Back in the day, pillows were considered a luxury. History dictates that pillows have long been used since 7,000 BC in the Mesopotamia region. But it was reserved only for the rich who could afford pillows. Today, it’s a common sight. It’s almost impossible to ever see a home without a pillow in it.
Even way back, pillows were already used to keep the spine in a neutral position for better sleep quality. This is how modern-day technology has come up with different fillers and materials to come up with the best pillows. In Japan, a well-loved option is the buckwheat pillow or the Japanese Sobakawa pillow.
Regardless of the occasion for gift-giving, you can count on a buckwheat pillow to always be a great idea for a gift for your significant other. This article presents you with everything you need to know about Buckwheat pillow and why it can be considered as the perfect gift for your loved one.
A Brief Background On Buckwheat Pillows
Before touching on the convincing reasons why a buckwheat pillow is the best gift, it’s important to start with a brief background on buckwheat pillows. With other pillow types being more popular, it’s not surprising that you may still need to know more about what a buckwheat pillow really is. Perhaps this might even be the first time you’ve come across such.
So, here’s a quick briefer. As its name implies, a buckwheat pillow has buckwheat hulls as its fillers. It’s most known in Japan as Sobakawa. It’s popular due to its highly customizable nature and long lifespan. It can come in the form of bedroom pillows, throw pillows, and a neck roll pillow which is made of buckwheat, among many others. When you buy a buckwheat pillow for your significant other, you can actually fill your pillow with as many buckwheat hulls as you deem necessary for the recipient. This makes its thickness and fills well-suited for your loved one’s preference.
More so, buckwheat pillows are very long-lasting, as it’s very easy to refill. If your pillow starts to age and loses its shape, you can always purchase more hulls to bring it back to its original shape. This makes your gift as long-lasting as your relationship should be.
The Reasons To Buy A Buckwheat Pillow
Being that it’s touted as one of the most comfortable and healthiest pillows out in the market today, it’s not surprising that a buckwheat pillow will constitute a good gift to your loved ones. There are so many benefits a buckwheat pillow brings, and some of these include:
1. It May Improve Sleep Quality
Especially if your significant other has been seriously struggling to get some shut-eye for some time now, a buckwheat pillow will definitely and without a doubt be a good gift. The buckwheat pillow enjoyed its rise to fame through its potential ability in improving sleep quality. The reason for this is simple. Being that the pillow’s fillers are made of buckwheat, it’s very easy to mold according to your intended functions. Whether your significant other is a back, side, or belly sleeper, the buckwheat pillow works well enough in providing good sleep quality.
When your body is able to achieve the optimum cervical alignment, the sleeper goes through fewer interruptions at night. Therefore, the overall sleep quality is improved as well.
Along with using a buckwheat pillow, these are the other tips you can do to help your significant other sleep better:
- Increase bright light exposure during the day so you can train your body’s natural circadian rhythm to remember when it’s daytime and when it’s nighttime;
- Don’t consume caffeine late in the day, as caffeine is known to be notorious for keeping your energy levels up, thereby possibly hurting your ability to fall asleep better and faster at night.
All this effort and extra thought you’ve placed into giving a buckwheat pillow to your loved one are very important, for the very reason that the body needs good quality sleep to function well. It can bring about so many benefits, like the following:
- It can boost your immune system, as you’re able to give the body a chance to relax and recuperate after a long and stressful day;
- It results in a better mood, as you wake up feeling more rested, and being well-rested helps your energy levels be better;
- It may make your heart healthier, as when you sleep, your blood pressure is lower, thereby also giving your blood vessels the chance to rest.
2. It Provides More Muscle Support
Say perhaps your significant other has been getting the required number of hours of sleep at night. But they still complain about body aches and pain when they wake up. It may be because your neck and back are going through pain from an uncomfortable sleep position. When you wake up, it’s normal to feel the pain and fatigue, even if you’ve actually had quite a long sleep.
As you sleep and your neck and back start to ache, it’s a normal and expected response of the body to exert more effort to keep it upright. In effect, your upper body goes through a lot of strain, manifesting as pain when you wake up. This is where the benefits of using a buckwheat pillow come in.
This type of pillow is also actually great in providing more muscle support to the sleeper. By regularly using a buckwheat pillow, now your significant other won’t have to worry about waking up with back and neck pain. The pillow itself provides ample muscle support, so your spine and back can relax properly, as they should when you’re sleeping.
To convince you even more about a buckwheat pillow’s supportability, watch this video to learn more:
3. It May Reduce Snoring
If your significant other snores quite a lot at night and you can’t sleep well when you’re together, then a buckwheat pillow is definitely going to be a great gift! Not only does it bring benefits for them, but to you as well! If you previously thought that you have no way out of your loved one’s snoring issues, then that might not really be the case. For many individuals, snoring can simply be a result of a problem with their posture as they sleep.
