# Poll: How many pillows do you sleep with? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 7, 2003, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-many-pillows-do-you-sleep-with/147097 "2003-01-07T04:15:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2003, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-many-pillows-do-you-sleep-with/147097/41 "2003-01-08T03:02:32Z")
Hah…you are all as abnormal as me. 🙂 Except for Green Bean, Sky and SCR4, who obviously are not a member our Pillow Club. 🙂 Wait until I show this to the Mister… ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2003, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-many-pillows-do-you-sleep-with/147097/42 "2003-01-08T03:17:29Z")
> [@](#): > > I make my own. **Shirley** , how do you do this? It sounds like something I might be interested in. In answer to the OP: If hubby is home, 2-3. One is a body pillow, which I double over on itself, so it’s really like two pillows. This is always under my head. One more on top of that, if I’m sleeping on my side (I change from stomach-sleeping to side-sleeping several times per night, and have gotten so adept at rearranging my pillows that I can do it in my sleep). Sometimes one more, between the knees (for side-sleeping). If hubby is away on business, I sleep on his side of the bed, but take my own pillows with me, as his are all wrong. In addition to what I’ve just described, I add 2. One wedged behind my lower back, one to ‘cuddle’. When he’s home, these needs are serviced by him. I’m as neurotic as most of the rest of you! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2003, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-many-pillows-do-you-sleep-with/147097/43 "2003-01-08T03:25:56Z")
I have 3, one against what passes as a headboard on my bed, one against the wall, parallel to me, and one on a diagonal across the two, in the corner… if that makes sense. ---
**Author:** ![ReBusEniGma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@ReBusEniGma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReBusEniGma)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2003, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-many-pillows-do-you-sleep-with/147097/44 "2003-01-08T03:34:43Z")
I have two…very soft and from the very fine down that comes right from a Canada Goose’s bum. Very comfy. They nearly squish flat when I sleep but just support under my neck still to make a difference.\ I do have a little buckwheat pillow but it’s not for sleeping with. You put it in the microwave and heat it up and use it for sore muscles. ---
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2003, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-many-pillows-do-you-sleep-with/147097/45 "2003-01-08T04:06:27Z")
I like the _Nesting_ of 4-6 pillows all king size, medium firmness. ---
**Author:** ![Mirror\_Image\_egamI\_rorriM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e56c9b/32.png) [@Mirror\_Image\_egamI\_rorriM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mirror_Image_egamI_rorriM)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2003, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-many-pillows-do-you-sleep-with/147097/46 "2003-01-08T04:36:23Z")
2 pillows and a rice bag for my feet. One medium squishy pillow for my head, with a flannel pillowcase my mom made. A second pillow that used to be medium squishy, but is now just flat. Sometimes I shove it between my knees, sometimes I use it to block out the annoying streetlights. The rice bag is just a little square sack of flannel filled with rice. Microwave that sucker for two minutes, and it stays toasty for about an hour, and then it’s just kind of warm after that. Good for cold feet. If you don’t have a sewing machine, you can fill a sock with rice and tie it up a with a rubber band, and that’ll work just fine. I’m allergic to down pillows. We went to stay at my grandmother’s house over the summer, and my mom had to take me to Wal\*Mart to get a different pillow because all my grandmother had were feather pillows, and they made my eyes swell and run. I’d wake up with my eyes swollen shut and caked with sleep goop. Not fun. ---
**Author:** ![Kain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/76d3ee/32.png) [@Kain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kain)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2003, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-many-pillows-do-you-sleep-with/147097/47 "2003-01-08T08:47:33Z")
I’ve got 4 on my bed. They’re divided equally between the left and right sides. ---
**Author:** ![cadolphin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c37758/32.png) [@cadolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cadolphin)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2003, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-many-pillows-do-you-sleep-with/147097/48 "2003-01-08T08:56:28Z")
Total of 6 on the bed… 3 for me and 3 on **Rico’s** side of the bed… all king size pillows 🙂 I sleep with 2-3 every night. \*\*Rico \*\*sleeps with just 1. ---
**Author:** ![dead0man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/edb3f5/32.png) [@dead0man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dead0man)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2003, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-many-pillows-do-you-sleep-with/147097/49 "2003-01-08T11:30:19Z")
1 ---
