Everyone has their travel essential items they never leave home without. And the most common one is a neck pillow. These cushions are designed to fit around the neck to help align your body with the seat.
A neck pillow for traveling can be used to improve comfort, especially for long journeys. It may be best to add one to your carry-on luggage for your next trip. However, neck pillows aren’t only used for traveling. They can be used in other situations, including sleeping.
Neck pillows were initially designed to be used while sleeping in a bed. You can use one to align your spine with the mattress and support your body while sleeping. Significantly, neck pillows are best used by back or side sleepers, not stomach sleepers.
Besides, you can use a neck pillow to support yourself while sitting in your office chair. It can help keep your neck and head supported. As a result, you’ll likely prevent health issues like neck pains.
Benefits Of A Neck Travel Pillow
There are many benefits of investing in a neck pillow. Below are some of them:
- Helps Prevent Fatigue
Traveling can be fun since it lets you see exciting places, meet new people, and learn new things. However, you might not enjoy your trip when you’re already fatigued. Nevertheless, the good news is that you can make things better by carrying a neck travel pillow.
The right cushion can support your body to give you the comfort you want when traveling. Hence, it’s best to carry a neck pillow so that you don’t experience any fatigue. As such, you’ll be able to enjoy your journey.
- Helps Minimize Snoring
One of the things you should ensure when traveling long distances is that you get enough sleep. Getting enough sleep is essential to maintaining a healthy body and mind. However, it’ll be troublesome if you’re going to snore throughout the journey. A neck travel pillow will help straighten your neck. Therefore, your airways won’t be blocked, minimizing snoring.
On the other hand, snoring will likely distract you from sleep. Moreover, it may irritate other travelers on airplanes, buses, or trains. A neck pillow can guarantee you’ll have a nice rest on your trip without distracting other passengers.
- Helps Prevent Neck Pain
Neck pain is one of the primary concerns among travelers. It can occur when you sit in the wrong posture for prolonged hours. When you’re sitting in a lousy posture, it can cause strain in your neck. To avoid this, a neck travel pillow can help align your body to the seat. Plus, it can ensure you stay in the proper posture to avoid neck strains.
- Mimics Your Home Sleep Pillow
Not getting enough sleep while traveling can harm your health. For instance, you may experience some headaches and migraines. Thus, it helps to find effective ways to enhance sleep and prevent such issues. This is where investing in a neck travel pillow becomes necessary.
Most types of travel neck pillows can mimic your sleep cushions at home. Using one makes it possible to have a restful sleep, just like at home. This can result in good travel experiences throughout your trip.
- Prevents Back Injuries And Pains
Back injuries and pains are two other significant problems you may encounter when going for long-distance travel. It’s possible to experience them when you sit in the wrong posture, which causes strain on your spine. As a result, you may suffer from back injuries and experience some pain.
Besides spoiling your experience, back injuries and pains can cost you time and money as you seek medication if you decide to visit a hospital. You can avoid that by supporting your body with a neck pillow.
A neck pillow can help align your spine to the seat, thus preventing back injuries and pains. You can watch this video to learn how a neck pillow can provide your body with excellent support:
- Helps Minimize Germs And Other Harmful Organisms
It’s reasonable to assume that the transportation service regularly cleans seat headrests. However, this isn’t always the case due to the high volume of passengers and the strict timetable. It’s possible that you could contract bacteria or germs from the person who sat in the chair before you. Because of this, it could potentially affect your health in the future.
With a neck travel pillow, you won’t be worried about whether the seat headrests are cleaned. It can protect you from coming into contact with germs and other harmful organisms left by another person on that seat.
Finding The Right Neck Pillow
If you’re considering using a neck pillow for traveling, it’s best that you find one with the right cushion. This means looking for a neck pillow with a balanced texture between softness and firmness. Also, it should wrap your neck comfortably.
But with so many options, choosing the best one for your needs can be daunting. Fortunately, you can implement the following strategies to help you make the right choice.
- Provides Maximum Comfort
You’re investing in a neck pillow to ensure you’re comfortable when traveling, sleeping, or seated in your office chair. Therefore, it’s vital to choose something that can offer maximum comfort. An enhanced U-shaped neck pillow with ergonomically raised lobes can provide maximum comfort.
However, keep in mind that comfortability differs from one person to another. Hence, the neck pillow you select should be designed to help meet your specific needs.
- Consider The Size And The Weight
If you’re shopping for neck pillows, you can’t ignore their size and weight. The size selection will primarily depend on the size of your body. If you think a standard neck pillow is too small, the best deal is to find a large neck pillow. And if you’re shopping for your child, ensure you find neck pillows designed for children.
