Although we may not be flying as much now due to the coronavirus, it’s safe to say almost every person who’s entered an airport or a train station has seen a travel pillow. All backgrounds of people, from the USA to Luxembourg, use travel pillows. Even kids as young as five- or six-years-old use travel pillows! They seem to be everywhere.
Travel pillows have solidified their place in world history as an essential travel item. It’s not a silly fad. Travel pillows are here to stay. And for good reason, too.
Anybody that has taken a long-haul flight, whether it’s three hours or 8 hours, has likely suffered from endless, sleepless boredom. No matter how tired you are, it can be a nightmare trying to get to sleep on a flight.
While you’re playing your twelfth game of solitaire, you may look across the aisle and see someone fast asleep, thanks to their carry-on travel pillow. At that point in the flight, you’re likely wishing you caved to this travel hack and joined the travel accessory trend. As you’ll soon learn, you should join the trend, and you can!
Travel neck pillows, especially a high-quality memory foam travel pillow, are essential items when you’re on the go, and they can even help you at home in your own bed!
The History Of Travel Pillows
While you’ve seen thousands of travel pillows since your first time on an airplane, you may be curious as to where they came from. Who was the genius that created the ubiquitous U-shaped travel pillow?
The history of travel pillows may surprise you, as the foundations for these unmistakable products was laid in 1928 by Elizabeth Millson.
Although, at this time, they were not made for traveling. They were designed to be used as a bath pillow. Regardless of the intention, the famous U-shaped pillow took off and is showing no signs of slowing down.
Throughout the 1980s, society saw an exponential growth of u-shape travel pillows. This came while flights became more common and accessible to everyday people, and not just the wealthy or famous celebrities. However, at that time, flights were not the same as they were today.
They were even less comfortable than now, no matter how hard it is to believe that flights and those headrests could be any more uncomfortable.
Fast-forward to the present day, and people still don’t love flying. Unless you’re paying multiple thousands of dollars for a first-class ticket, you likely don’t expect to get a good night’s rest on an overnight flight.
Regardless, more people are flying today than ever before, and the numbers of flights are likely only going to increase. Thus, travel pillows will be here to stay! If you want to ensure you’re getting a decent rest while traveling, you should join the movement.
While getting one bad night of sleep may not seem like a big deal, the importance of sleep can’t be ignored. So even if you only travel every once in a while, you should do all you can in your power to get good sleep.
The Importance Of Sleep
Sleep is a vital part of life. As a child, sleep is necessary for proper development, and as an adult, the importance of sleep never subsides. It’s equal in importance to eating healthy and exercising.
However, sleep is something that isn’t as easy to control as exercising or eating healthy.
A good night of sleep depends on your sleep posture, what you ate and drank throughout the day, and what you’re using to sleep on.
For example, imagine trying to get a good night of sleep after having eaten candy for dinner with a coffee for dessert. It would be tough to fall asleep. Similarly, trying to fall asleep on a plane without a pillow is not so easy either.
The problems of sleep do not end there, however. Even those who sleep at home aren’t getting the sleep their bodies need. In the United States, one in three adults isn’t getting enough sleep, which can have drastic effects on the body.
When you don’t get adequate sleep, your body and mind suffer the consequences. Those who don’t get enough sleep have a weakened immune system, a greater chance for developing heart disease and cancer, an inability to think critically and make decisions, and much more.
On the other hand, when you do get enough sleep, you see many benefits. You’re more likely to maintain a healthy body weight, improve your productivity levels, improve your mood, plus more.
Although many people are aware of the importance of sleep, implementing the practices to get the proper rest seems to be difficult for people. Luckily, there are many tips and tricks out there that can help you improve your sleep.
In fact, there’s a whole field of study called sleep hygiene, which intends to help everyday people make better decisions to augment the number of hours and the quality of sleep.
One of the most important factors for getting good sleep is your sleep posture. What position do you sleep in? On your back, side, or stomach? Do you sleep with a large bulky pillow? Do you have the proper lumbar support?
Whether you’re traveling or you’re at home, if you want to improve your sleep, you have to think about what you’re sleeping with that may impact the quality of rest you’re getting.
Pillows Can Make Or Break Your Sleep
Many people practice a bedtime ritual before going to bed each night. Some people may light a candle, read a book, meditate, or write in a journal. Practices like those may help you wind down and get ready for bed.
However, to get good rest, you can’t just rely on being tired or a bedtime ritual. You have to set yourself up for a successful night’s rest. To do so, consider the pillow you use.
If you want to ensure you’re sleeping well, waking up rested and pain-free, you have to make sure that your pillow suits your neck.
As you lie in bed, your head and neck need to stay aligned with each other. If your head is lifted too high, or it’s leaning back too far, your neck muscles will be strained.
When your neck experiences this kind of strain, there’s a high chance you’ll wake up more often in the middle of the night.
Furthermore, it sets you up for poor rest and chronic neck pain. So, while your bedtime ritual can improve the quality of your sleep, the pillow you use will have a serious impact, either positive or negative, on your sleep.
While you’re trying to sleep on a plane, in the car, or on the train, if you don’t have neck support, there’s a very slim chance you’ll get any real sleep. Again, you need to consider the pillow you use to get the support you need.
Sleeping With Travel Pillows
Travel pillows are straightforward in their use for travel. You can use these pillows while sitting straight up and still have decent neck support.
While you will likely never get the same quality of sleep traveling as you would in your bed, you should still do all you can to improve the quality of your sleep.
If you’re going to be traveling frequently, the best travel pillow for you is a gel-infused memory foam travel pillow. Pillows like these have the perfect design to keep your neck from bobbing to the front or side and waking you up. If you buy your pillow from us at Everlasting Comfort, you get earplugs and an eye mask so you can have the most comfortable shut-eye, even if you're in the dreaded middle seat.
Other materials, like microbeads, inflatable travel pillows, and down ones, are inferior to gel-infused memory foam in terms of how breathable they are, as well as their functionality. Also, the pillows themselves feature a machine-washable velour cover, so you never have to worry about how clean your pillow is.
By using a travel neck support pillow, you can ensure your neck stays as straight as possible, thereby improving the duration and the quality of your snooze.
For those of you who are not traveling, a travel pillow is still a great option for enhancing your night’s rest. By using one of these travel pillows, you’ll have the perfect amount of support for your neck, depending on your sleeping position.
However, as back sleepers and side sleepers need different amounts of support, you’ll need to find the adequate pillow thickness for your preferred sleeping style.
If you’re a back sleeper, you’re in luck, as virtually everyone can find the perfect position while using one of the U-shaped travel pillows.
They provide just the right amount of elevation for your head while still supporting your neck. Plus, the head support from these pillows help you from bending your neck over and causing strain and tension on your neck muscles, so you won't wake up with a stiff neck.
The Bottom Line
As sleep plays a vital role in everybody’s lives, more attention is being placed on how to get the necessary sleep. While there are trends in bedtime rituals, sleep hygiene, and more, sleep posture still plays a key role in the quality of sleep one can get.
Plus, as more and more people are traveling, society must find a way to help those travelers get the rest they need. Thus, neck pillows come into play as the best travel tip out there. Travel pillows can support your neck to ensure you’re practicing proper sleep posture, whether you’re at home or on the road, so grab your pillow, put on your sleep mask, and get ready for some rest.
Sources:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/we-need-the-travel-pillow
https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2016/p0215-enough-sleep.html
https://www.healthline.com/health/healthy-sleep
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/17-tips-to-sleep-better
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