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Our crew of Licensed Sleep Science Coaches examined the most recent peer-reviewed analysis and interviewed business consultants and medical professionals in an effort to relay essentially the most correct sleep well being info.

In This Article

I’ll clarify the professionals and cons of sleeping with a pillow between your knees.

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Discovering a snug sleep place is vital to getting sufficient restful sleep. However if you happen to can’t ever appear to seek out that comfy place, there might be a easy resolution. Sleeping with a pillow between your knees might be helpful for facet sleepers and anybody seeking to enhance their sleep posture and total sleep high quality. 

Preserve studying to be taught extra about the advantages of sleeping with a pillow between your knees and the way to decide on a pillow to sleep comfortably on this place. 

Advantages of Sleeping With a Pillow Between Your Knees

Sleeping with a pillow between your knees might be useful for some individuals. Let’s take a better take a look at the advantages of this sleep place. 

Preserve Sleep Posture

Sleeping with a pillow between your knees can assist enhance your sleep posture, which can assist forestall again and hip ache. Facet sleepers can enhance their sleep posture by filling the hole between their legs with a supportive pillow to maintain the hips and pelvis symmetrically aligned with the backbone. 

Assist Alleviate Muscle and Joint Ache

In the event you take care of muscle or joint ache in your hips or legs, strive inserting a pillow between your knees.  This may assist help the load of your legs and take the stress off of your decrease again and hips, which may assist relieve aches and stiffness. If in case you have knee ache, it’s possible you’ll profit from the extra consolation of a pillow to stop your knees from touching. 

Forestall Tossing and Turning

In the event you’re feeling stressed and unable to discover a comfy sleeping place, a pillow between your knees can assist preserve you from tossing and turning. Relying on the dimensions and form, a pillow can assist preserve you in a single comfy place all night time lengthy. 

Assist Modify Your Sleep Place

Facet sleeping is a generally really helpful sleep place to assist relieve muscle or joint ache and scale back loud night breathing. If you wish to give facet sleeping a strive however don’t know how you can begin, a pillow between your knees can assist. A pillow on this place retains you from shifting to your again or abdomen and can assist kind the behavior of facet sleeping. 

Enhance Blood Circulation

One of many advantages of facet sleeping is that it will increase blood circulation all through your physique. 

You may need poor circulation in your legs if you happen to expertise a numbing sensation or swollen limbs once you get up. Elevating your leg with a pillow can promote blood move and assist forestall varicose veins from creating. 

Who Ought to Sleep With a Pillow Between Their Knees?

Right here’s a better take a look at who would possibly wish to think about sleeping with a pillow between their knees.

Individuals with Again Ache

An estimated 75-85% of adults expertise again ache in some unspecified time in the future of their life, and a 2019 survey discovered round 8% of People take care of continual extreme again ache. Again ache might be attributable to a medical situation, strained muscular tissues, or poor spinal alignment. 

Facet sleepers with again ache can place a pillow between their knees to assist align their backbone, hips, and pelvis and assist forestall pressure on their again muscular tissues. This place additionally takes stress off the decrease again by supporting the legs and protecting the pelvis from rotating throughout the night time.

RELATED: The right way to Sleep with Again Ache 

Individuals with Hip Ache

Like again ache, hip ache might be attributable to misalignment or poor sleep posture. Inserting a pillow between your knees can enhance your sleep posture by stopping your hips from twisting in your sleep. The pillow helps preserve your legs comfortably stacked on prime of one another, which might  assist scale back hip pressure and aching joints. Take into account that facet sleeping might not be a snug place for all individuals with hip ache.  

RELATED: The right way to Sleep with Hip Ache 

Individuals with Scoliosis

For these with scoliosis, it’s particularly essential to maintain the shoulders, backbone, and hips neutrally aligned as you sleep. A knee pillow can elevate your higher leg into impartial alignment once you’re mendacity in your facet, and it will probably assist forestall your physique from twisting in your sleep. 

