Selecting Down vs. Down Alternatives For Your Pillows
Sleeping through the night peacefully and comfortably demands a high quality pillow. Our heads and necks benefit from the support of a pillow. Without one, the muscles in the head and neck region can become sore and tired overnight. The degree of hardness or softness is also important. Hard pillows press on the scalp uncomfortably whereas overly soft ones again don’t provide enough support.
Perhaps more important than the comfort is an unseen feature of the pillow: the fill. The wrong kind of fill can cause sleep-disrupting allergies such as a congested or runny nose, along with inflamed, red teary eyes.
One of the major causes of allergies is the dust mite which inhabits the fill of down pillows and comforters. These mites are so small they’re invisible to the eye. They survive in the feather fill by feeding off our tiny skin flakes that have settled into the down. The problem arises when the dust mite excretes a biological molecule that sets off the immune systems of many people. The “phantom” symptoms are not in response to a disease, but rather the perception of one caused by down alternatives.
Fortunately, people with such sensitivities can opt for a non-down or down alternative pillow. These pillows can conceivably control the severity of an allergy, and are also cheaper than their down counterparts. The non-down pillows are broadly divided into three categories, each typed by three kinds of fill. The first kind is made from natural down alternatives, such as silk from the silkworm. The second kind is a synthetic fill, which is sometimes called gel fiber fill. The third kind is known as memory-foam, oftentimes attributed to the fruits of space research.
The down alternatives that come from natural sources such as silk are prized by many people. Silk especially is a very light but heat-preserving material that is widely used and sought after in Japan and China. The only problem for consumers here in the U.S. is that silk can be somewhat expensive.
Synthetic down alternatives in pillows are a close second behind down pillows. Inevitably, technological evolution has meant that synthetics can almost achieve the same level of warmth-to-weight rating as down products. If you’ve ever slept in a Primaloft sleeping bag, you know how “lofty” and comfortable it is. However, the average buyer will find these high quality synthetics to be close in price to down, and the low quality synthetics are considerably less comfortable.
Pillows are generally two component objects made of fabric and fill. A modern type of pillow is a single component object shaped from a single piece of dense memory foam. Memory foam was invented by NASA Ames for seating material in flight craft. In recent years, it has become cheap enough to incorporate into household bedding. Its comfort lies in its property of conforming to the curves of your head and neck. However, pillows made from memory foam have been reported to emit a unsettling chemical odor.
Find out more about down alternatives by directly consulting our site. Peruse the latest information in relation to pillow hypoallergenic.
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