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According to an article in the Guardian:

Out of 2,200 men and women, only 18% knew they should replace their pillows every two years. The average person uses the same pillow for three years and two months.

[...]

Many – though not all – sleep experts say that if you fold your pillow in half and it doesn't spring open straight away by itself then it's dead: it can't support your head and neck, so bin it.

Are there studies that support the notion that people who only replace their pillows every three years and two months or wait even longer to replace their pillows are likely to suffer from negative health effects as a result?

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Christian
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    What kind of pillows are we talking about? The $5 or the $80 kind? I'm guessing one might need to be replaced more often than the other to hold your head at the same level as when new. – Is Begot Aug 29 '14 at 19:12
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    @Geobits : Let's say the median pillow. – Christian Aug 29 '14 at 20:31
  • Pillow manufacturers like to say this too, but they're a little biased... – curiousdannii Sep 01 '14 at 07:43
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    This is going to be hard to prove false. [This suggests](http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1398-9995.2005.00941.x/full) all pillows sampled, starting with 18 month old ones, were contaminated with fungus, so there was no age association found/mentioned. – Oddthinking Oct 08 '14 at 14:12
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    This [paper](http://www.bmj.com/content/311/7012/1053) hints at (but hasn't enough definitive evidence to support) that synthetic pillows may increase the risk of asthma in children, perhaps due to volatile compounds. In such a case, it may well be that old pillows are safer (as the volatile gases have presumably already leached out.) This is a highly-speculative conclusion. – Oddthinking Oct 08 '14 at 14:17
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    Age of the *mattress* might be important for asthmatic children - more [speculation](http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2222.2007.02847.x/abstract) – Oddthinking Oct 08 '14 at 14:18

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