If you find yourself having the mother of all sneezing fits every morning, it could be more than just a particularly strong bout of seasonal hay fever.
Similarly, if you find yourself staring into the bathroom mirror as you brush your teeth in the morning with a runny nose, eczema or notice yourself wheezing, it all may be signs that you’re an allergy sufferer.
What can you do? One way to ease the symptoms is to invest in anti-allergy pillows; head rests filled with synthetic fibres instead of down and feather.
As well as leaving you looking refreshed after your beauty sleep, they tend to be less pricey than down-filled options, so they’re easier on your wallet if you’re on a budget too.
What should you look for? Opt for designs with tightly woven covers to stop the filling escaping and causing irritation.
Pillows with anti-dust mite treatments will also help ward off nasty bacteria who have no place in your bed. And if the pillow in question contains Oeko-Tex, all the better: the certification is backed by Allergy UK and promises no harmful chemicals have been involved in the manufacturing process.
Loft is a personal decision, but broadly speaking, the wider your shoulders the higher you should go to ensure you spine is properly aligned. Sleeping on too-high or too-low pillows is quite literally a pain in the neck.
We’ve rounded up the best anti-allergy pillows to have you drifting peacefully into the land of nod.
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M&S 2 Pack Anti Allergy Plus Medium Pillows
No need to suffer through nights wheezing and sneezing. Good old M&S is to the rescue with a pair of anti-allergy pillows available in varying degrees of firmness. As well as the synthetic, anti-bacterial pillows, the anti-allergy range extends to a 10.5 tog duvet and mattress and pillow protectors too, so you can transform your bed into the one of dreams.
Buy now £29.50, M&S
John Lewis Active Anti-Allergy with HeiQ Allergen Tech* Square Pillow, Medium/Firm
Whether you share a bed or enjoy having leisurely naps on the sofa, an anti-allergy cushion can help make things more comfortable. This square design from John Lewis offers a medium to hard level of firmess and should slip inside standard cushion covers with ease.
What makes it special? It’s finished with HeiQ Allergen Tec, an innovative treatment made using naturally-derived probiotics to vanquish allergens like dust mites, pet allergens and some pollens.
Buy now £35.00, John Lewis
Kally Sleep The Anti-Snore pillow
Best for: extra neck and head support for better breathing
Found to lower snoring frequency and volume by approximately 60 per cent by the British Sleep Apnoea Association, Kally Sleep’s anti-snoring pillow uses an S-shaped layer of foam in the core to support the head and neck in a way that encourages better breathing. It’s a medium level of firmness and the fibres used in its creation are anti-allergy to help ward off bacteria. One for side and back sleepers.
Buy now £27.99, Kally Sleep
Silentnight Luxury Quilted Anti-Snore Pillow
Best for: an ergonomic design to open the airways
When it comes to snoring, it’s not so much the perpetrator, but more the person laying beside them who suffers: research by Silentnight and the University of Leeds revealed that 40 per cent of Brits can’t sleep because of their partner’s snoring. That’s why the sleep expert has devised this anti-snore pillow, made to give the gift of decent shut-eye - for everyone.
Tested by the British Snoring & Sleep Apnoea Association (who discovered that the design reduced snoring frequency and volume by approximately 50 per cent), the pillow boasts an ergonomic foam layer to aid the airways and help breathing with DuPont fibres making up the rest of the filling.
What’s more, it’s hypoallergenic and so there’s nothing in the construction to trigger allergies. A soft quilted cover keeps everything feeling and looking dreamy.
Buy now £22.00, Amazon
Dorma Full Forever Anti Allergy Medium-Support Pillow Pair
There’s nothing more frustrating when the filling in your pillow starts bunching or collecting on one side. The spiral fibre anti-allergy polyester filling in Dorma’s pillow can help ward this off, staying fuller for longer under its 100 per cent cotton cover. Offers medium-support.
Buy now £24.00, Dunelm
Emma Original Pillow
There are three memory foam layers in Emma’s Original Pillow to ensure you get the rest you deserve: simply add or remove them to get the right combination for you.
Each pillow contains a pressure-relieving viscoelastic memory foam; a supportive HRX hyper-soft cold foam (one for the hot sleepers amongst you); and a ultra-breathable Airgocell memory foam.
It will keep its shape over time and the cover can be put in the washing machine when it’s time for a clean.
Buy now £57.75, Emma
The White Company Super-Soft Ultra Wash Pillow
If you sleep on your back, a soft pillow is all you really need to safeguard your back health while you’re catching 40 winks.
Starting at £12, this great-value hypoallergenic pillow adapts to the weight of your head and encourages airflow for restful, comfortable sleep. It’s easy to keep fresh too - just sling it into the machine when it starts to smell a bit musty.
Buy now £12.00, The White Company
BedStory Memory Foam Pillow
Memory foam has a bad rep for overheating, which can be offputting for many shoppers. However, this pillow does everything it can to alter that perception. Each side is different with one covered in Bamboo Charcoal Memory Foam (great or absorbing allergens) and the other in Gel Memory Foam.
While each offers slightly different experiences, the thing they share is that they’re both cooling. Then there’s ventilation hopes and vented mesh to keep air circulating around the design, leaving you to sleep undisturbed.
Ideal for all style of sleepers, whether you prefer front, back or side, it comes in an anti-mite and hypoallergenic cover that is removable and machine washable too.
Buy now £33.99, Amazon
Simba Hybrid Pillow
This space-age contender, a feat of somniferous engineering, has been one of the pillows to beat recently. Inside are hundreds of foam Nanocubes which can be removed to adjust height and firmness. Around this layer are cool microfibers, and there’s mesh for air flow as well.
Topping it all off is “Stratos”, an outer layer inspired by astronauts that applies phase change technology (don’t ask) to soft cotton, meaning it absorbs, stores and releases heat when needed. Phew!
The result is a huge amount of bounce, support and comfort that doesn’t disappoint, although this wasn’t the coolest pillow on test here.
Buy now £81.75, Simba
Memory Foam Bamboo Pillow
Get comfortable and ready for a good night’s sleep with Panda’s Memory Foam pillow under your head. The super supportive third-generation memory foam is covered with a soft-touch cover made of bamboo fibres, helping to keep the design breathable as well as antibacterial. Comes with a 10 year guarantee.
Buy now £44.95, My Panda Life
