4 ms·
Offshoot question that’s always bothered me. How did ancient humans sleep before pillows? I can’t image finding a comfortable sleeping position on a bare floor
by mrfusion 9y ago
Offshoot question that’s always bothered me. How did ancient humans sleep before pillows?
I can’t image finding a comfortable sleeping position on a bare floor with no pillow. But other animals like dogs seem fine.
- DoreenMichele 9y agoI sleep without a pillow and have for years. It can be done.
- justacat 9y agoI'm in a pillow dilemma right now and have been wondering about this in the back of my mind for weeks - what position do you sleep in?
- alisson 9y agoI prefer the 'savasana' position, I actually find it more confortable without a pillow in this position, I can also be by the sides or any other position, just not for all night long, I found it actually decreased upper back and neck pains after I removed the pillow
- DoreenMichele 9y agoI sleep on my side with my head on my arm. Before going pillowless, I had a buckwheat pillow. It is less cushy and fluffy than standard Western pillows. I believe they are typical in Japan and not hard to find these days. It helped wean me off the giant fluffy Western pillows. I have respiratory problems. I sleep better without breathing in allergens and dust mites and god knows what from a pillow. Though it did take a bit of time to get used to doing it differently from how I had my whole life.
- matte_black 9y agoLay on your back.
- gnclmorais 9y agoNo, lay on your stomach.
- alexvoda 9y agoNo, lay on your right side.
- illegalsmile 9y agoI do all of these things throughout the night!
- piva00 9y agoI read somewhere that we might have slept like orangutans [1] do. [1]: http://l7.alamy.com/zooms/cbd59529ce184feba45db6c513db67f8/an-orangutan-pongo-pygmaeus-sleeping-af1x7g.jpg http://l7.alamy.com/zooms/cbd59529ce184feba45db6c513db67f8/a...
- johnhenry 9y agoI dozed off last night without a pillow and woke up in that position. Probably a "primate thing".
- toomanybeersies 9y agoIt's all about what you're used to. For a year or two I didn't sleep with a pillow, I can't remember why I stopped using one or why I started again. I was still sleeping on a mattress though. I just used my arm as a pillow. When I'm hiking, I'm sleeping on the ground without a pillow, and I've never had a problem with it.
- danielbln 9y agoOn the flip side, I always need an inflatable pillow or a pillow section built into my inflatable mattress when I'm camping, otherwise I need to sleep on my backpack or a pile of clothes or something. Can't sleep without a pillow for the life of me.
- mhb 9y agoA pillow could be a pile of softish branches with leaves.
- VLM 9y agoWhen I camp I have to put my backpack somewhere, may as well be under my head. "naked and alone" TV show is not terribly historically accurate, surely humanoids have always a bag of something or a rolled up something to rest their head on. Alternately my wife can sleep on my arm and with some work to get my arm position right the blood flow is not cut off; theoretically a household of humanoids could sleep in a line, with the unfortunate one on the end being one of those back sleepers. Interesting bonus is if someone wakes up from hearing a tiger approach statistically half the tribe is awakened automatically for free, silently. Interesting problem is one member wants to roll over or use the bathroom at night and everyone is unhappy.
- nutherforgot 9y agoA few decades back I visited a traditional zulu village museum. In the wattle and daub huts they had thin logs for pillows, somewhat like firewood. Couldn't find an image in a quick web search.