Individuals with Sciatica

These with sciatica might wrestle to sleep comfortably on account of decrease again, hip, and leg ache. Sciatic ache is often felt on one facet of the physique, and facet sleeping can assist scale back pressure on the sciatic nerve. A knee pillow can assist take stress off your sciatic nerve and assist preserve your backbone, hips, and pelvis aligned. 

Individuals with Sleep Apnea

These with delicate to average obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) can make the most of positional remedy as an intervention method to scale back loud night breathing. Docs suggest that these with sleep apnea sleep on their facet to take stress off their airways. Physique pillows or knee pillows can assist practice individuals with OSA to remain positioned on their facet all through the night time.

Pregnant Individuals

Facet sleeping can also be the really helpful sleep place for pregnant individuals. With a rising child bump, pregnant individuals will probably expertise decrease again ache and discomfort whereas attempting to go to sleep. To alleviate decrease again ache and enhance blood circulation, the American Being pregnant Affiliation recommends sleeping together with your legs barely bent with a pillow between your knees. Utilizing a being pregnant pillow is one other technique to sleep comfortably in your facet and discover full physique help when you are pregnant. 

RELATED: How To Get The Finest Sleep Throughout Your Being pregnant (And After)

Drawbacks of Sleeping With a Pillow Between Your Knees

Whereas sleeping with a pillow between the knees might be helpful for many individuals, it might not be useful for everybody. Listed below are a number of the explanation why this configuration may not give you the results you want. 

Might Trigger Extra Discomfort

Some individuals might really feel stress round their hips and knees on this place, particularly if they’ve pre-existing ache in these areas. If sleeping with a pillow between your knees worsens your hip or knee ache, then we don’t suggest persevering with to sleep on this place. 

Might Impair Pelvic Alignment

Inserting the incorrect pillow between your knees can convey your hips out of impartial alignment. For instance, a tall, dense pillow may elevate your leg too excessive and create discomfort. You might wish to think about inserting an adjustable pillow between your knees, such because the COOP Authentic. By including or eradicating the filling, you’ll be able to simply get the pillow to the most effective top for you. 

Traps Physique Warmth

Similar to some mattresses, pillows may entice physique warmth. A pillow constituted of dense, non-breathable supplies, comparable to reminiscence foam, can take up the warmth between your legs and make you are feeling uncomfortable. Check out our checklist of the greatest cooling pillows for some breathable choices. 

Takes Up House

Whether or not the pillow between your knees is a regular dimension or a physique pillow, an extra pillow will occupy house in your mattress. That is one thing to bear in mind if you happen to sleep with a associate. Though protecting a pillow between your knees is supposed to maintain you in a secure sleep place, it may additionally limit your associate’s actions. 

The right way to Select a Knee Pillow

In relation to knee pillows, some are higher than others. You’ll want to select a pillow that has the right quantity of help and the fitting loft, or top, relying in your body. Knee pillows are available in a number of sizes and shapes, and a few are contoured to the hole between your legs. Scorching sleepers might wish to think about getting a pillow with cooling options in order that their legs don’t overheat throughout the night time.

The Finest Knee Pillows

Listed below are a number of pillows in the marketplace designed to offer full-body help and enable you to obtain impartial backbone alignment. 

COOP Sleep Items Physique Pillow

The COOP Sleep Items physique pillow has a shredded reminiscence foam filling and is an effective match for all three sleep positions. It has an adjustable loft, so sleepers can customise it to their wants. 

Boppy Facet Sleeper Being pregnant Pillow

The Boppy is a flexible being pregnant pillow that can be utilized in a number of methods, together with between the knees whereas facet sleeping. It consists of two pillows which can be linked by a detachable outer cowl. This can be a nice being pregnant pillow for individuals on the lookout for decrease again ache aid or stomach help. 

Snoogle

The Snoogle is a C-shaped being pregnant pillow that wraps round your complete physique. Facet sleepers can wrap the Snoogle round their shoulders and between their legs to assist obtain impartial backbone alignment and preserve from tossing and turning. It additionally replaces the necessity for pregnant individuals to sleep with a number of pillows directly to help their our bodies.

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