Getting your best night’s sleep is not just about the mattress that you sleep on. Selecting the perfect pillow, eliminating harmful indoor stimulants, reducing sleep interruption, and creating good sleeping habits that have a direct correlation with deep restorative sleep for a healthy mind and body. Your health is the biggest investment for longevity, and it all starts with getting quality sleep and staying in the REM and DEEP sleep cycles to allow natural healing and growth.
When it comes to quality of sleep, your mattress is the most important and expensive investment. But don’t forget your pillow gets the same 7-8 hours per night and plays a huge role in providing comfort and support. Whether you’re a back, stomach, or side sleeper, matching the pillow to your mattress is the key to better quality sleep.
COMMON TYPES OF PILLOW FILLS
Did you know foam, down and polyester pillows have an average 1-2 year lifespan? Latex pillows have the longest lifespan of 3-4 years and polyester has the shortest with some being replaced in 6 months.
- ORGANIC LATEX – Squishy feel with a quick rebound, organic, non-toxic. Comes as one piece, or shredded material.
- BUCKWHEAT – Made from the outer shell of buckwheat kernels. 5-10 lbs to fill a standard pillow. Good airflow but heavier, firmer feel, and noisy when shifting positions.
- FEATHER – Most expensive and often confused with down. Must be 100% pure white goose and no down fill. May cause allergic reactions, is a nesting ground for dust mites, and is not supportive enough for heavy sleepers.
- DOWN FILL – Fluffy clusters pulled from the underbellies of geese and ducks for loft, and breathability. Lightweight absorbs less body heat and requires more frequent fluffing.
- MEMORY FOAM – Made with polyurethane and known for emitting a strong odor and off-gassing smell.
- COTTON – Readily available and can be found mixed with organic or shredded polyester. Firmer than poly fill and average priced but tends to clump over time. Can also be a nesting ground for dust mites.
In general, traditional bed pillows need to be replaced every 18 months. However, our organic latex pillows are more resilient and robust. They can last 10 years or more if proper care is followed. Blended latex pillows, on the other hand, may last 4 to 5 years and synthetic pillows have the shortest lifespan. Our organic latex is more expensive than blended or synthetic options because of its durability, hypoallergenic properties, and superior support and comfort features which means you don’t have to replace them as often. If you’ve been using that blended pillow for five or six years or reaching 2 years with the synthetic pillow, chances are you’re not getting the proper support you need and ultimately you’re not getting quality sleep on a nightly basis.
ESSENTIA ORGANIC PILLOW STYLES
The most important aspect of picking your pillow is taking into account your sleep position. The pillow you choose should support your sleeping position by ensuring your head, neck and spine remain in neutral alignment. This helps to alleviate neck pain and relieves pressure down your body. Here we will break down each Essentia pillow and how compatible it is with different sleeping styles.
Here at Essentia, we make all of our pillows in our GOLS and GOTS certified organic factory and use GOLS certified organic latex and GOTS certified organic cotton covers. The result is the ultimate pressure-relieving organic pillows that sleep cool.
We have 2 categories or styles of pillows: Comfort Mix™ Filled Pillows and Molded Pillows.
Essentia Comfort Mix™ Filled pillows are filled with our Comfort Mix™ which is a shredded blend of our proprietary patented natural memory foam and latex foams. Our Comfort Mix™ Filled pillows tend to be more adaptable to all sleeping styles.
Our second pillow style is our Individually Molded pillows. These pillows are made entirely of our patented Beyond Latex™ slow response organic latex foam and are individually molded by hand. As they are made of our patented organic latex foam these pillows are dense and based on the pillow shape can range from soft to firm feels based on sleeping style.
WHAT TYPE OF PILLOW DO YOU NEED BASED ON YOUR SLEEPING STYLE?
If you are a back sleeper, a pillow that offers a medium height and medium or adjustable feel will be the best for your sleep style. You don’t want a pillow that will be too high so your head will be pushed up too much, but you also do not want a pillow that feels like you are lying flat with no support for your neck arch. The best pillow for back sleepers is a medium feel which is also important to ensure you are supported properly without the pillow flattening as your sleep. Pressure relief is also extremely important to ensure your head and neck are comfortably cradled while also keeping proper spinal alignment. If you are a combination sleeper that always ends up on your back, a pillow that allows some customizable support would also be a big advantage for you.
