I sleep great in my hammocks now, but I wonder how many of you have a flat back, and slightly elevated legs? That is, is your torso parallel to the floor and your legs very slightly angled up? Or, are your legs parallel to the floor and your torso very slightly elevated?
My torso is very slightly elevated, and no matter what I do to my adjustments, I cannot seem to get my torso parallel to the floor and my feet slightly up. Seems like it might be a nice option after hiking all day with weight.
I hang my foot end high and slide back to my sweet spot.
Really I try not to over-think it. If I'm comfortable then I am comfortable.
Get on a good angle in the hammock. I do thing whilst laying in the hammock there is always the illusion that you are laying differently than what is truly happening. Best to video yourself and just take a look to see.
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The only way I could imagine being “flat” would be lying on something like a concrete floor. Your bed/matress will “give” to accommodate various weight distributions. The “feet end a few inches higher” isn’t there to raise your feet. It’s just a slight adjustment that ends up - because of weight distributions - countering the tendency to slide to the foot end of the hammock. If you do not have a tendency to slide to the foot end, then you don’t need to raise the foot end - for that reason. But you may make a similar adjustment to for some other comfort reason - like to eliminate some calf ridge issue.
There are two sort of “mistakes” people make when switching to a hammock. 1) they think they need to sleep (position) exactly the same way to do in a bed 2) they think the dynamics they experience on the ground translate directly to the hammock.
If you disregard everything you’ve experience with bed and ground sleeping and just ask yourself - when in your hammock - “Am I comfortable?” and the answer is “Yes” - then you’re good-to-go, A-Okay, cook’ng with gas, top of the world, etc.
In order to see what few have seen, you must go where few have gone. And DO what few have done.
Foot end always higher than head.
Can't say I am totally flat.. but I am totally comfortable.
Yes, my pack weighs 70lbs, but it's all light weight gear....
Bob's brother-in-law
Agree with the previous comments.Originally Posted by SLG45
Not sure if my analysis is correct, but it seems logical that we must take into account where the center of mass of our bodies is located.
The goal is to avoid excessive curvature of the lumbar area of the back which will be at its greatest at the lowest point of sag in the hammock. So by raising the foot end we skew the mass toward the head and raise legs and hips a bit in order to shift the mass to the ideal location for back comfort. For me, 6-8" higher at the foot end (hammock, not tree!) is ideal, taking into account that my hammocks are mostly 10 footers.
Best thing is to do some afternoon testing, alternately raising the foot bit by bit and napping and observing whether you maintain your desired position or find yourself fidgeting around to readjust after a few minutes.
Five Basic Principles of Going Lighter (not me... the great Cam Honan of OZ)
“If everybody is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking.” ~ Gen. George S Patton
Interestingly on this, one of the reasons I was slightly resistant to the idea of hammocks at first was I was afraid of feeling like my feet were to high. If I lay on the ground and it's sloping such that my feet are too high I cannot sleep and I feel distinctly uncomfortable. I have never had that feeling in my hammock amid all kinds of fiddling around with things. Nor have I heard of anyone else having the problem (and I can't be the only one.) My conclusion is that the hammock performs some voodoo magic that makes the feeling never appear, or in fact it doesn't raise your feet. In the end, one reason I prefer the hammock now is that I don't have to concern myself with which way the ground slopes anymore.
So there I was on top of Springer Mountain,whipped and exhausted from the Approach Trail.I got in my hammock which was hung slightly foot low and was miserable all night but too tired to get up and fight it.Slide down,wiggle back up,go to sleep,wake up,rinse/repeat.....
So after that I put a plastic carpenter's level on the hammock ridgeline and always check to see that it is a half bubble off to the foot end.Then all I have to be concerned about is having it high enough off the ground to acomodate my gear sling underneath but low enough for my squatty bow legs to touch the ground.Levels never lie and expose optical illusions before you get suckered into one.
Some people say I'm about a half bubble off most of the time anyways.......
foot on my XLC 20 inches above my head, feels comfy for mebut bit awkward to pull yourself up sometimes to get out
Sorry, I guess I wasn't clear. I have no issue sleeping comfortably in my hammocks. I know how to hang them correctly. The foot end of my hammock is always higher than the head end.
What I am interested in learning, is if any of you actually sleep with your feet (the ones attached to your body, not the end of the hammock where you put them) higher than your head.
I think you slide back pretty level, your butt lowest C/G and rest follows, my feet are often on a semi pumped up pillow so they might be a bit higher but does not feel much different to me to be honest, but sometimes I drink too much and my feet dont feel attached to my body anyway
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