, and focus on it each and every night, otherwise we risk loosing our precious energy and attention during the day. Just like in a case of a dog, the correct pillow and mattress play an important role in the entire experience.

The plan

In this article, you will read about about sleep and best organic pillows, mattresses, gold insights of knowledge coming from Prof. Tombak, Dave Asprey, Bodo Kuklinski, Matthew Walker and others. In fact, they are the specialists in the fields of human health, mitochondria, longevity. Next, sleep is one of their favourite subjects, as it is one of the most important parts of our lives. Therefore, let’s dive into the highly researched data about sleep, the best mattresses and pillows to sleep on, and start enjoying the fully restorative sleep.

How to choose the best pillow for you

When it comes to the organic pillows and mattresses, there are so many questions we may ask before choosing one:

• What type of pillow is best for sleeping?
• Further, What pillow do chiropractors recommend?
• Is it ok to sleep without a pillow?
• What are the best pillows for side sleepers?
• Next: What is the best filling for a pillow?
• Can an organic orthopedic lumbar pillow promote your sleep?
• Also, What are the best pillows to buy?
• What should the pillow be made of?
• Is a 100% ctton t-shirt good for me?
• Further, What are the best organic pillows?

Just to mention a few. And these questions are one of the most important ones we ask ourselves. 

To use a pillow or not?

Some of us sleep on a pillow, some don’t. As it is just a pillow, we may think, that the decision whether to use a pillow while sleeping or not is not an important thing to think about. But, we couldn’t be more further from the truth.

The pillow and the mattress we use while sleeping, are one of the most essential tools we use in our lives. Moreover, they can make you healthy, healthier, or cause pain, tiredness and injuries. Indeed, choose them wisely. Then, in this article, we focus on the best organic pillows, and explain why sleeping on a pillow is good for you, which pillows to choose, including the fabrics, filling, and their influence on your spine, health and longevity.

In fact, the state of your spine is directly related to your health and longevity. Furthermore, the better pillow and mattress you use, the healthier your spine will be, and your health.

What type of pillow is best for sleeping?

Study:

In 2014 a group of Korean researchers checked the effects three different pillows had on a human cervical spine. Then, the effects of the study were published on the National Library of Medicine website (also known as the National Center for Biotechnology Information). The researchers were curious to discover the effect of different pillow shape and content on cervical curve, pillow temperature, and pillow comfort. In detail: There were 20 healthy participants (10 males, 10 females). Further, the pillows they checked were :

• an orthopedic pillow
• a feather pillow
• a memory foam pillow

Result:

“The degree of temperature increase was significantly lower for the orthopedic pillow than for the memory foam and feather pillows. The visual analog scale (VAS) score of pillow comfort was significantly higher in orthopedic pillow than the other 2 pillows. This study shows that pillow shape and content plays a crucial role in cervical curve, pillow temperature, and pillow comfort and orthopedic pillow may be an optimal pillow for sleep quality.” (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25008402/)

Sleep deprivation and mental health issues

“It doesn’t matter how old you are, how busy you are, or how much money you have. Sleep is the ultimate tool to sharpen every skill and add more quality years to your life. So get better at it. ” 

“Super human”, Dave Asprey

We use fast and light computers, have smartphones, fly to the Moon, yet, often we don’t know how to sleep well and wake up well-rested. Moreover, we ignore the importance of it.

Today, when I was sitting in a small restuarant in Jelenia Góra, a town in my area in Poland, two boys were passing by. They talked and one of them said to the other: ” You know, I slept for a few minutes this night”. When I heard it, I felt: “When I was your age, I did the same”… all the research and knowledge about sleep I know of summarized in this one short reaction”: “and in the morning I felt like a lunatic.”

12 things you can do to live longer now

The consequences of not sleeping

After a night filled with poor quality sleep, you have less energy during a day, experience nervousness and in a long term, you age faster. Moreover, the quality of the decisions you make is affected too. Further, as mentioned by Dave Asprey in his book, just one night of sleep deprivation leads to an accumulation of beta-amyloid protein in the brain, which is associated with the Alzhemer’s disease.

[A study conducted by Dr. Ehsan Shokri-Kojori, in a team led by Drs. Nora D. Volkow and Gene-Jack Wang of NIH’s National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). Results were published on April 9, 2018, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.]

