Intro
Unlike normal pillows used for head and neck rest, body pillows are long pillows used to support the rest of the body.
Depending on your sleeping style, you have probably heard a sleep expert or doctor recommend that you sleep with one or two more pillows between your knees or under them and your arm or back.
This is usually to help you achieve proper spine alignment and avoid body aches.
What body pillows do is eliminate the need for all these extra pillows, by using one long pillow to provide targeted support to the rest of the body. To achieve this, body pillows come in different shapes such as C, U, L, and J shapes.
As such, given the benefits offered by a body pillow, this guide highlights 5 of the best body pillows in the market today. It also lists what to look for when purchasing a body pillow and its benefits.
Best Body Pillow 2020
#1 Best Overall
# 2 Best Memory Foam
#3 Best Pregnancy Pillow
#4 Best L Shape Pillow
#5 Best Value
WooSa Body Pillow
(Best Overall)
- 100% Organic Latex Interior
- Organic spiral latex interior
- Made in the USA
- 111-day sleep trial
- 3 years’ warranty
Best Overall
This pillow has the great feel and comfort of down without the allergies or stabbing. It felt the best amongst all we tested and that’s why we picked it as our best overall.
One thing we really loved about it is its lightweight compared to the offered support meaning your arm won’t be numbed when hugging it.
Speaking of support, this pillow is fully adjustable where you can add and remove fill as you see fit.
With the number of features offered, the MoMa pillow is a great value as well which has a very good user rating.
Some features of MoMa body pillow include:
- High-quality lightweight down alternative.
- No hot sleeping issues.
- Soft and plush hypoallergenic pillow cover.
- Lightweight, moldable pillow, great for orthopedic relief
- 30-day free return seep trial
Snuggle-Pedic Body Pillow
(Best Memory Foam )
- Ultra-luxurious bamboo cover
- A long 54 by 20 inches’ pillow
- 20-year warranty
- Made in the USA
- 120-night risk free trial and
Best Memory Foam
Snuggle-Pedic’s pillow is a highly rated body pillow, which is rated one of the best on sites like Consumer Search and New York Time’s Wirecutter.
Using kool-flow vented bamboo viscose cover with shredded eco-friendly memory foam inside, Snuggle Pedic’s body pillow was the best memory foam pillow we tested and it was also the coolest.
Its features include:
- A long 54 by 20 inches’ pillow
- Ultra-luxurious, ventilated bamboo cover that keeps you cool all night long
- Made-in-USA certified for use of Eco-friendly and Certipur US certified foam
- It’s made without PBDE’s, phthalates, and ozone depleters
- Offers orthopedic support
- It’s hypoallergenic and dust-mite resistant from its use of bio green foam and bamboo cover
- Has a 120-night risk free trial and
- 20-year warrant
QUEEN ROSE Pregnancy Body Pillow
(Best Pregnancy Pillow )
- U shaped 65-inch maternity pillow
- Prime 30 Day Trial
- Machine washable covers
- Multi-functional
Best Pregnancy Pillow
Here is a pillow that provides great comfort, pain relief, and proper rest for expecting mothers. It is the best pregnancy body pillow we tested.
This multi-functional pillow is not only meant for sleeping but can be used to sit upright in bed for purposes of nursing, reading or watching T.V.
Its U-shape allows it to give proper support to various parts of the body, such as the hip, back, neck, and shoulders. Relieving pain and stiffness caused by side sleeping during pregnancy.
It’s also great for athletes, people suffering neck and back pains, and people recovering from surgeries.
Its features include:
- U shaped 65-inch maternity pillow
- Uses odorless bionic polyethylene filling
- It’s soft fluffy nature combine with its u-shape offers excellent all-round support for pregnant moms
- Alleviates stiffness, pain and late-pregnancy discomforts.
- Good for pregnant women and people recovering from surgery
- Multi-functional- can be folded into a reading, nursing, or TV watching pillow
- Removable double zipper cover. You can adjust the pillow’s height
- Machine washable covers
AngQi Body Pillow
(Best L Shaped Pillow)
- L shape 65-inch body pillow
- Removable & machine washable Cover
- Full Body Supports
- The cover is made of soft velvet material
Best L Shaped Pillow
AngQi L shaped full body pillow is not only perfect for side sleepers or pregnant women looking for extra back support, but it’s also good for anyone with back and neck pains or recovering from surgery.
The pillow offers proper spine alignment by allowing you to place your leg and arm on it, straightening the twisted back. The L shape can also be folded in different shapes to provide support where you need it most.
It doesn’t take up as much room on the bed as a U-shape pillow and is ideal for both males and females. We found the AngQi body pillow to be one of the best L shaped pillows.
Its features include:
- L shape 65-inch body pillow
- Designed for side sleepers and can be tucked between the knees
- Supports the head, neck, belly, back, hips, and knees
- It’s filled with high-grade hollow fiber which is adjustable
- The outer cover is made of soft velvet material
- The outer cover is removable and machine washable
- Multi-functional can be used for nursing, reading, or sitting upright in bed
Utopia Body Pillow
(Best Value)
- Soft and supportive ball fiber filling
- Cover made from 100% cotton.
