For a solid month I woke up with my neck locked up, and every morning I would blame the way I slept, as if my body was sabotaging me on purpose. It took a doctor friend pointing out my pillow before I realized the problem was on my bed, not in my spine.

A stiff neck in the morning almost always comes down to your pillow and your sleeping position.

The pillow problem

Your pillow is supposed to keep your neck in line with your spine, not prop your head up at an angle. If it is too tall, your neck is bent upward all night. Too flat, and it droops the other way. Either one leaves you sore by morning.

• Side sleepers need a firmer, taller pillow to fill the gap between shoulder and head.
• Back sleepers need a medium pillow that supports the natural curve without pushing the chin forward.
• Stomach sleepers are the worst for necks, and ideally should use a very thin pillow or none at all.

I am a side sleeper, and my pillow had gone flat and lumpy, so my neck was bent all night. Replacing it with a firmer one fixed most of the problem within a week.

The quick relief

On the mornings it does happen, I do not force the stretch. I use gentle heat on the sore spot for ten minutes, then slowly turn my head side to side. Forcing a sharp stretch into a stiff neck can make it worse, so I keep it slow and stop before real pain.

The biggest change was not sleeping on a stack of two pillows, which I used to do and which kept my neck cranked forward all night. One good pillow beats two bad ones every time.