Furthermore, the pillow you use influences the quality of your sleep.

Is it ok to sleep without a pillow?

Professor Michał Tombak is sure, that our spine needs a pillow during rest. It is caused by the construction of human spine.

What is the healtiest pillow to sleep on?

According to mr Tombak, we should sleep on a firm and small pillow, which is the best healthy pillow. Persons used to sleeping without it, should put a rolled up towel or a small pillow like our smallest firm spelt pillow. A hard pillow keeps your septum in a correct position, which influences the physiological balance of the work of all organs of human body. That is why the correct and easy breathing through the nose is crucial to the functioning of our bodies. But if we sleep on a high and soft pillow our spines are bent, so we start breathing through the mouth, which results in throat and lung diseases, runny nose.

(Find more in a book by professor Tombak “Can we live 150 years” by clicking on the title).

Professor Tombak words are align with the results of the Korean study, quoted above.

Best sleeping position for health

There are three main sleeping positions:

• Sleeping on your back
• On your side
• Prefering to sleep on your stomach

The way you sleep, whether it is on your side, back or stomach affects your general health. There are more sleeping positions, but here we want to focus on the main three. In search for health improvement, many of us want to know which sleeping position is the best one, as each affects us differently.

There is still not enough research on this topic, but according to Dave Asprey, author of several interesting books including “Super Human”, there is the best sleeping position. He quotes studies done on rats, that show that rats that slept on their sides experienced improved glymphatic clearance compared to those that slept on the stomach or their back. Glymphatic system is a clearance system in the brain. It helps remove neurotoxins and cellular waste from the brain tissues, which includes the amyloid proteins that lead to the development of Alzheimer’s disease. Also, side sleeping persons have lower heart rate and blood pressure.

If side sleeping is good for health, which pillow should serve us most?

According to a study done by 37 hospital employees and 18 patients with neck pain, pillows affect neck pain. 36 of 55 persons stated that the pillows helped them sleep better, and 27 of 42 tested said that they reduced their neck pain. The patients said, that an ideal pillow should have a firmer core for neck lordosis. The pillow should also be allergy-tested and washable, provide neck-support, and not be too high.

Therapeutic pillows and Orthopedic mattress.

As a conclusion of the study, the correct pillow can be used as a part of a treatment for neck pain.

Pubmed

For more information check out these additional articles:

Heal neck pain naturally: the best pillow for neck pain

The study mentioned above says it clearly. Pillows can help cure neck pain. Before buying one, it is crucial to ask yourself whether the pillow supports the curve of the neck and upper back? Is it comfortable and offering stability and firmness for the neck lordosis? Is it organic and allergy-free?

Top pillows for neck pain: healing, healthy and beautiful

Yes, one of the key points is, that neck pain is a treatable health issue. You can start exercising, visit a chiropractor. Moreover, it is good to remember about what brought neck pain in the first place, and think about keeping your head correctly when doing daily chores.

How to choose a pillow for neck pain

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25008402/

Meditation pillows

I remember when I was meditating with my buddhist friends, we used to sit on the special meditation pillows placed on the floor. We used round zafus. The spine was straight, the knees touched the floor, while the bottom was raised slightly on the pillow. The legs were corssed in a lotus position. It was comfortable, but after half an hour of meditating, I felt pain in the legs. While at home, I love meditating while sitting on a chair. I can enter the deep meditative state with ease.

What it shows, is that the meditation position is important, but not essential. You can adjust, starting with sitting on a chair, and move to sitting on the zafu placed on the floor. What is essential, is for you to feel comfortable.

Organic zafu pillow

Organic zafu and the heart of Apple.

Maditation at home.

How to do meditation at home.

How to do meditation at home, part two

Organic lumbar pillow

organic lumbar pillows by EcoHealthLAB

Organic cervical neck pillow

As the group of Korean researchers mentioned in the frst part of this article suggested, the best pillow to sleep on was the orthopedic cervical neck pillow. Take a book about spine, and very likely you will see images showing a person sleeping on their side, with the special pillow under their neck.

Your spine should form a straight line from the top of the body to the bottom. If it does not, we experience pain and injuries. The cervical neck pillow supports the correct position of the cervical spine.

