Most people shop for a pillow by material first: buckwheat, latex, wool, whatever a review told them to get. That is backward. Your sleep position sets the height of the pillow first, and the fill second. Get the height wrong and the best fill in the world will still leave your neck bent all night.
So start with the gap you are filling between your head and the mattress.
Side sleepers need the most height
A side sleeper has the biggest gap, because your shoulder props your head up off the bed. You need the tallest, firmest pillow, enough loft to bridge the distance from your shoulder to your ear and keep your spine in a straight line. Too low and your head drops toward the mattress and your neck bends down. Too high and it cranks the other way. Side sleepers need height, and they need it to hold, so a firm fill that does not flatten matters most here.
Back sleepers need a medium loft
On your back the gap is smaller, so you want less height. The job is a medium loft that cradles the natural curve of your neck without shoving your head forward. A pillow that runs too tall tips your chin down toward your chest.
Stomach sleepers need almost nothing
Lying face down, your head is already near mattress level, so any real loft bends your neck backward and turns it to the side at the same time. Stomach sleeping is already the hardest position on your neck, so the pillow's whole job is to stay out of the way. Go as flat and soft as you can.
Why an adjustable pillow settles all of this
Here is what makes it easy. Every Circadian pillow ships overstuffed, about thirty percent more fill than most people want, with a zipper on the side. You open it and remove fill until the height matches your position. Side sleeper, keep it full and tall. Back sleeper, take a little out for medium. Stomach sleeper, take a lot out and go low. A memory foam block arrives at one height and you live with it. Ours you tune, so the same pillow becomes three different heights depending on who is sleeping on it.
Then the fill is the easy part
Once you know your height, the fill follows.
Side sleepers want height that holds and firm support under the neck. Buckwheat is the top pick, because the hulls lock into place and hold your head where you set it, and you can add hulls to build up for a broad shoulder. Shredded latex is next, buoyant and springy, cushioning your ear while it holds the neck up. Cotton works if you keep it packed full, since it is our densest fill. The one to be careful with for side sleeping is kapok, which is soft and low by nature.
Back sleepers have the most room to choose, because medium loft is the forgiving middle. Buckwheat holds the curve of your neck while your head rests level, latex gives the same support with a springier feel, and organic wool is a lovely softer option under a lighter head. Most back sleepers take a little fill out to bring the height down.
Stomach sleepers go soft and low. Kapok is the answer, our lightest, most down-like fill, pulled low until it is barely there. Cotton is the backup, with a good amount of fill removed. Skip the firm, tall fills, buckwheat and the buckwool hybrid, because their whole strength is holding height, and that is the opposite of what your neck wants face down.
And if you move around all night? Most of us are combination sleepers. Tune an adjustable pillow to your main position, the one you fall asleep in, and it will handle the rest. Or, if your nights are split down the middle, the buckwool hybrid gives you a firm buckwheat side and a soft wool side to flip to, two heights in one cover.
How to set it once it arrives
Lie down the way you really sleep, on your own bed, because a soft mattress lets your shoulder sink and changes the math. Have someone look at your neck from behind, or check it in a mirror. Your nose, chin, and breastbone should line up, with your head neither dropping toward the mattress nor propped up toward the ceiling. Too high, open the zipper and take fill out. Too low, add some back. Small handfuls, and you feel the change with each one. Some people land it the first night in two minutes; others take a week. You have sixty nights to get it right.
Every Circadian pillow has a GOTS certified organic cotton cover, license GOTS-10229 from Oregon Tilth, and on the wool and cotton pillows that certification runs through the whole pillow. All handmade in our New Jersey workshop, natural bedding since 1981. Find the one for your position at circadianrest.com.
Watch the full conversation, with the complete transcript, on our sleep-position guide. Sixty nights to sleep on it, free shipping both ways, and a full refund if it is not for you.