- Double-stitched edges
- Machine Washable
Best Value
When it comes to price, Utopia’s body pillow is the best value body pillow we tested. Sometimes less is more, this pillow boasts of simple yet very effective features. It’s great for someone looking for a high loft body pillow and doesn’t go flat.
Its features include:
- Long body pillow shape measuring 20 by 54 inches. Perfect for fitting the contours of your body
- Has a ball fiber filling that is soft and supportive
- Outer cover made from 100% cotton. It’s soft and durable
- Double-stitched edges for a sturdier finish
- Machine Washable
Body Pillow Buying Guide
What Is A Body Pillow? What Is It For?
What is a body pillow?
Body pillows are oversized pillows (or long narrow) pillows that provide extra comfort as we sleep. They do this by offering extra support to our hips, spine, and lumbar.
Body pillows help our muscles to relax and prevent uneven weight distribution specifically when we lie on our side.
They provide proper spine alignment relieving pressure pain points and help minimize back problems.
What body pillows are made of
Just like normal pillows, body pillows are made with a variety of materials like shredded foam, latex, wool, buckwheat, or poly-fiber fillings.
Their outer cover can be made from cotton, bamboo, velvet, or other common pillow casing materials.
Why use a body pillow?
Among the benefits of these pillows, includes extra support, improved circulation, pain, and pressure relief.
Body pillows are also good for stress relief, the ability to hug the pillows brings a comforting experience that helps lower the heart rate allowing you to fall asleep faster.
They are categorized as a security tool in sleep matters such as other sleeping items like weighted blankets.
Hugging is a good way to release Oxytocin, the love drug, which reduces stress and calms us down.
Body pillows are especially important for people who sleep on their stomachs and sides. With a bit of configuration, they also help out back sleepers.
You are looking for extra support and body-wide comfort when you go for these pillows.
Pregnant women, seniors, and people recovering from surgery seem to be the main beneficiaries of this pillow. But that is not to mean that other people can’t use them.
They are a great tool for anyone who wishes to improve their sleeping habits.
How to Shop for The Best Body Pillows and What to Look for?
To get the best body pillow for your needs, there are a lot of factors to consider. Some of the most important factors include shape, size, the materials that make the pillow, prices, return policies, and warranties.
In this guide, we look at these factors in more detail to help you choose the right body pillow.
1- Shape Of The Pillow
Body pillows come in a variety of shapes and sizes that address different needs.
The standard size, however, is usually 20 by 54 inches and comes in a long rectangular shaped straight pillow.
Other body pillow shapes include C, U, L, and J or candy cane shape.
Straight
Though there are many pillow shapes, straight remains the most common body pillow. It’s especially great for those who still want to use a separate head pillow.
This way they can use the body pillow for back and hip support to relieve overall body stiffness and joint pains.
Just like all other body pillows, straight pillows are also very beneficial for improving circulation while you sleep.
L-Shaped
This type of pillow eliminates the need to have a separate body and head pillow. With an L-shaped pillow, you can support both the neck and body simultaneously.
You can also invert the L-shape pillow so that you can slip it between the knees for better knee and hip support.
This helps offer lower back support and keep your ligaments and tendons from stretching.
U shaped
These types of pillows are the largest and take up considerable bed space. They resemble two long body pillows joined together with a gentle curve on the inside.
They are good for pregnant women and people recovering from surgeries as they offer optimal body support and can be folded into different shapes to offer the kind of support that an individual’s needs.
C-shaped
C-shaped pillows are curved body pillows that come in the shape of the letter “C”.
They offer total body support, from head, neck, shoulders, hips, back, and knees. Pregnant women can take advantage of them for extra belly support.
These types of pillows are also multi-functional, meaning they can be folded to different shapes to help you sit up in bed, read, work or watch the TV. In the case of a nursing mother, they offer breastfeeding support.
C-shaped pillows normally measure 60 plus inches in length and about 18-24 inches in diameter.
J Shape
J shape pillows are similar to L-shape pillows with the only difference being that they are longer and with a more curved hook. They are great for full-body support. They can support the head, neck, back, hips, and knees.
2- Pillow Materials
Body pillows are mostly filled with poly-fiber material. Some, however, contain, shredded latex, or memory foam, microbeads, and even buckwheat hulls. You want to go with something natural and green such as natural latex.
The outer covering of the pillow can also be made with various materials such as cotton, bamboo, or polyester.
Similar to the filling, you want to go with eco-friendly natural material such as cotton or bamboo especially if you are pregnant. This will ensure yours and your baby’s safety.
When picking out the materials that make up your body pillow, it’s also important to pick hypoallergenic and cooling materials.
Some cover material such as velour used in the Queen Rose Pregnancy Pillow reviewed above was found to cause its users to sweat a bit. Luckily, getting a cooling pillowcase solved this issue.
Also, make sure that the fillings inside allow for breathability especially if you tend to sleep hot. Shredded latex, memory foam, microbeads, and buckwheat hulls are good cooling fillings.
3- A Price To Match The Quality
Body pillows cost a bit more than normal pillows. Some even cost as much as $200 while others can be found in the under $50 category.