But unfortunatelly, in Western Europe and the USA, the cervical spine is the second organ of movement in human body causing us the greatest pain. Right after the lumbar spine, which holds the first position. The stastics say, that over 10% of citizens of the areas mentioned suffer from pain in the cervical spine.

The recipe for an injury

Those who experince it, come mostly from the groups of people who spend a lot of time sitting, or work in the sitting position. When we sit for a longer periods of time, we start developing degenerative changes in the spine. Add to it a lack of physical activities, improper performance of daily activities, stress, and you have a recipe for pain and injuries.

Organic Cervical neck pillow

The best pillow for side sleepers: organic cervical neck pillow

The best pillow for side sleepers: orthopedic pillow

As a sign of a pathological condition of the cervial region you may experience:

• improper concentration
• blurred vision
• hearing loss
• neck pain
• pain between the shoulder blades
• increased muscle tension
• immobilization
• forced position of the head
• migraines

The trouble is, that when we start experiencing the first symptoms of a degenerative disease, we ignore them, as the symptoms are often mild. But they accumulate and if are left untreated, will lead to more serious dysfunctions, such as discopathies.

The path to discopathies and how to avoid them

“Degeneration of intervertebral discs can lead to disc disease, commonly known as discopathy. One of the consequences of discopathy is pressure on the spinal cord or nerve roots […]” pubmeb in an article titled “Discopathy of the lumbar-sacral segment and its influence on sexual dysfunction.”, describing a study done in January/February 2013.

The cervical spine is highly susceptible to discopathy due to mobility and carried weight. During daily activities, while sitting without supporting your head, the load on the discs equals 180 kilograms per square centimeter. It happens especially as a consequence of the incorrect sitting position when wotking at the computer, moving the head forward.

One of the solutions is a cervical neck pillow, and as created by our company, organic cervical neck pillow, made of organic cotton, and filled with the purest organic buckwheat hulls.

Sleep Hygene

The wisest people kept telling us that life is simple. It follows a few fundamental principles, and if you focus on them, everything else will fall into place.

• Have meaningful relationships
• Love yourself and others
• Forgive everyone and often
• Breathe
• Sleep well and enough
• Eat good food
• Move

There are many people who know how to have a good night’s sleep. They follow a few key insights, that help them stay healthy for longer.

The fundamentals of healthy sleep:

• Make sure the air quality in your bedroom is superb. If possible, sleep with an open window, or air the bedroom before falling asleep. It also means, using the organic fabrics for the mattress and pillows you use, organic filling and the clothes you use. We inhale the particles of fabric that surround us. That is also why we focused entirely on creating the organic beds and pillows, like our organic buckwheat mattress, organic buckwheat pillow, organic spelt pillow.
• Do not drink alcohol before falling asleep
• Letting your beloved dog or cat to sleep in your bed may lead to waking up at night, as they tend to move a lot during night.
• Focus on relaxation in the evening. No financial issues, no problems, no quarrels. All of them impact your nervous system. What you may do, is to drink herbal calming tea, made of lemon balm, chamomile, valerian.
• If your sleep disorders are caused by cervical instability, you should use an orthopedic pillow, that will help you avoid streching the cervical spine. You may consider our organic cervical neck pillow, or the smallest organic spelt pillow

The articles and books about sleep hygene

To more we read more about Sleep hygene, the easier it becomes. Ronaldo and Federer’s powerful sleep habits are a great inspiration. They look well-rested, relaxed, young. Sleep habits of the great: Cristiano Ronaldo, Tim Ferriss, Richard Branson reveal how important sleep to them is. How sleep habits affect your love life? just follow the link to find out. We also recommend a great book about longevity, health and sleep, written by dr Bodo Kuklinski and dr Anja Schemionek about the mitochondria. Unfortunatelly, it is published in German and Polish.

Best Organic pillows inserts / organic filling

100% organic. Organic pillow, organic mattresses. Why should we pay so much attention to such pure products? There are several reasons. Our health, longevity, beauty of the organic fabrics and filling, well-being of the natural world, ecosystem. All ate true and crucial for your future and the world.

Organic clothes, pillows, mattresses, are close to your skin. Their smell, the tiny particles of the fabrics, and filling circle in the air.

