A body pillow is not what your problem needs
If you came here because of snoring or trouble breathing at night, a body pillow is the wrong place to start, and a doctor is the right one.
Updated .
In short: Snoring and pauses in breathing at night are medical questions first. See a clinician before choosing any kind of pillow at all.
Loud snoring can be a sign of obstructive sleep apnea, a condition in which the throat muscles relax and block the airway again and again through the night. It can also be harmless. Mayo Clinic says not everyone who snores has sleep apnea, and it advises talking to a professional if you snore loudly and the snoring is broken by silences. Those two cases cannot be told apart from a bed at home, and no pillow can tell them apart either.
The fit
Any lengths or fills would come from published maker dimensions and the sources cited on this site, and none of them applies to this reason. This site measured nothing and gives no medical advice.
| Part | Specification |
|---|---|
| Shape | No shape is specified, because a clinician should assess the snoring or breathing before any shape is chosen. |
| Length | No length is specified. Full-length pillows are one of the side-sleeping devices a Cochrane review lists, but they are only worth considering if a clinician suggests that position. |
| Fill | No fill, natural or synthetic, has evidence behind it for snoring, and a Cochrane review found mite-proof bedding used alone is unlikely to ease allergic rhinitis. |
| Cover and washing | A removable, washable cover keeps the pillow clean. It is hygiene, not treatment. |
| Where it goes in the bed | Behind your back, and only if a clinician advises side sleeping. In a Cochrane review, positional therapy lowered breathing events by 7.38 an hour compared with no treatment, on low-certainty evidence. |
Reading your answers back
You told the quiz that snoring or trouble breathing at night is your main reason for wanting a body pillow. That answer moves the question out of bedding. NHLBI lists breathing that starts and stops, frequent loud snoring and gasping for air as night symptoms of sleep apnea. It adds that a sleep study may be needed to diagnose it. No pillow can run that test. The NHLBI also cites a CDC estimate that 50 to 75 percent of adults with symptoms of sleep apnea have not discussed them with a physician.
If your situation changes
A diagnosis changes it. Some people have apnea that is much worse when they lie on their back than on their side. The American Thoracic Society reports this positional form in up to 50 to 60 percent of all patients diagnosed with OSA. That is a common pattern. For those people, a clinician may suggest sleeping on the side, and the Cochrane review lists full-length pillows alongside backpacks and alarms as ways to hold that position. The same review found that CPAP improved breathing scores more than positional therapy did.
If your doctor clears you and you want support on your side, the side sleeper guide covers shape and length. If your back hurts as well, the back pain guide is the better next read.
Trying the fit in your own bed
Ask the person who shares your bed what they hear at night. Mayo lists pauses in breathing, often noticed by a partner, and waking during the night gasping or choking. Write down whether you wake tired. Note whether the snoring gets louder when you lie on your back. Bring those notes to your appointment. A clinician can use them to decide whether a sleep study comes next, which is a call no pillow can make.
Other body pillow guides
- What category is a body pillow?
- What does a body pillow change about how your back rests overnight?
- How does a body pillow keep a side sleeper's hips and shoulders in line?
Back to which shape and length
Sources
Gathered here, the outside pages this body pillow guide quotes, each beside the part of the guide that needed it.
- Mayo Clinic (mayoclinic.org), needed in the opening.
- Cochrane review (cochranelibrary.com), needed in “The fit”.
- Cochrane review (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov), needed in “The fit”.
- NHLBI (nhlbi.nih.gov), needed in “Reading your answers back”.
- NHLBI also cites a CDC estimate (nhlbi.nih.gov), needed in “Reading your answers back”.
- American Thoracic Society (thoracic.org), needed in “If your situation changes”.