Buckwheat Pillows

GREEN - ORGANIC BUCKWHEAT HULLS

Did you know that buckwheat grows very well on relatively poor soil? That means applying chemical fertilizers is not cost effective. Which, of course, is a good reason why chemical fertilizers are not used in the growing of buckwheat.

Did you know that buckwheat has very few insect or fungal pests? That means applying chemical pesticides and fungicides is not cost effective. Which, of course, is a good reason why chemical pesticides and fungicides are not used in the growing of buckwheat.

Did you know that buckwheat is a good ground cover? That means Buckwheat crowds out weed pests. That means applying chemical herbicides is not cost effective. Which, of course, is why chemical herbicides are not used in the growing of buckwheat.

One of the hurdles that going green faces so far is that most crops cost much more to grow organically than they do using chemical fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides, and herbicides. Here is one crop that can be grown organically more economically than it can otherwise.

All this boils down to one big rare point. You can have your cake and eat it too. Buckwheat can be grown organically and save money at the same time. If you really delve into all the different aspects – earth friendly, ergo green and organic, economical, hypoallergenic wise (remember the allergies associated with dust mites) health wise (think about tension headaches, deep sleep benefits) and comfort wise (the actual reason most buckwheat bed pillows are purchased) what possible reason could anyone come up with to justify purchasing any pillow other than a buckwheat pillow? I keep saying to myself, “People just don’t know”.

But now, you, at least, do know. Please do the right thing. A mind is a terrible thing to waste. Buy a buckwheat pillow. It’s a good thing.

I’m purposely not putting an image in this post, because no one image serves my purpose. Instead, go to your favorite search engine, like Google, Yahoo etc., and type in “dust mites”. then surf from site to site and enjoy the pictures. These are what your pillows are full of unless you sleep on a buckwheat bed pillow. Refer back to my previous post to get the details. Not to fret. Just click on the blue hyper-link right here, and I’ll bet you can figure out what you need to do. Okay, I’ll make it simple. BUY YOUR FAMILY BUCKWHEAT PILLOWS.

An Overfilled Buckwheat Pillow

Many people don’t experience the fullest enjoyment of their buckwheat pillows, at least at first, because they have them too full.

Many merchants purposely overfill their buckwheat pillows because first impressions are important. People who are used to regular pillows are used to seeing a plump, full, pillow. If they open a box and see a rather flat, under filled pillow some will immediately return them, or at least say “Hey! I’m being ripped off here”.

I counter this with an overfilled pillow and an instruction sheet advising them to remove nearly 1/2 of the buckwheat hulls, along with a plastic bag to facillitate their removal and storage.

But there is a problem. Many people don’t read instructions. They use their new pillow right out of the box without reading the instructions. Now they find it too firm and unyielding.

The hulls must have room inside the cover to freely move and shape themselves to your head and neck. To get any additional desired height or loft to the pillow, you just push inward on the ends of the pillow and it will “bunch up” in the center.If this sounds complicated, don’t worry. It’s just what you naturally feel like doing to a pillow that’s not as fat as you’d like it. The good thing is that on a buckwheat pillow it works wonderfully well.

But don’t take my word for it. Buy a buckwheat pillow and try it for yourself. You’ll really be glad you did.

A Buckwheat Pillow - Luxury Supreme

I was just talking to my granddaughter, and she was telling me about hanging out with two of her friends at one of their houses. They were lounging on the floor with pillows watching TV, when she noticed one of them was using a buckwheat pillow, and she said, ”OH, you have a buckwheat pillow too.”.

They immediately got into a discussion about how much they liked their buckwheat pillows, and my granddaughter, Shannon, asked her friend where she had gotten her buckwheat pillow, because she noticed there was no zipper in the end of it.

It seems this girl (these girls are like 30ish) had been visiting her mother, and had a headache and her neck was bothering her, and her mother let her use her buckwheat pillow to rest on. It was so effective that she kept it, and that was the very pillow she was then using.

The moral of this story is, if you don’t want to lose your buckwheat pillow, don’t let anyone else use it. Otherwise, you just may well be looking for a new one.

Only you can answer that, but I can give you some information and guidelines to follow. First, let me say that ideally, most people should have more than one buckwheat pillow, but the guidelines apply whether you get 1 or 2 or 5 buckwheat pillows.

As I see it, there are three categories of buckwheat pillows. First, and most relevant to this discourse, are the bed pillows. Secondly, I lump neck pillows and travel pillows into one category. And thirdly are the specialty buckwheat pillows, in which I include body pillows, mattress pads, therapeutic pillows, and a variety of other buckwheat pillows for very specific uses and situations. I am not going to delve into this third category, as they would mostly be sought after by those who have  experienced the therapeutic advantages of buckwheat pillows and already have very specific ideas on their use. Often these are being prescribed by their doctors, and I do not presume to be knowledgeable in these areas.

As to category one, bed pillows, the choice here is determined by your bed size, and whether you sleep alone, or with a bed pardner. If you want buckwheat pillows for 2, you simply buy 2 king size pillows (16″ x 34″) for a king size bed, 2 queen size pillows (20″ x 26″) for a queen size bed, or 2 standard size pillows (18″ x 24″) for a standard full size bed. For a twin bed, the usual size is a twin bed pillow (16″ x 19″). However, if you always sleep alone, then feel free to buy whichever size buckwheat pillow you find most comfortable, which probably translates into the size of ordinary bed pillow that you are used to. However, the most ideal solution would be if you could try a couple of different sizes of buckwheat pillow first. Keep in mind that the most important determinant of your comfort with a buckwheat pillow , is by far, the volume, or content of buckwheat hull filling, as this is what determines the malleability (the most therapeutic advantage affecting comfort) of your buckwheat pillow, and is fully adjustable.

