Most people aren’t able to sleep all that well unless they have a high-quality pillow that they can use at night. If your pillow used to be nice and fluffy, then it can be a bit disheartening when the pillow suddenly becomes flat.
Why do pillows go flat, and what can you do to keep this from happening in the future?
Keep reading so that you can better understand the process that causes pillows to go flat. Knowing the right information will make it simpler for you to extend the life of your pillows.
If you know how to take care of pillows well, then you shouldn’t have nearly as many problems.
1 – The Weight of Your Head
The most common reason why pillows are going to go flat over time is simply due to the weight of your head.
Noticing that your pillow went flat doesn’t mean that you have a particularly large or heavy head. It’s just that your pillow isn’t going to be able to last forever.
Pillows have a lifespan, and eventually, your pillow is going to go flat due to being used to hold your head up for so long. Some pillows might not go flat for years, but others might go flat a lot quicker than that.
How long a pillow will last will depend on various factors such as the materials that were used to make it.
2 – Exposure to Moisture
Even though your bed pillows will be covered with a pillowcase, they will still be exposed to moisture over the years.
Your body sweats when you’re sleeping, and some of that sweat is going to get through to the pillow. This moisture has the potential to contribute to causing your pillow to go flat.
It’s not really something that you should worry about too much, though. Sweating during the night is a natural thing and you’re going to want to just be mindful of keeping the pillowcase on your pillows.
Change your pillowcases out to keep things clean so that you won’t have your pillows go flat too soon.
3 – Dust Mites
Even something as simple as dust mites can cause your pillow to go flat over time. You can keep this from happening too fast by doing your best to clean your pillow every so often.
If you don’t do this, then you might encounter more significant issues with dust mites that will become problematic.
You really should want to clean your pillow well as often as you can anyway. A bed pillow is something that you use every single night, and you certainly don’t want it to get nasty.
It’s good to take your pillow out and give it a solid cleaning so that you can keep it in good shape.
4 – Skin and Hair
It’s also worth mentioning that your body is going to shed both skin and hair while you’re sleeping. This is actually a contributing factor to the development of dust mites.
If you let this go without washing your pillow, then it’s going to cause your pillow to become quite pungent over time.
You definitely want to start washing your pillow more often if you’ve been a bit negligent over the years. Dust mites can even cause problems for people who have allergies.
This might even keep you from getting a good night’s rest if things go poorly enough.
Fixing a Flat Pillow
If your pillow has become flat, then you might be annoyed about having to replace it.
You don’t necessarily have to throw it out just yet, though. It’s possible to take a few steps to try to fluff your pillow so that it will remain usable.
Keep reading to get the best ideas for how you can fluff your pillow. These methods are all very practical, but some might appeal to you more than others.
If you give one of these ideas a shot, then it should help your pillow to bounce back from being too flat.
1 – Fluffing a Pillow by Hand
The first method is the one that people have been utilizing for such a very long time.
This is going to involve fluffing your pillows by hand so that you can get them to be less flat. You just need to grab your pillow by the edges with both hands and start pulling in opposite directions.
Once you’ve done this for a while, you can then start hitting the pillow a little bit to try to fluff it up really nice. Squeezing the pillows a little bit can also bring you good results.
Alternate between trying all three of these hand fluffing methods to see if it solves your flat pillow issues.
Note that it may take some time for you to fluff a pillow properly. If you haven’t noticed your pillow improving any after you’ve been working on it for a while, then your pillow might be too far gone.
At that point, it might be better to think about buying a new pillow.
2 – Dry Your Pillow
Drying your pillow could help it to bounce back from being flat as well. This is very simple to accomplish if you have a dryer that you’re able to use. You just want to place your pillow in a dryer along with a couple of tennis balls.
To get the best results, you should make sure to place the tennis balls inside of a sock before tying it off. This will help to fluff your pillow as it goes through the standard drying cycle of your machine.
You want to make sure that you’re using a low heat setting to avoid damaging the pillow, too.
Some pillows won’t be able to be placed in the dryer due to the type of materials that they are made out of. Before you attempt to do this, it’s going to be wise to ensure that your pillow is safe to put in the dryer.
As long as you’re good to move forward, it’s likely that this method will produce positive results.
It’s also possible to try drying your pillow out in the sun if you would rather do that. Some people place their pillows out on their porches or decks when it’s very sunny out.
This could dry the pillow naturally, but it’s likely going to take at least three hours to get this done.
3 – Buy a New Pillow
If none of the above options works out well for you, then you might just have to consider buying a new pillow.
As mentioned earlier, pillows aren’t meant to last forever, and you can simply buy another pillow that isn’t flat. You’ll get better sleep at night and you won’t have to worry about things too much moving forward.
When you do decide to buy a new pillow, it might be beneficial to buy one that won’t go flat on you. You could invest in a modern memory foam pillow or another type of pillow that is a bit fancier.
The less expensive pillows that you will find at the department store generally aren’t going to last that long, and it might make sense to just go ahead and buy a good one.
Put a bit of thought into what you want to do before moving forward. There are many types of pillows to consider buying, and some of them might be much better than the pillows that you have been using.
Upgrading your pillow isn’t a bad thing at all, and you can still use the advice from earlier to try to prevent these new pillows from going flat.
I have two Associate’s degrees, one in Medical Assisting and the other in Computer Technician, and I am roughly five classes from a bachelor’s degree. Though I never ended up working in the medical field, I have five and a half years of experience in IT. I recently became a stay-at-home mom to my two young boys, and I’m so excited to start this adventure with them! In my spare time, I love to bake and read pretty much anything I can get my hands on.