**Author:** ![Tansu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/67e7ee/32.png) [@Tansu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tansu)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2003, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-many-pillows-do-you-sleep-with/147097/50 "2003-01-08T13:43:29Z")
1-2. I have one moulded foam pillow which supports my neck nicely. There’s another pillow which goes on top for sitting up in bed. My SO has three pillows on his side, but two of them are quite thin and squishy. Plus he has a “cuddlin’ pillow” so that no matter which way he faces he can cuddle either me or the pillow. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2003, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-many-pillows-do-you-sleep-with/147097/51 "2003-01-08T15:17:20Z")
> [@](#): > > Shirley, how do you do this? It sounds like something I might be interested in. From (cough) Martha Stewart: > [@](#): > > \*\* > To make a buckwheat pillow, you use just buckwheat hulls, not whole kernels. It’s best to stuff your pillows with medium-to-large double-sided hulls, which have two walls left after processing. These will offer more support than single hulls. James Farrell & Company, where Martha purchases her hulls, produces “prime-pillow” double hulls that are thoroughly cleaned twice and never exposed to chemicals. It’s essential to purchase thoroughly clean hulls, as hulls that still have dirt or flour sticking to them could attract insects and rodents. To test your hulls for cleanliness, stick your bare hand into the bag. If it’s clean and free of grit when you pull it out, so are the hulls. > > It takes about three pounds of buckwheat hulls to make a 14 1/2-by-21-inch pillow. (Read complete instructions for making a buckwheat pillow. [here](http://www.marthastewart.com/page.jhtml?&type=content&id=tvs1474&page=1) ) A full-sized pillow filled with buckwheat would be too heavy. Make your pillow about half the size of a regular pillow, and don’t fill it up completely, so that the hulls have room to shift around and conform to the shape of your head and neck. Your pillow will loose some volume after several months of use. If you’d like, add a few more hulls to plump it up again. > > Cover your pillow with a washable slipcover you can take off and launder frequently. Don’t expose the pillow itself to moisture. If you treat your pillow with care, it will last quite a long time—Martha still uses two she acquired on her first trip to Japan, nearly twenty years ago. > > Special Thanks > Jeff Vandel > Director of International Sales > James Farrell & Company > 3100 Smith Tower > 506 2nd Avenue > Seattle, WA 98104 > > Sources > Prime-pillow buckwheat hulls > James Farrell & Company > > (link is : [www.jfarrell.com](http://www.jfarrell.com)) \*\* The link for jfarell didn’t work for me, YMMV. When I bought my buckwheat from them about five years ago it was $40 for 40# bag and that included shipping and handling. ---
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2003, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-many-pillows-do-you-sleep-with/147097/52 "2003-01-08T15:25:39Z")
Zero. I don’t use any pillows, haven’t for years. I like it that way. Though if you have a cold, its not good for clearing congestion. ---
**Author:** ![Skelji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b38774/32.png) [@Skelji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skelji)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2003, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-many-pillows-do-you-sleep-with/147097/53 "2003-01-08T15:28:46Z")
One, and it’s a contour pillow. ---
**Author:** ![Erika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/47e85d/32.png) [@Erika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erika)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2003, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-many-pillows-do-you-sleep-with/147097/54 "2003-01-08T16:49:13Z")
Currently, two absurdly fluffy ones and a teddy bear, on a twin sized air mattress. As many as 5 in a twin sized bed [one a body pillow] As many as 8 in a double bed [one body pillow, one of those big flloor pillow thingys.] ---
**Author:** ![Legomancer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/779978/32.png) [@Legomancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Legomancer)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2003, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-many-pillows-do-you-sleep-with/147097/55 "2003-01-08T17:04:55Z")
I like to have two of what I term “pillow units”. I sleep with two pillows, one of which is about 1.25 pillow units, and one which is .75 units. I seldom sleep well in hotels becase they, without fail, have pillows that are 1.5 pillow units, meaning that one isn’t enough and two is too many. I will often end up stuffing a towel or something underneath one of them to try and even it out. ---
**Author:** ![Pammipoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/87869e/32.png) [@Pammipoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pammipoo)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2003, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-many-pillows-do-you-sleep-with/147097/56 "2003-01-09T18:29:07Z")
2 regular pillows, and a big poufy one that I hug. ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2003, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-many-pillows-do-you-sleep-with/147097/57 "2003-01-09T21:08:45Z")
2 when I was married, 4 now that I’m single. Two for my head, one to hug and one for my back. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-many-pillows-do-you-sleep-with/147097.md?page=2)