What Is an Adjustable Pillow and How Do You Set It Up for Your Sleep Position?
An adjustable pillow lets you change its height and firmness by adding or removing some of the filling, so you can tune it to your own sleep position and preferences. Our Hybrid™ Pillow works this way, using a core of tiny CertiPUR® verified foam Nanocubes® that you can take out or put back as you like. The pillow arrives at its full height, and setting it up properly takes a few minutes and a couple of nights of fine-tuning. Here's how the adjustment works and where to start for each sleep position.
How An Adjustable Pillow Works
A standard pillow has a fixed amount of filling sealed inside, so the height you get is the height you keep. An adjustable pillow gives you access to the filling, which means the same pillow can be soft and low for one person and firm and high for another.
In the Hybrid™ Pillow, the filling is made of small foam Nanocubes®. They flex individually under your head and let air move through the pillow, and because they're loose, you can remove a handful at a time until the height suits you. A storage bag comes with the pillow so the cubes you take out stay clean and available if you want to put them back later.
The outer sleeve uses down-like Simba Renew™ fibres, made from recycled bottles that are combed and folded to hold their shape. The cover carries our Stratos® technology, which is designed to draw excess heat away from the surface and feels cool to the touch.
Why Height Matters For Your Sleep Position
The job of a pillow is to keep your head in line with your spine. The gap between your head and the mattress changes depending on how you lie, which is why one height doesn't suit every position.
Side sleepers have the biggest gap to fill, because the shoulder holds the head further from the mattress. Back and front sleepers need less, and your build matters too - since broader shoulders create a wider gap in the side position.
Setting Up For Side Sleeping
Start with the pillow at full height and lie on your side as you normally would.
Look for your head sitting level, with your nose in line with the centre of your chest. If your head tips down towards the mattress, the pillow needs more height. If your head is pushed up towards the ceiling, take some cubes out. It might also be helpful to get someone to help see if you’re level, too.
Most side sleepers end up keeping the majority of the filling, and broad-shouldered sleepers often keep all of it. Work in small handfuls so you can feel the difference each time.
Setting Up For Back Sleeping
Back sleepers usually need a lower setting than the pillow arrives at. Lie flat and check that your chin sits at a natural angle, neither tucked towards your chest nor tilted back.
Remove a handful or two, lie down again, and repeat. A useful check is whether you can feel any strain at the front of your throat, which suggests the pillow is still too high.
Setting Up For Front Sleeping
Front sleepers need the least height of all, because the head is already close to the mattress. Take out a good proportion of the cubes and see how it feels, then keep going if your neck still feels turned upwards.
Some front sleepers end up with a very low pillow, and that's a perfectly normal result. Keep the removed cubes in the storage bag in case your position changes.
Give It A Few Nights
One thing worth knowing is that your first impression lying down in the afternoon isn't the whole picture. Sleep on a setting for two or three nights before you change it again, because how you feel in the morning tells you more than how the pillow feels on the first night.
If you share a bed and you and your partner sleep in different positions, two pillows set up differently will serve you both better than a compromise setting on one.
The mattress underneath you affects this too, since a softer surface lets your shoulder sink further in and reduces the height you need on top. If you're replacing both at once, set the pillow up after the new mattress has arrived.
What To Do If The Setting Still Feels Wrong
Height isn't always the answer. If you've worked through the adjustments and something still feels off, a few other factors are worth checking.
The position of the pillow matters. A pillow pushed right up against the headboard leaves a gap under your neck, and pulling it down so the bottom edge meets your shoulders usually closes that. Sleeping with an arm under the pillow adds effective height, which is worth accounting for when you judge a setting.
It's also common to move between positions during the night. If you start on your side and finish on your back, set the pillow for the position you spend most of the night in, and expect a small compromise on the other one.
Keeping It In Shape
A few care points keep an adjustable pillow performing:
- If the pillow starts to feel flat, open up the inner pillow and shake the Nanocubes® through by hand, which restores their bounce and distribution.
- Wash the cover every few months, or at least twice a year. Use a gentle wash with non-bio detergent, tumble dry cool, and don't dry clean it.
- The cover is machine washable at 40°C and can be tumble dried on low heat.
- Keep the storage bag somewhere you'll find it, because changing your mind about firmness a year later is common.
If you'd like more Nanocubes® than the pillow came with, our customer service team can help.
FAQs
They're small foam cubes certified to CertiPUR® requirements, so they contain no heavy metals such as mercury or lead. They flex individually under your head and allow air to move through the pillow.
Open the inner pillow and add or remove Nanocubes®. More cubes give a higher, firmer feel, and fewer give a lower, softer one. The cubes you remove go into the storage bag supplied with the pillow.
Side sleepers generally need the most height, because the shoulder holds the head further from the mattress. Check that your nose lines up with the centre of your chest when you're lying down - though you’ll need someone (or a mirror) to help you do this.
The cover is machine washable at 40°C and can be tumble dried on low heat. Washing it every few months is sensible, and dry cleaning isn't recommended.
As a general rule, most standard pillows are replaced every one to two years. A pillow that no longer springs back into shape is usually ready for replacing.
