What Is A Bolster Pillow Used For?

A bolster pillow is a long, cylindrical-shaped pillow. Bolster pillows are highly versatile, provide value in several ways, and are a great addition to various rooms throughout the home.

Bolster pillows originated in Southeast Asian countries where they were designed to be hugged while sleeping to provide comfort and support, both physically and emotionally.  In countries like Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, and more, it’s typical to have several bolster pillows spread out throughout the home readily available for their multifunctionality. This is not your typical polyester, linen or leather pillow, it dives deeper into how you can get more comfort. 

Here in North America, their primary use is for additional support while sleeping and also serving as decor in your bedroom or on your armchair in your living room too. Still, we’ll go over their variety of uses and all of the ways you, your family, and your home can benefit from one. 

 

 

Physiological Benefits from Sleeping with a Bolster Pillow

Sleeping with a bolster pillow is their most popular use and provides a number of physiological benefits both during the night and carrying into the following day through its usage. If you’re someone who struggles to sleep soundly (or consistently) at night, a bolster pillow will likely be of help and a perfect fit for you to checkout. There is no crazy instructions or a wrong side to these pillows, they are simple and easy to use to gain extra support.

Orthopedic service. A bolster pillow provides soft but firm support for the lower back, lumbar region, spine, hips, legs, and knees, with a great outer cover that provides extrememe comfort. Placing a memory foam half moon bolster pillow under your knees while laying on your back supports the body’s natural curvature and alignment, relieving pressure on joints and the spinal cord and easing surrounding muscle tension. By providing structure and supporting a healthy resting position, sleeping with a bolster pillow prevents and soothes an aching back, joints, and ligaments. 

A half moon bolster pillow can also be placed underneath the neck or knees, providing the same positioning support in the most comfortable way specific to you by morphing its dimensions depending on your body shape. For side sleepers, the bolster pillow acts as a premium armrest providing more arm support than a standard pillow to keep your spine in healthy alignment and at the right angle. These orthopedic functions work to relieve pain throughout the body to help you sleep soundly and restfully throughout the night and wake up feeling happy and healthy every single day. 

Posture support. The technological age and increasingly digital world is leading us, a population, to spend more time sitting down, likely hunching over a desk. This is increasing the prevalence of poor posture (hunchback) and back pain. With any of the placements mentioned above, sleeping with a bolster pillow encourages healthy positioning of the spine, joints, and ligament, all contributing to improved posture. 

Over time, sleeping with a bolster pillow works to counteract poor posture, which also relieves and can eventually reverse pain experienced in the neck, back, and throughout the body. 

Comfort. We all know snuggling up to someone, or something, at night is soothing, comforting, and helps us get to sleep and stay asleep. It’s more than just instinct; multiple research studies support this proposition and suggest that cuddling or snuggling up to something helps sound sleep. The extra warmth you get from snuggling with your kids or partner makes for one of many reasons why you go to sleep easy and wake up on the right side of the bed.

This “pillow-hugging” theory is more than just a theory. It has been shown to provide a number of physiological benefits such as decreased anxiety, pain relief, strengthened immunity, alleviation of stress, and more. In other words, sleeping with a bolster pillow provides the most comfort, both inside and out. 

Relief from an upset stomach. Sleeping with a bolster pillow can soothe and relieve an upset stomach, specifically when caused by bloating and gas. Laying on your left side with the pillow underneath your right arm and leg positions internal organs (our colon) in such a way that gravity now assists the movement of waste through the body. This gentle encouragement can help relieve gas, IBS, constipation, and other gastrointestinal conditions

Sleeping on your left side with a bolster pillow as support can help relieve stomach pain and support gut health. 

Maternity support. The thoughtful design of a bolster pillow provides maximum comfort and balanced support during pregnancy and maternity. Soft yet strong and with contouring memory foam, a bolster pillow is a popular choice for a sleeping aid among pregnant women who have difficulty finding comfortable sleeping positions.

Whether you are sleeping with in a queen, twin or king size bed, the effects of of bolster pillow can be felt as soon as you rest your head on the end of the pillow.

More Wellness Benefits from a Bolster Pillow

The benefits from a bolster pillow extend beyond the bedroom walls and support overall wellness in more ways than one. 

Yoga and workout prop. It’s common to use a bolster pillow during yoga practice or a workout as it can relieve discomfort caused by laying on a cold, hard floor. 

Within the yoga world, a bolster pillow is highly versatile and provides comfort and support during various positions and poses. For typical floor exercises such as with core work, a bolster pillow can provide neck and back support to assist healthy positioning of the spine, preventing and relieving tension, stiffness, and pain. 

Decorative purposes. Outside the bedroom, yoga studio, and gym, bolster pillows also serve decorative purposes and provide a chic, unique boost to any setting. Their various shapes, sizes, and removable covers enable them to suit every room and serve both decorative and orthopedic functions. Place a bolster pillow on chairs and sofas to create geometric stimulation and variety and provide back support for those who sit.  

Their rounded, structured shape brings sophisticated softness and adds an unexpected design element, marrying upholstery and physiological benefits. 

Experience the Benefits of a Bolster Pillow

Everlasting Comfort’s Half Moon Bolster Pillow is the pillow your home is missing. Made with premium 100% memory foam, this pillow is body heat-responsive to contour perfectly to your curves and provide exceptional, discrete comfort with its great accessories. This premium memory foam doesn’t flatten or deform over time, meaning it reshapes each and every night and never wears down. 

Our thoughtful design extends beyond the pillow itself with its super soft and ultra-breathable air-layer cover. This easily removable cover is machine washable and dryer-safe, making laundry a breeze and regular cleaning enjoyable. No matter the cover material, the extra support you receive from the pillow cover and pillow itself, will make sure that fabric pieces guide you to a good night rest. 

With so many ways a bolster pillow provides relief and comfort, there’s absolutely no reason to continue living with pain that can easily be resolved. Sleep is of the utmost importance and one of the critical pillars for health overall health and wellbeing. You don't need to be stuffing your pillows zipper with inserts, but rather just enjoy the comfort that comes along with the pillow.Comfort is what we do — try our bolster pillow today to ensure you wake up each and every morning feeling refreshed, revitalized, and ready to seize the day. 

Its time to ditch your pillows full of feathers and pin down your comfort and start getting betery sleep. Getting a shipment with a quick delivery date estimates, make it even better to get your pillow to your home with a proper delivery time.

Sources:

Why Your Gut Wants You to Sleep on Your Left Side Every Night

The Benefits of Cuddling with Inanimate Objects at Night 

10 Ways To Use A Yoga Bolster – Yoga with Uliana

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