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Breathe easy till morning with these wedge, orthopaedic and memory foam pillows
If you snore or share a bed with someone who does, you may have tried nasal sprays, strips and clips to try and quieten the noise. But if you really want to free up your airways, an anti-snore pillow will align your head and neck to take pressure off your airways.
Snoring happens when you can’t move air freely through your nose and throat during sleep which then makes the surrounding tissues vibrate and make the familiar snoring sound. However several studies have proved that sleeping on your side, rather than your front or back, reduces compression on the airways, leading to better, quieter breathing.
This is where anti-snore pillows come in, which can make you comfortable in this position so that you don’t roll onto your back and start snoring mid-way through the night. If you’ve always slept in one position, it may take some time to get used to, even if you have an anti-snore pillow, so allow a few nights to adjust to how the pillow feels under your neck and to relax into it.
Side-sleeping is not for everyone though and if you really can’t get comfortable, there is another option. Research has also shown that elevating your head four inches may ease breathing and encourage your tongue and jaw to move forward. There are specifically designed pillows available to help prevent snoring by making sure your neck muscles are not crimped.
The majority of the anti-snore pillows we tested were aimed at encouraging and supporting a side-sleeping position but we added a couple of pillows designed for back sleepers into the mix to see how they felt compared to the others.
We tested a range of anti-snore pillows across different price points and measured the effect they had on noise levels in the bedroom. Each pillow was tested for three weeks so that we could get used to the feel and support. We considered how comfortable each anti-snore pillow was to rest on and how our bodies felt after sleeping on it for eight hours, to properly assess which anti-snore pillow gave us the best night’s sleep.
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Levitex is founded by James Leinhardt, a sleep posture expert who has spent years working with NHS trusts and social care across the UK. If you have poor posture in the day, there’s a good chance you’ll have a sleeping position that will stress out your spine, cause aching joints, stiff muscles and fatigue the following day, as you never feel properly rested.
The foam technology in a Levitex pillow will gently and comfortably support you as you sleep, helping you to find a sleep posture that allows your spine to feel neutral and weightless and keeps your airways open. There are four sizes from small to extra large to choose from to ensure people of all sizes have the right level of support for the shape of their neck and shoulders.
Our tester tried a medium and said it felt really luxurious to lay on, with a softness like traditional memory foam, but firm like a sprung mattress, all in one. After a few night’s on this, you’ll wonder why you didn’t throw out your old pillow years ago. Snoring was definitely reduced, neck and tension pain relieved and it even made an old hip injury feel less painful.
This may be the lowest priced pillow we tested but it comes with a high level of consumer satisfaction and is approved by experts, too. Tested by the British snoring and sleep apnoea association, they found the pillow reduced snoring frequency and volume by approximately 50 per cent. Notice that it’s not claiming to cure your snoring completely, but saying that the pillow can help to reduce your levels of snoring. This is thanks to an ergonomically shaped foam core in the centre of the pillow which has been designed to support your head and neck, keeping it at just the right position to improve your breathing.
The Silentnight anti-snore pillow is hypoallergenic which means it doesn’t contain any materials that are likely to cause allergies. The outer fabric is smooth polycotton which is soft and breathable. Another positive is that it comes with a two year manufacturer’s guarantee so you can sleep soundly knowing you’re covered if the quality declines.
Putnams is a family-run business with all pillows, bed supports, mattresses and other comfort products handmade in a factory in Devon. It has solutions for all kinds of sleep problems from back and neck pain, acid reflux, sleep apnoea and coccyx relief while pregnant as well as anti-snoring pillows.
For snorers, the bed wedge pillow works by elevating the torso on a slight incline, opening up the airways. It does this brilliantly and our tester said their nasal passageways felt noticeably clearer within a few days of sleeping on the Putnams wedge. They also liked how the wedge can be propped against the wall to support the back when reading in bed. The only downside was that it’s hard to snuggle with a partner when one is propped up higher than the other.
If you suffer from allergies, you’ll appreciate that this pillow has a hollowfibre filling that has been treated to prevent bacteria and make it hypo-allergenic. After all, a pillow won’t reduce your snoring if its support allows you to breathe better, but you react badly to its filling. Buried beneath the filling is an S-shaped foam core, which supports the neck with a dip for the head to lay. As the hollowfibre stuffing is quite plump, you don’t feel much of it but it is working in the background to make you quieter. Comfort-wise, it feels firmer than an average pillow with the depth of a pillow you’d find in a top quality hotel.
If you associate pillows with being fluffy and rectangular, the original Groove pillow is surprising to look at. Scientifically designed to improve sleep posture and alleviate stress on the neck and upper back, it features an ergonomic “dip” to provide anatomical comfort and encourages proper biomechanical positioning, which has a knock-on effect on how much you snore. The contoured shape also makes it suitable for both back and side sleepers.
Research shows that you need less lift when sleeping on the back so the Groove pillow accommodates those sleepers in the middle and side sleepers at the end where the elevated panels allow space for the shoulder. The memory foam does feel rather stiff and dense when you first start sleeping on it, but if you persevere it should help with both snoring, energy levels and overall feelings of wellness. If you really don’t get on with it, Groove offers an impressive 100-night guarantee.
This is no ordinary memory foam pillow. Panda London uses third generation memory foam that is uniquely supportive so it fits every individual. It allows the neck and spine to align perfectly as you sleep, and doesn’t lose its shape or density over time. Panda London is so confident of this that it offers a 10-year guarantee.
There’s no chance of any dust or dirt getting into the pillow as there’s a strong and breathable mesh fabric stitched around it. On top is a bamboo cover, that is sumptuously soft and naturally breathable, encouraging air flow and coolness whilst you sleep, aligned and supported. Bamboo is a completely sustainable plant, so this has strong eco-friendly credentials, too. Bamboo plants need a third of the water of cotton and grows up to three feet per day, whilst absorbing greenhouse gases and releasing good chemicals like oxygen into the atmosphere.
The Lancashire Textiles orthopaedic anti-snore pillows have been designed for people who sleep on their back and can’t get comfortable on their side. The hollow in the centre slightly tilts the head which then opens the airwaves reducing any pressure, which often is the main cause of snoring. You wouldn’t benefit from it if you’re a side sleeper, or know where to put your head, but it’s excellent value for back sleepers.
Designed by Lancashire Textiles and manufactured in their UK textiles factory using traditional methods, the quality of this feels expensive and luxurious and yet you’ll have change from £17. The bounce hollowfibre filling feels more premium than other hollowfibre pillows and everything is hypoallergenic.
The Levitex anti-snore pillow was the most comfortable pillow we tested and the one that reduced snoring the most, thanks to its unique foam filling. At £75, it’s not the cheapest but this is equivalent to just one physiotherapy session that you might not need again if you sort out your sleeping alignment properly. The original Groove pillow was also effective at reducing snoring and the comfort of this improved over time.
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