Is it better to sleep without a pillow? Who really benefits
By the Morfeo sleep team, mattress and pillow manufacturers in Yecla (Murcia) · Updated in September 2026
Quick answer
Sleeping without a pillow is only suitable for one position: face down. If you sleep on your side, removing it leaves your neck hanging toward the mattress all night; on your back, your head falls backward. In both cases, the problem is almost never that the pillow is too much, but that the one you have is too high. The useful question is not "with or without," but how many centimeters.
In this guide
The idea of sleeping without a pillow resurfaces every so often, usually associated with the idea that "it's natural." And there is some truth at the bottom of the matter: many people sleep with a pillow that is too high and wake up feeling worse because of it. What cannot be supported is the conclusion to remove it entirely, because for most people, it just trades one misalignment for another.
Who it really suits
You sleep face down
Your head is already turned. Any height adds more torsion, so here, without a pillow —or with a very flat one— is the right thing to do.
You sleep on your side
Between your ear and shoulder, there is a gap of several centimeters. Without anything to fill it, your neck falls toward the mattress all night.
You sleep on your back
Your neck has a natural curve that needs support. Without a pillow, your head falls backward and your chin lifts.
And there is an intermediate case that deserves to be mentioned: those who sleep on their back and have tried without a pillow and noticed an improvement. That does not mean the pillow was unnecessary; it means the one they were using was too high. Dropping from 16 to 12 cm would have given them the same relief without the new problem.
What happens to your neck in each position
| Position | Without a pillow | What you really need |
|---|---|---|
| Face down | Good | Nothing, or less than 10 cm. It is the only position where removing it helps |
| On your back | Your head falls backward | 10–13 cm that support the curve of the neck without pushing your chin |
| On your side | Your neck bends downward | 14–18 cm, to fill the gap between your ear and shoulder |
| You change positions | Bad for most of the night | An intermediate height, the one that penalizes the two positions you repeat the most the least |
The principle is always the same: your head must remain aligned with your spine, like when you are standing. Neither raised nor fallen. Sleeping without a pillow only achieves that in one of the three positions.
The three circulating myths
- "It's natural, there were no pillows before." There were: there are headrests in Egyptian tombs and wooden pillows in ancient China. What there was not was a soft mattress. On a hard surface, the shoulder does not sink, so less height was needed, not none.
- "It removes wrinkles from your face." Sleep marks on the pillow do exist, but they come from the pressure of the fabric against the skin when sleeping on your side, not from the height. Without a pillow and on your side, you continue to press your face against the sheet.
- "It corrects your posture." The opposite. Without a pillow, on your side or on your back, the cervical spine spends the night out of alignment. What corrects posture is the correct height, not the absence of height.
What is almost always behind it
When someone thinks about removing the pillow, it is usually because they wake up with a stiff neck. In that case, it is worth looking at two numbers before making the decision: the height of the pillow —if you can fit your hand between your neck and it while sleeping on your side, it is short; if your head is higher than your shoulder, it is tall— and the age of the mattress, because if it gives in at the shoulder area, the alignment is lost down there and no pillow compensates for it.
How to try it without hurting yourself
If you still want to try, do it with your head:
- Go down in steps, not all at once. First switch to a thinner pillow for a week. The direct jump to zero is what usually ends in a stiff neck.
- Give it at least a week. The first two or three nights are always strange, with a new pillow or without it. What counts is how you wake up on the seventh day.
- Keep track of how you wake up. Neck, shoulders, and sleep quality, one line every morning. By the end of the week, you will have a data point instead of a feeling.
- Stop if tingling or pain goes down your arm appears. That is not adaptation. Go back to the pillow and consult a healthcare professional.
We publish the centimeters of each pillow in the range, from 12 to 18 cm, so you can compare it with the one you have now.
Two answers
What suits you?
What position do you sleep in for most of the night?
Have you already tried sleeping without a pillow?
Sleeping on your side, without a pillow, the neck hangs down. If you have still noticed an improvement, what you had was a very high pillow and now you are less bad than before, but you are still out of alignment. What you really need is 14–18 cm.
Sleeping on your back, noticing an improvement by removing it means that the one you were using was pushing your chin to your chest. With 10–13 cm you will have the same relief without leaving the curve of the neck unsupported. Calma measures 12 cm.
Face down is the only position where sleeping without a pillow makes sense, and if you have also noticed an improvement, do not touch it. What is good here is a washable protector: the face spends the night directly on the mattress.
It is the position that asks for the most pillow: you have to fill the entire gap between the ear and the shoulder. Removing it is going to give you a stiff neck. If you wake up feeling bad, the problem is the height, and what you need is between 14 and 18 cm.
On your back you do not need to remove it: you need it to support the curve of the neck without lifting your chin. Calma measures 12 cm and is the lowest; SojaVisco® measures 13 cm and is the medium firmness if you want it with more support.
Face down, any height twists the neck more. Go down in steps to a very thin pillow and from there to none, giving it a week at each step. And if you can, start switching to sleeping on your side: it is what really unloads the neck.
These are general guidelines about rest. If you have persistent neck pain, tingling, or pain that goes down your arm, consult a healthcare professional.
Frequently asked questions
Is it good to sleep without a pillow?
Only if you sleep face down. In that position the head is already turned and any height adds torsion. On your side and on your back, removing it takes the neck out of its alignment during the whole night.
I sleep without a pillow and I feel better, why?
Almost always because the one you were using was too high. The improvement comes from having removed the excess, not from having reached zero. With the correct height —10 to 13 cm on your back— you usually feel even better.
Does sleeping without a pillow correct your posture?
No. What aligns the spine is the height appropriate to your position. Without a pillow, on your side or on your back, the cervical area spends the night forced.
Does sleeping without a pillow remove wrinkles?
No. Sleep marks come from the pressure of the face against the fabric when sleeping on your side, and that happens the same without a pillow. What reduces friction is the cover, not the height.
How long does it take to get used to sleeping without a pillow?
If your position is face down, between one and two weeks going down in height in steps. If pain that goes down the arm or tingling appears, it is not adaptation: go back to the pillow and consult it.
And the children?
Babies sleep without a pillow for safety; nothing should share the crib with them. From two years old, a very flat one can be introduced, and the height goes up with the size of the shoulder.
How many pillows should you sleep with?
With one, of the correct height. Two stacked is the classic sign that the bottom one is falling short: instead of adding, it is better to change for one that already gives that height, because two get displaced during the night.
The height, in the sheet
Memory foam pillows made in Spain, from 12 to 18 cm. The data with which you decide.
