Originally Posted by
seekinggoodsleep
Hi all,
I'm brand new here, though I've been lurking for a while. I've been having a lot of trouble sleeping lately due to sleep position discomfort and have been looking into options, which is how I came across hammocks. I bought a couple to test - an ENO DoubleNest and an ivation Brazilian one with a stand (from Amazon). I have moments of napping comfort, but they seem to end in my having a sore neck and sometimes feeling like my spine is tweaked side-to-side. I've read about the diagonal lay, hang with sag, etc. I'm at least trying to do those things, and I know I haven't tried enough to give up on it. Meanwhile, I continue to be sore most mornings and nights from my bed, which consists of a pretty plush mattress.
I have some things I've been wondering about that I was hoping people here might have ideas on. As for the side-to-side tweak feeling, it seems like that's because my shoulders and the sides of my hips are at different heights (left from right, I mean) or maybe have different pressures on them. Even on the diagonal, the fabric is pulling on one shoulder a different amount than the other. Same with the sides of my hips and feet. As for my sore neck, I'm thinking that's because the fabric pressure is greater on my head than at the base of my neck, so it pushes my head forward and strains my neck muscles.
For the ENO, you could guess that I hung it too tight, but for the Brazilian I hung it exactly as the stand allowed me. I even tried attaching the ends to a rope to increase the sag, but then I was touching the ground - the stand isn't that tall. I was putting more faith in that one because I've read a lot of people say that Brazilian hammocks are great for sleeping. But I don't think it's at a 30-deg angle when I get out of it, sigh. The angle looks smaller.
One trouble I have here is lack of access to good hanging points for testing these out. The trees in my yard aren't really suitable, so the indoor stand was my best shot. I had the ENO strung up on my kids' monkey bars for a bit, but they revolted and demanded the monkey bars back. Maybe I could test some floor joist points in the basement. My poor husband says he's afraid I'm going to move into the basement because of the hammock thing. He can tell how much I'm struggling with sleep position right now and isn't too excited about the idea of replacing our bed with the hammock full-time. No offense to anyone here, but I would've reacted the same way if I weren't so desperate for a good night's sleep. I don't want to force us into some awkward sleeping arrangement, but if that's the only way I can get good sleep, then I may have to. We have kids, so our sleep is already compromised on a regular basis.
Anyway, I'm wondering from those regular, full-time hammockers that have found their sweet spot whether they ever feel like their shoulders or hips are at a slight angle sideways. That part isn't super uncomfortable (vs. the neck thing, which is), but it makes me worry that it would be bad for me in the long run. From what I read, hammock sleeping isn't supposed to be completely horizontal because your head and feet are slightly raised, which seems like a good thing. But I had assumed that your body was supposed to be pretty symmetrical from left to right. Is that correct? When I visualize what parts of the hammock my two shoulders/hips/feet are on, one part is closer to the center and the other closer to the edge. Wouldn't it make sense the the edge one would be slightly higher than the center one? I know people have said that things just flatten out, but could it be that I'm more sensitive to a small asymmetry? Or do you think it's more likely that I haven't gotten the right hang yet?
In my bed, I'm usually a side sleeper with hips that are much wider than my shoulders, in case that matters. Also, I'm middle-aged...
Thanks for any help!
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