I sleep on my side and use this full-body pillow to reduce strain on my knees while keeping my spine aligned

• Body pillows are a must for stomach and side sleepers who want to maintain good posture and comfort during the night.
• I like that you can easily adjust the loft of the Coop Home Goods Body Pillow, and hugging the pillow while I slept on my side kept my spine aligned and allowed my muscles to get the rest they needed.
• Though it is more expensive than most body pillows (currently $69.99 on Amazon and at Coop Home Goods), this one comes with a 100-night risk-free trial and a five-year warranty.
• See more: The best pillows

I can't stand sleeping anywhere except for my own bed. One of the main reasons for this is that hotels, Airbnb hosts, and guest rooms might offer you a regular pillow or two, but they never give you a body pillow.

To me and my fellow side sleepers, a body pillow is essential to getting a good night's sleep and waking up free from aches and pains.

While writing the guide to the best pillows, I came across two body pillows that are better than the rest. I tested and liked the Snuggle-Pedic Shredded Memory Foam Full Body Pillow, and now I'm testing the Coop Home Goods Body Pillow.

It was easy to unpack the box and easy to adjust the amount of foam in the pillow too

The Coop Home Goods pillow comes in a box larger than other memory foam body pillows, so it wasn't as compressed as others I've used. Within minutes of opening the package, the pillow was close to its full size. The pillow also didn't exhibit any unpleasant odors either.

The Coop Home Goods Body Pillow is filled with CertiPUR-US certified shredded memory foam, which means it's made without CFCs, formaldehyde, heavy metals, lead, mercury, TCEP flame retardants, TDCPP, PBDEs, or ozone depleters.

One of the best features is that you can adjust the shredded memory foam filling yourself. You just unzip it and start removing the filling. I recommend that you keep the filling in an airtight bag in case you want to put it back in later.

The cover is made of bamboo-derived viscose rayon and a polyester blend. It's dust mite resistant and hypoallergenic. Though the whole pillow is machine-washable and the cover feels great, I recommend picking up a 54-by-20-inch pillowcase that zips. The pillowcase will make it so you don't have to wash the pillow as often, and the zipper will keep the pillow from escaping.

Since everyone has different tastes in pillows, it's important that you have an opportunity to test a pillow out before committing to it. Coop Home Goods offers a 100-day, no-questions-asked refund policy. The company even pays for return shipping. The returned pillow is then donated to charity. The pillow also comes with a five-year limited warranty.

The body pillow kept my spine aligned and alleviated strain on my knees

When I sleep, I hug the body pillow with my arms and hold it between my legs. It did an excellent job of reducing strain on my knees and kept my spine aligned. Unless I worked out particularly hard the previous day, I wake up most mornings feeling refreshed with my back and legs pain-free.

The seams on the pillow appear to be quite durable. There are about 15 stitches per inch, which is pretty good and should ensure that filling doesn't escape. Opening up the pillow, you can see that the seams are reinforced well with several stitched layers.

I found that the shredded memory foam did an excellent job of breathing and not trapping heat, which is a common problem with solid memory foam. I'm usually hot at night and need to really turn the thermostat down to sleep, but this pillow helped me regulate my body temperature. Even when my sister-in-law was visiting from LA and insisted on keeping the thermostat cranked, the pillow provided a cool reprieve.

One problem that body pillows often have is that they can take up a lot of space in bed. My wife and I are both larger than average and have sizable body pillows. Yet, somehow, it never seemed like the Coop Home Goods pillow was in the way. We do sleep on a king-sized bed so it might be a different story if you sleep on a Queen or something smaller.

The shredded memory foam shifts around occasionally, but it's easy enough to fluff it out with your hands

The shredded memory foam would occasionally clump up on the ends leaving less support in the middle. It wasn't extreme, and it usually happened over the course of several nights. If you experience this, you can either work the filling to the less-filled areas or pop the pillow in the dryer on low heat for about half an hour to fluff back up. Coop Home Goods recommends fluffing your pillow by hand every morning, but I can't imagine living a life like that.

The pillow is machine washable, but it's a pain to wash it. Coop Home Goods recommends not washing your pillow more than once per year to "maintain the integrity." Due to the size of the pillow, you can't really wash or dry anything else with it either. And, since the pillow needs to tumble dry on low, it took me about four hours to get it completely dry.

The pillow is about 56 inches long by 17 inches wide by 9 inches thick and weighs almost seven pounds. Due to its sheer bulk, it's a bit of a pain to move from one side to the other at night. Fortunately, if the size gets to be too much, you can just remove some of the fill.

The bottom line

Despite these concerns, I really like the Coop Home Goods Body Pillow. It provides me with the support I need, is comfortable between my arms and legs, and the shredded memory foam breathes well to keep me cool. It's my preferred body pillow. Though one person's favorite pillow may be horrible for others, I strongly recommend that all side sleepers give the Coop Home Goods body pillow a try.