Most people who snore actually have it because of blocked airways. This can either be due to the head falling too far back or being held too high as they sleep. This is a wrong posture that can compromise the airways and therefore lead to snoring. As an individual’s airways are positioned along the cervical spine, this also means that if you’re able to provide proper alignment in this area by sleeping with a buckwheat pillow, then the snoring problem is remedied as well.
You may also want to consider the following remedies:
- If your significant other is overweight, then it’s a good time as well to start a healthy lifestyle for the both of you, so they can lose weight;
- Treat chronic allergies with an allergist or a doctor you can trust, as the presence of chronic allergies may also lead to snoring;
- Limit alcohol at least one to two hours before going to bed;
- Stop smoking.
Along this line, however, it isn’t to say that you should self-medicate your special someone’s snoring problem. Especially if it seems to be getting worse, it’s always worth visiting a doctor to ensure the proper remedy is given and prescribed aside from using a buckwheat pillow.
4. It Has Functions That Go Beyond Sleep
This fourth reason is to convince you to surprise your loved one with a buckwheat pillow that relates to all the other functions that extend beyond good sleep. Especially if they’ve started working from home, a buckwheat pillow is nice to have in their home office. For optimum rest during those lazy, couch potato TV nights, why not trade the regular throw pillows with buckwheat pillows as well.
It’s normal for adults now to have a lot on their plate. One of those activities that adults have to navigate through is working. Unfortunately, long hours of sitting behind the desk can result in back pain. If you don’t pay close attention to it, facing the computer or reading for long hours may also lead to slouching. When your loved one does this every day, it can be detrimental to their back health in the long run.
With a buckwheat pillow, your loved ones can now work with ease. It’s comfortable to even sit on those pillows, giving the back and body even more support. When you go on long car rides and adventures, you can even use and enjoy buckwheat pillows. This shows that its functions are versatile as there are so many things you can do with your pillow, thereby making it a good, useful, and worth-it gift for the love of your life.
5. It Allows Cooler Sleep
This fifth reason is for those of you with loved ones who also sweat profusely at night even when you’re already freezing through an unforgivingly cold level of your air conditioner. There are some individuals who really sweat in their sleep, so you need to pay extra care and attention to provide more comfort.
If you’ve considered switching to cooler sheets and pillowcases like bamboo fabric, it’s also worth switching your loved one’s bedroom pillows to buckwheat pillows. Because of the hull, it can bring about cooler sleep, reducing the onset of night sweats.
The reason for this is simple. When you sleep and add your weight to your buckwheat pillow, the hulls retain their shape and don’t compress. Instead, each hull fits together closely as a response to the weight applied. In turn, this then allows free air to flow through the hulls, which doesn’t radiate or keep heat. This makes buckwheat pillows a good gift for those who, unfortunately, feel hot when they sleep.
6. It’s Hypoallergenic And Resistant To Dust Mites
No matter how soft or comfortable your pillows are, if it’s dirty, then you’ll still find yourself twisting and turning at night from an uncomfortable sleep. This is the reason why it’s also very important to pay close attention to keeping your pillows clean and free from dust mites and other allergens. Among all other fillings your pillow can have, you can rely on buckwheat pillows to be hypoallergenic.
The reason for this stems from the characteristic of the buckwheat itself. It doesn’t attract a lot of dust, mites, and other allergens. So, you can rely on it to be cleaner than other pillows. Apart from keeping your health in check, it’s also easier for you to protect your skin and neck area from possible rashes that may arise due to exposure to the allergens. This fact also highlights even more how buckwheat pillows are a great gift, especially if your significant other suffers from regular allergies.
Together with using buckwheat pillows, there are other ways for you to keep your loved one’s (and yours) bedroom allergy-free. These includes:
- Wash your blankets, sheets, and pillowcases at least once a week;
- Vacuum your room carpet regularly, if you have one;
- Cut back on the clutter as those can also create the perfect breeding ground for dust mites and other allergens;
- Make your bedroom a pet-free zone, unless what you have is a hypoallergenic dog or cat;
- Make your bedroom a no-food zone, so you can prevent rats and roaches from going inside your bedroom.
Conclusion
After a thorough read you’ve just gone through about buckwheat pillows, now you should be more convinced that buying a buckwheat pillow is, in fact, a great idea. This cuts the confusion of what to give your significant other, no matter what occasion you’re celebrating. Especially if your significant other is always busy and on the go during day time, they deserve a good quality of sleep and the gift of rest at night. This is guaranteed once they start to sleep on a buckwheat pillow. It’s a thoughtful and useful gift like no other. After all, how often does one actually come up with the idea of gifting a buckwheat pillow?