Side sleepers need a higher and firmer pillow to ensure proper spinal alignment. A pillow that is loftier will help to relieve pressure on your shoulder and evenly distribute your body’s weight. You don’t want your shoulder to feel like it is digging too much into your mattress, which may be a sign that you need a taller pillow. Firmer support is also important to ensure your head won’t sink down which can lead to a crooked neck and pain. If you don't enjoy a firmer pillow that is not moldable, you can consider a pillow that can be fluffed up to be taller.
This can be the trickiest of all sleeping styles to match with the perfect pillow. Essentially, stomach sleepers require a very thin pillow to ensure proper spinal alignment as you don’t want your head and neck to be pushed up while sleeping. This also means a pillow with soft support can help to ensure your head is not too propped up as it would be with a firmer pillow. Again, this is another situation where an adjustable fill would be beneficial.
If you are unsure or tend to favor a variety of sleeping style, Dr. Breus’s has a simple test you can follow to determine the right amount of support that you need when testing pillows: Use a flat wall and place your head on a pillow(s) against the wall in the same position as you sleep. If your head tilts toward the ceiling and your eyes look up, you need a firmer model. If it tilts downward and your eyes look at the floor, you need a softer pillow.
Essentia's Comfort Latex Pillow and Classic Beyond Latex™ Pillow are great for all sleep styles and feature our comfort mix filling of shredded Beyond Latex™ organic foam and organic latex. Held in a solid outer shell, you can shift the inside fill to suit your sleep style. The Sofi Latex Pillow is the perfect thin pillow often suited for a flat or swayback posture, specifically if you are a back sleeper. The Forma Foam Pillow is perfect for side and back sleepers alike.
Now that we have assessed what kind of pillow you should be looking for based on your sleep style, we’re going to give you a brief overview of each Essentia pillow and the sleeping styles that we recommend for each.
ESSENTIA ORGANIC PILLOW GUIDE 2023
COMFORT MIX™ FILLED PILLOWS:
Our best-selling Comfort pillow has been upgraded to feature an outer latex shell. The certified organic latex shell now holds and locks in our proprietary blend of Comfort Mix™ fill which is a mix of shredded slow-response organic latex foam. The combination of inner and outer components mimics a down pillow without the allergens.
The updated Classic pillow features our Beyond Latex™ organic foam as an outer shell of the pillow & is filled with our proprietary blend of slow-response organic latex foam. This combination offers ultimate comfort & support that you can customize by shifting the fill based on your sleep needs.
MOLDED FOAM PILLOWS:
The Sofi latex pillow is our thinnest or flat pillow. When a pillow is flat, it is essential to maintain consistency throughout the pillow from edge to edge. Being a solid molded organic latex pillow is key to making this an effective and supportive pillow. This pillow is often suited for a flat or swayback posture, specifically if you are a back sleeper.
Essentia Forma Pillow is the evolution and upgrade of our “Forma Spa” pillow. This new pillow features a ribbed contour surface designed to alleviate pressure on the cranium, allows more airflow for cooling, and is conducive to healthier sleep. The Forma is a high-profile pillow, ideal for side sleepers with broad shoulders, however, with our new foam formulation, we’ve added softness and plushness that allows the new Forma to work for both back and side sleepers.
Bonus: ErGO Organic Travel Pillow
This organic latex travel pillow is made of a solid organic latex molded core making it extremely supportive. The soft, delicate feel won’t push your head forward but support your neck perfectly when on planes, trains, and automobiles.
Essentia GOLS certified organic latex pillows provide an affordable entry to healthy organic sleep. Start your wellness journey with our most technologically advanced pillows and sleep through the night knowing it's non-toxic and allergy friendly. Match our pillows with a Classic REM5 or Dormeuse REM9 performance mattress to experience deeper and longer sleep cycles.