As to category two, I would think the travel style pillow (11″ x 15″) has a wider diversity of use than the neck pillow, as it works well as both a supplement to a bed pillow or a true travel pillow to be used on auto, plane, bus trips etc., but the neck pillow provides a more complete support all the way around the neck, again in both situations noted above. I guess it boils down to a personal choice and what type of support you most need.

Take a break.

We all hear about the benefits of taking brief breaks, power naps, and just relaxing in the midst of our busy lives to recharge our batteries. Some even use techniques like Yoga, meditation, and other formal methods of relaxation.

But do you? Science has proven that those who do, increase their proficiency to the extent that they achieve more, and end the day feeling less tired, than those who just keep their nose to the grindstone. This behooves everyone to adopt some form of this practice as a part of their daily life.

One thing that can discourage us in our attempt to get the most from our relaxation, is a lack of comfort. It is very hard to really relax when we’re uncomfortable. That’s where the buckwheat pillow comes in.

Practitioners of Yoga and meditation often have their special pillows on which to perform their practice. But you certainly don’t need to be practicing Yoga to reap the substantial benefits of a buckwheat pillow. Depending on your form of relaxation, somewhere between a small buckwheat travel pillow, and a big king size bed pillow, is the perfect buckwheat pillow for you on which to relax.

Their malleability, self ventilating capacity, and your ability to adjust the volume of buckwheat hulls, give them the perfect characteristics to maximize your relaxation experience, no matter what form it takes.

Add an aromatherapy sachet of lavander or camomile, and you may just experience euphouria.

Everyone today is trying to do their part to keep themselves healthy, and to keep our environment healthy as well. Some talk about going back to nature, some are all about going green, while yet others tag themselves with the organic label. They’re really all rowing the same boat, and buckwheat pillows are right on board.

What could be more natural, green, or organic? Then throw in hypo-allergenic and a few aromatherapy sachets for extra good measure.

When you factor in the dust mite infestation problem associated with feather and foam pillows, plus the chemical remedies that try to compensate for the dust mite problem, and buckwheat pillows have a totally unbeatable force of nature in their favor.

And that’s without even considering the economics, and the comfort, and the therapeutic considerations involved. Buckwheat pillows are the winning combination in every aspect.

So go green, organic, and natural, with buckwheat pillows on your bed.

The other day I checked out a memory foam type pillow website. They had all kinds of different styles and shapes. At first glance I thought, “How can a simple buckwheat pillow compete with all this?”.

Then it dawned on me. With all that confusing variety of shapes, styles, and firmness choices, how can they possibly compete against a buckwheat pillow that solves every sleeping pillow problem with just one relatively inexpensive pillow? They would need ten or more different pillows to replace one buckwheat pillow.

They had pillows with each side having a different firmness, pillows with a different height of neck roll on opposite edges, pillows for people who sleep on their sides, and pillows with different size oval contours on each edge for different size necks. The choices made me dizzy. I would have to take a half dozen pillows to bed with me.

I guess those ancient people who lived two or three thousand years ago who first started using buckwheat pillows were far more advanced than some  people are today in regard to the KISS (keep it simple stupid) formulae.

You know, I bought one of those things once (a memory foam pillow). I lost track of it years ago, after spending one restless night trying to sleep on it. But I sure know where my buckwheat pillow is that I’ve been sleeping on, oh so comfortably, for the last fifteen years.

I don’t know if you can tell, but I love my buckwheat pillow. You’ll love yours too. I guarantee it.

People are becoming aware that you should replace your conventional pillows every six months due to dust mite infestations. Do you know of any motel/hotels that do that?

They could replace their pillows with buckwheat pillows, and just launder the covers (I’m not talking about just the pillow case), by just dumping out the buckwheat hulls, since the buckwheat hulls do not support dust mite infestations. Maybe some motel/hotels do this, but I’m not aware of them.

My point is, I practice what I preach. I always take my buckwheat pillow with me when I leave home. I don’t want my head and face lying on a pillow that is infested with dust mites feeding on dead skin cells from the last 500 people who slept on it. Just replacing the pillow case doesn’t solve the problem, either. Also, treating the pillow filling with pesticidel chemicals may fix the dust mite problem, but leaves you with a toxic chemical problem that is far more serious from a health perspective.

Bottom line – never leave home without your buckwheat pillow. When you’re sleeping away from home, you need more than a clear conscience to sleep well.

No pillow is more economical over time than a quality buckwheat hull pillow. There are two primary reasons for this. First, a quality buckwheat pillow costs about the same as a comparable conventional pillow. Secondly, the life of a quality buckwheat pillow is far, far longer than that of a conventional pillow.

The reason for this is not that the buckwheat pillow is actually physically made that much more long lasting, but in the ugly reality of dust mite infestations. Dust mites (You really need to see a picture of these disgusting creatures taken through a microscope) build up by the millions in conventional pillows (Not so in buckwheat hull pillows). They live on dead skin cells that fluff off your face as you sleep.

They can cause all kinds of allergic reactions as well as respiratory ailments and chronic sorts of infections. From a health and hygienic standpoint, it is recommended that a conventional pillow be replaced every six months. There are some manufacturers of conventional pillows as well as mattresses and other bedding, that attempt to solve this problem by treating their products with pesticidal chemicals. This is not an ideal answer to the problem, as the chemicals may  prove to be a more serious problem than the dust mite infestation. Buckwheat hulls, on the other hand, do not support dust mites, and the covers are easily washed.

So your choice is very obvious. You can either choose a pillow that really should be replaced every six months, or buy a much more comfortable buckwheat pillow that will provide healthy sleep for at least fifteen years for the same initial cost. You do the math.