When you breathe in the oxygen from the surrounding space, the respiratory system takes in the oxygen through your mouth and nose directly into your lungs. From there, the oxygen is moved with blood along the arteries into the cells of the body. It changes to carbon dioxide, blood takes it back to the lungs via veins and we exhale it back out into the atmosphere.

Surround yourself with the organic things

The moment you inhale the oxygen you breathe in everything that is in the air around you as well. It goes to the blood system and into the cells of your body. If you wear regular normal clothes, or sleep on non organic products, the chemical substances contained within them enter your blood system as well. Often we are told that the products we use are 100% cotton, but the labels do not tell us the truth about the pesticides used when creating cotton. The purer your environment, the better your health will be.

Know more about sleep by reading our thorough article How to live well: the power of sleep.

Our products are filled with the purest hulls. Organic, tested in the laboratories organic buckwheat hulls, and organic spelt hulls, mixed sometimes with the organic charlock hulls, leave only the most natural and healthy smells in the air. No chemicals are involved. When breathing in, your body remains healthy and can rest fully.

Organic spelt hulls

Organic Spelt hulls are the hulls surrounding spelt grain. An ancient grain (cultivated since approximately 5000 BC), is rich in nutrients, contains dietary fiber, protein, several B vitamins and minerals (manganese, phosphorus, niacin, calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium, sodium, zinc). Organic spelt hulls are highly liked for their breathability as well. They are natural, nontoxicand light. Before deciding which hulls are the best for you, it is great to recognize The healing power of plants: spelt and spelt hulls. Among our customers the organic spelt pillows are especially liked and valued for their lightness and springiness. How to Choose the best spelt pillow: pillows for neck pain back sleeper article describes different types of pillows , and can be a first step for those wanting to know what type of pillow is best for them.

Organic buckwheat hulls

Organic buckwheat is as ancient as spelt. As far as we know now, it was first cultivated in inland Southeast Asia, around 6000 BC, and from there it was taken to Central Asia, Tibet, and later to Middle East and Europe. It is healthy to eat, as it contains protein, four B vitamins, dietary fiber, minerals such as magnesium, phosphorus, manganese, niacin, potassium, selenium, zinc, calcium, copper, iron, sodium. It is 72% carbohydrates and 10% water. (Wikipedia). The grain-like seeds are gluten-free. Both the seeds and the hulls are highly valued and used for cooking (buckwheat noodles), pillow filling, beer production, tea, whisky. Buckwheat hulls: the magical hulls that heal

organic buckwheat hulls

The organic buckwheat hulls (known also as buckwheat husks) are seen as as alternative natural filling to feathers, as they can be used by those with allergies. It is crucial that they are dust free and clean.

Organic buckwheat pillows are truly beautful and can be found in our store.

Additionally, if you prefer herbal pillows, which ae the organic buckwheat pillos with added herbs, like lavender, lemon balm, you will find the information here:

Organic Buckwheat herbal pillows, are called “the green gold”. You have the most beautiful and pure buckwheat hulls mixed wth lavender, that add the scent and healing properties. At our store, you will find both the organic pillows with lemon balm (calming effect), and organic pillows ath lavender (calming, relaxing, tremendoulsy wonderful smell).

Organic buckwheat pillow

Healing power of plants: buckwheat and buckwheat hulls

Buckwheat hulls: the magical hulls that heal

Spelt pillow

Spelt hulls for spelt pillows

Emmer pillow

Fabrics. Organic cotton vc non-organic cotton, linen, facts and figures

100 % cotton. It is what we often see on a label attached to a shirt or a skirt, jacket. We often think that it means that the product is healthy, as it has no artificial fabrics in it. I even remember a recent customer telling me, that the product she had bought from another company must had been healthy, as it luckily was 100$ cotton. How surprised she was, when I told her, that conventional, non-organic cotton is among the most chemically polluted fabrics in the world. Conventional cotton producers use insecticides and pesticides in such huge amounts, that the insectidices used are equal to 25% of all globally used insecticides, and in terms of the pesticides, it is 10% of world’s usage. They contaminate groundwater, affect biodiversity, and even the aquatic life. They affect our immune system and general health.

