How A Wedge Pillow Can Help Your Sinus Problems
A wedge pillow for sinus problems is what you need to help your sinuses drain and heal. Keep reading to learn exactly why sleeping elevated is your best bet for natural sinus healing.
Everyone has experienced it. You wake up in the morning with swollen eyes, a headache, facial pain, cranial pressure, and a stuffy nose. “Oh no,” you think. “Please don’t let this be a sinus infection.” Your symptoms get worse throughout the day, and you begin dreading going to bed that evening. You know your symptoms will just get worse during the night. Is there anything you can do?
Sleep elevated, not flat
Sleeping elevated on a wedge pillow is the easiest thing you can do to help your sinus problems during the night. When you sleep flat on your back, your nose becomes more congested. Mucous builds up in your sinus passages and makes it very difficult or near impossible to breathe through your nose. This interrupts your sleep and affects your body’s ability to heal.
On the contrary, sleeping on a wedge pillow for nasal congestion helps your sinuses drain during the night. Sleeping elevated positions your head higher than your heart. With your head elevated, gravity keeps your mucous draining. It doesn’t allow it to pool in your sinuses like it does when you sleep flat.
Sleeping on wedge pillow also improves circulation all throughout your face and head. When you sleep at an incline and allow gravity to reduce the amount of fluid in your sinuses, your sinus symptoms will decrease. There will be less fluid to cause facial pain, ringing ears, eye puffiness, and headaches. Utilizing gravity to help your head drain naturally is a huge benefit of using a wedge pillow to combat sinus problems.
The best wedge pillow for sinus congestion
The best wedge pillow for sinus congestion is a triangle wedge pillow that is 12 inches tall. Placing your regular neck pillow on top of a 12-inch triangle wedge puts your sinuses in the perfect position to drain. You’ll also want to look for a wedge pillow topped with memory foam. The memory foam will conform to and support your back for maximal comfort.
Because a 12-inch wedge pillow is fairly tall, you will likely want to sleep with a knee wedge pillow as well. This will do a couple of things. First, it will keep you from sliding down the triangle wedge during the night. Second, it puts your entire body in a neutral position and improves full body circulation. This position is ideal for healing.
A wedge pillow for sinus problems is an important tool to not only help heal your sinuses when they are sick, but also prevent sinus infections in the future!
-Hillary Blare, Doctor of Physical Therapy