The idea here is to select a cushion that can adequately support your body. Whether a neck pillow is small, medium, or large, ensure you choose something you can easily add to your carry-on luggage.
Apart from the size, finding a neck pillow with the right weight is best. If you’ve got many other things to carry, selecting a lightweight neck pillow would be a good idea. Consequently, a lightweight neck pillow won’t exhaust you when traveling.
Also, remember that most airlines have set size and weight limits for carry-on and checked-in baggage. But this varies from one carrier to another. So, it would be better to consult your airline about their terms and conditions before you invest in a large and heavy neck pillow.
- High-Quality Material
A neck pillow made of low-quality materials can help you save money. But keep in mind that such materials are less durable than expensive ones. Low-quality materials won’t last long, so you might be forced to buy a new one anytime soon. And that can be very expensive in the long run.
If you have enough budget, it’s always best to shop for high-quality neck pillows. Although pricey, they’ll save you money in the long run. This is because you won’t have to continually replace your pillows as they lose their firmness, form, or durability.
But you must be cautious when comparing the quality of the material and the price of your preferred neck pillow. Some manufacturers sell their products at high prices to make customers believe they’re of good quality, which isn’t the case. Hence, it’s best to read customer reviews to check if they’re worth the price.
Overall, ensure you get a balance between the quality and the price of the neck pillow. In other words, finding a high-quality cushion at a reasonable price is best.
- Find A Pillow With A Warranty
A warranty is a written promise by the seller to a customer agreeing to exchange the purchased item if it fails to serve the intended purpose. Therefore, if you receive a neck pillow different from what you ordered, you can always talk to the seller for an exchange with a new one.
These days, people are taking advantage of the internet to shop online. You can also follow suit and find a suitable neck pillow from online platforms. And while that can improve your comfort, it can be a total disaster for some people. Sometimes, customers get the incorrect item, whether it’s a different size, pattern, material, or color.
If you receive an incorrect item, you might be forced to buy a new one. However, it can cost you extra money that wasn’t part of your budget. This is where warranties become important. However, you must remain compliant with the terms and conditions of the warranty.
- Find A Breathable Neck Pillow
Whatever your purpose is in buying a neck pillow, it’s always a good idea to choose one with a breathable material. This feature helps regulate moisture or humidity within the cushion. Hence, you won’t have to worry about shivering in the dead of winter or sweating during a sweltering summer.
Breathable materials are those that easily allow moisture vapor to pass through. Cotton, nylon, polyester, linen, and silk are some examples of breathable materials. It’s best to consider the breathability of the materials when shopping for a neck pillow to guarantee your comfort.
- Select A Pillow You Can Wash With Ease
All the various types of pillows are made differently in terms of washability. Some are easy to wash, while others are too complex. Your pillow will likely collect dirt and dust while traveling. As such, it can attract bacteria and other harmful microorganisms. Therefore, choose something you can easily clean with your hands or a simple home washing machine.
- Ask For Referrals
Today, almost everyone uses a neck pillow at home, in the office, or when traveling. Hence, you can find the right one by asking for recommendations. This involves asking others who are using these cushions for suitable recommendations on the brands or materials they prefer.
And because they’re already using them, they’ll likely tell you about their experiences with the different neck pillows. Thus, asking for referrals can help simplify your decision-making process. However, avoid making your final selection merely on referrals. It’s essential to research so you can find something that suits your needs.
- Read Online Reviews
Another great way to find the best neck pillow is to read online reviews. Nowadays, most customers shop for products from online platforms. And after using the purchased product, most come back to express their opinions. So, by reading online reviews, it can help you select the right neck pillow based on feedback from customers.
A good neck pillow will always attract many positive opinions from consumers. If you see one of that kind, it means most customers were satisfied using it. On the other hand, avoid shopping for a neck pillow with overwhelming negative feedback from other customers. Such a product might be of low quality and won’t serve you properly.
- Buy From A Trusted Brand
Besides checking for all the other essential factors, it’s also best to ensure you shop for your neck pillow from a trusted brand. This way, you can be assured you’ll get something that adequately serves your needs.
You can also do your research on the legitimacy and credibility of the seller before making a payment. This step will help you confirm whether the company is licensed to sell neck pillows. It’ll also help minimize your chances of losing your money to scammers.
Takeaway
Using a pillow is one of the most effective ways to ensure you’re comfortable traveling. It helps support your neck and head to ensure your body is well-aligned with the seat. As such, you’ll barely develop health complications like back pains, sleep apnea, fatigue, etc. However, it’s necessary to find the right cushion.
Selecting the best neck pillow can be tricky, given that thousands of them are on the market. But with the information in this article, you can be guaranteed to find something that best suits your needs.