If we lived in an ideal world… we would have information all around us. Revealing to us the cotton facts and figures, to let us know what we are buying, wearing, and how it affects us. The stores would have it, the internet stores would have this facts published openly. But before it happens, we simply need to memorize what we just wrote above. Conventional cotton consists of harmful chemicals.

Truth about 100% cotton

The World Counts (www.theworldcounts.com) stated even that:

We cannot stress enough the importance of pure fabrics. Our article: 3 reasons for choosing organic cotton points the light onto 3 of them. Conventional cotton production needs freshwater as well. Triple Pundit (www.triplepundit.com), in an article written by Andrea Newell reported that:

“Approximately half of all textiles are made of cotton. According to WWF, it takes more than 20,000 liters (5,283 gallons) of water to produce just one kilogram (2.2 pounds) of cotton, which roughly equals one T-shirt and a pair of jeans.”

Organic cotton cultivation takes into account the environmental impact of the production process. It is a long-term thinkng, about the planet and our health we want to hear more of.

Organic cotton facts

Troubling cotton facts and figures everyone should know, include also the optimistic facts and figures associated with the organic cotton production, which are among others: the breathability of the fabric, lack of toxic waste, support of the local communities who produce the crop.

Organic cotton comes from the plants that are not modified genetically. The farmers do not use synthetic fertilizers during the production process. It supports the biodiversity. Cotton fabric facts and the reason nobody talks about them. If organic cotton is so healthy, why is the entire world silent about the troubling facts of the conventional cotton production? The reasons are simple, yet not pleasant. Money and the existing system of the producers and sellers. But the final decision before buying any of the fabrics belongs to you.

Organic or regular cotton : which cover to choose ? Make your own choice.

In our store we also use linen to create the outer covers of our beautiful organic pillows and organic mattresses. Linen is highly durable.

Know how to choose between linen and cotton covers for buckwheat hull products 

So, you already know about organic cotton and conventional cotton. Then, how about linen? While it is famous for it’s ability to not absorb electric charges at the same time it stays cool in hot weather as it does not retain heat. Moreover, ot is anti-allergic, biodegradable and good for nature. It is a strong fabric as well.

History of linen is fascinating as well. For example, the spinning machine used during linen fabric production was invented in France. Also, it happened in turbulent times, and the circumstances of that invention were truly weird. Further, it is also said… that the oldest dyed flax fibres may date back to 34000 years BC, and were found in a prehistoric cave in Georgia.

The healing abilities of linen and flax seeds

Organic plants are full of nutrients and healing abilities. When we think about the healing power of plants, linen, flax seed is one of the healthiest one. In fact, it contains protein, dietary fiber, minerals (Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium, Zinc), several B vitamins and vitamin C. It is rich in thiamine, omega-3 fatty acids (mostly ALA), omega-9 fatty acids, omega 6-fatty acids, saturated fat.

” Ten grams of flax seed contains one gram of water-soluble fiber (which lowers blood cholesterol) and three grams of insoluble fiber (which helps prevent constipation).” (Wikipedia)

Finally, a research (according to Wikipedia) shows that consumption of more than 30 g of flax-seed daily can help a person reduce weight for those with a B.M.I. greater than 27. Another study revealed that eating flax-seed helped reduce inflammation, however in persons with a B.M.I. greater than 30.

Linen fabric is truly one of the healthiest fabrics out there. Additionally, it does not absorb body moisture as well.

The elements of the best organic pillows

EcoHealthLab products are known for : organic cotton, linen, beautiful organic hulls, which include organic buckwheat hulls and organic spelt hulls. You have healthy and beautiful elements to choose from. When you choose, you choose from the organic ones to make sure you and the planet remain healthy and happy.

Organic spelt pillows, organic buckwheat pillows, emmer pillows, organic nursing pillows, cervical neck pillows, lumbar pillows, all are important to our well-being. Our bodies have different needs and the state of a spine is different, we should think what we want and need before making the final choice. I hope the article has answered some of the questions.

We took our inspiration from:

Wikipedia resources:

Discopathy, Buckwheat, Spelt, Linen

National geographic

Triple Pundit

The World Counts

BBC News. “Breathe skin, breathe out.” Feb. 24, 1999. (May 7, 2010) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/285579.stm