However, you need to determine the value you are getting from the pillow, before spending a lot of money on something that won’t serve you.
Check the materials used, high-quality materials demand a higher price. Check the durability of the pillow, to determine whether it’s worth the price.
If you are on a tight budget you can still find great buys such as the Utopia body pillow reviewed above.
4- Good Reviews, Good Company
With the emergence of bed-in-a-box companies, there are new pillows listed in the market every day. But how can you tell what is good and what is untested? By going through reviews and checking the company’s reputation, that’s how.
Verified purchase reviews on sites like Amazon, help users tell what they are getting when they pick a particular pillow. Go through the reviews and ask any questions you might have.
Some past users are very helpful and will answer almost any question you have about the pillow.
If the question is technical, you can always ask the manufacturing company. This is also a great time to test the company’s customer service.
Ignored and unanswered messages mean you will probably have a difficult time reporting an issue to the selling company.
5- Check The Sleep Trial and Warranty
Since most of these pillows are sold online, you will probably not have the chance to test them before you buy them. As such, it’s very important to check whether the pillow you are interested in has a sleep trial or warranty.
A good body pillow will have both of these things, like WooSa and Snuggle Pedic body pillows above. They each come with an 111 and 120-day risk-free sleep trial and 3 and 20-year warranties respectively.
Good body pillow warranties guarantee that whatever is advertised is what the pillow will be even years to come. For example, Snuggle- Pedic will replace or refill your pillow’s shredded foam fillings if it ever flattens during your 20-year warranty period.
WooSa will replace your pillow, no questions asked if it performs less than what was promised during the three years.
Normal deterioration of the pillow, like memory foam changing color or the cover material of the pillow wearing out, is, however, not covered past manufacturing or delivery faults.
Is A Body Pillow For You?Body Pillow Advantages
Now that you know what to look for in a body pillow, is it really for you? The guide below shares some benefits of body pillows for particular individuals.
1- Good For Couples
Long straight body pillows can also be used by couples who like sleeping close to each other. They are great because they have enough room for two heads.
At 54 inches in length, these pillows can fit perfectly across a queen or king-size bed.
They are also perfect for a partner who tosses and turns all night long. With these pillows, such a partner will never lack pillow space to rest his/her head whenever they turn.
2- Good For Neck and Back Pain
Body pillows are great at relieving all kinds of body pain including neck and back pain.
It’s for this reason that people suffering from fibromyalgia, sciatica, herniated discs, and other chronic pain conditions have found so much relief using these pillows.
Besides, body pillows are used by pregnant women and people recovering from surgery for the same effects, to minimize pressure pain points.
How body pillows minimize pain
So how does a body pillow do all this? They do this by correcting our sleep posture.
Poor sleeping posture is the reason most people find themselves in the conditions mentioned above in the first place.
Side sleeping, while it’s good for us, put’s unnecessary pressure on the lower back.
Gravity causes the weight of our limbs to cause unnecessary strain to our spine and create new pressure points on the hips and shoulders laid on.
Placing a pillow between our knees helps balance the hips in place and redistributes the weight of our limbs evenly. This removes pressure from our lower back and keeps our ligaments and tendons from stretching.
3- Very Helpful For Pregnancy
During pregnancy one of the most difficult things to do is find a comfortable sleep position. Stomach and back sleepers have to give up their sleeping habits when they are pregnant for the sake of theirs and their baby’s safety.
Side sleeping is the recommended sleep position for a pregnant woman. However, as the pregnancy progresses and the belly grows larger, the weight tends to cause shoulder, back, and hip pains.
Body pillows can help alleviate this, by tucking the pillow between the knees, under the arms or even against the back and belly for additional support.
Most women have found body pillows especially the irregular shaped ones, to be a great tool during the pregnancy and maternity period.
4- Good For Side and Stomach Sleeping
Ultimately, body pillows are mostly helpful to side and stomach sleepers. Side sleeping is a healthy sleep style but without proper support can cause the development of pressure points on the shoulders, lower back, and hips.
This happens because the weight of our limbs tend to twist our back unnaturally as we sleep on our sides.
Body pillows can rectify this by providing external support for our arms, and legs straightening the spine and helping us sleep much better.
Though stomach sleeping is probably the worst way to sleep, some still feel most comfortable lying on their bellies. Body pillows, especially of the long rectangular nature, have, however, been shown to minimize the negative side effects of stomach sleeping.
Body pillows allow stomach sleepers to find a spot between side and stomach sleeping while hugging a body pillow from one side of the body.
Conclusion
With that, we hope you are now better placed to choose the best body pillow. Using this guide, you can confidently tell what to look out for when looking for a body pillow.
Remember the shape, material, budget, and company reputation are key things to look out for when shopping for these pillows.
If you are ready to pick a pillow you can check out the ones we reviewed at the start of this guide and search for the one that suits your needs.
Or shop online, it doesn’t matter, either way, you are better placed to choose the right body pillow now.
Hopefully, you will derive all the benefits that body pillows have to offer. That’s it from us, happy shopping☺
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