Since your mattress also plays a role in supporting the rest of your body, it has to complement your pillow. For example, Schneider says that a firmer mattress will likely require a more supportive, higher-loft pillow, whereas a softer mattress will require a lower-loft pillow.
As a mattress tester, I agree. When it comes to firm mattresses, your body weight is evenly distributed as there isn’t much “sinking in” to be had. To keep your neck in the same plane as the rest of your spine, a higher, firmer pillow helps maintain that alignment. If you have a softer bed, you’re getting plenty of cushion to sink into. You do not want a taller pillow that pushes your neck upward while the rest of your back sinks down. A lower loft and softer feel is the better fit.
One point from Schneider stood out to me, not only as a veteran tester with neck pain but also as someone always in pursuit of better sleep in general: Your sleep is always changing. Schneider says that it’s not just you moving between sleeping positions and dealing with temperature changes—you physically change over time, so your pillow should too. “You might develop a new injury where before you were resilient, you could sleep on a bed of nails, but now it’s like, oh, with this new injury, I have to have this new adaptation. I have to sleep in a new position, so I have to consider a new pillow,” Schneider says. “So just recognize that not only does one size not fit all, but it doesn’t fit all epochs of life.”
