Sleeping on a Hammock

Not napping in a hammock. Not even camping in a hammock. I'm talking about sleeping most nights in a hammock.

Here's my reasoning. For the last 3 years or so, I've had low back stiffness that doesn't go away. From my bed, to other peoples, to camping, to my van. I wake up and my low back hurts.

I can feel when I lay flat on my back that my back is too arched. Big time. I have known for years that I have lordosis but it's never been an issue. Yoga helps but only if I can manage a 3-4 day a week schedule of it, and I can't.

During my travels, I have spent some time sleeping in a hammock. I've got a totally cheap cotton plain ass one. It's great. It's got the opposite curve of my back. It's the only thing I've ever found that seems to relax the curve. I feel like I sleep really soundly and don't wake up as a stiff old man. I'd rather do it in the summer though, a sleeping pad slides weirdly in colder temps.

So my thought is this, set up a hammock in my room.

Pros
-The previously mentioned back curve issue.
-Never have to make my bed
-Potential for saving space if I ditch the bed
-An excuse to drill holes in the wall

Cons
-Double occupancy

Has anyone done this and how has it worked? Am I crazy? It's a dream of mine but since I'm usually in so much pain at night, I can't stay asleep long enough to have other dreams.

I say go for it. It sounds like you already convinced yourself that its a good idea. Keep doing your yoga. Make sure you are not stretching the wrong parts of your back out, just because stretching CAN be good, doesn't mean it is always good. You could make it worse if you are elongating a muscle that needs to be shorter to fix your problem.

I'm no physical therapist, but it sounds like you need one.

Suggestion: Put the hammock up using eye bolts so you can just tuck it away nice and easily. Keep the bed around for your double occupancy issue

=)

I was homeless for a month in between moves and I hammocked it up almost every night. I also had a string of trips this summer where I slept in a hammock for about 25 out of 30 nights. I loved it! I felt good and relaxed when I woke up and not being able to burrow into a mattress helped me get out of bed earlier in the mornings. Plus you feel like a badass.

What about sex though?

DannyUncanny wrote:What about sex though?

See John's "cons" section in his post.

clevernamehere wrote:I'm no physical therapist, but it sounds like you need one.

Agreed. I've got the same issue with excessive curvature of the lower spine, and always have pain/stiffness when I sleep anywhere other than my own bed (firm mattress). Even then, I don't sleep flat on my back. What has helped me has been daily stretching of the lower back and hip flexors, and maintaining adequate ab/core strength. Given your climbing level, I'm sure your abs are more than adequately strong to balance your lower back muscles, but maybe not. Daily stretching is likely your best bet, especially given that you know yoga helps.

The hammock is a temporary fix and not the solution to your problem - both back and double occupancy needs. See a PT and get a stretching regime designed for you.

The nights I've spent in a hammock have been the worst mornings.

But, if you've experienced otherwise, go for it.

Personally, my back problems get fixed with a very firm bed.

I have slept in a hammock nearly exclusively for 2 years now. It took a little adjusting in the first month but I only had 2 mornings when I woke up and had clearly slept wrong, and could barely walk. Except for those 2 experiences, it is the most comfortable sleep I have ever gotten. I cannot make any recommendations of whether or not it will help with your issues, because I have no clue. I just like getting rocked to sleep.

Recommendations:

Get an over-sized hammock. Completely solves the double occupancy issue, provided your "anchors" can take the heat. This is the one I have. hammocks.com/hammocks/hand-… This thing is huge, but I think it is impossible to go too big, the extra material makes it easier to get comfortable.

Keep it as low to the ground as reasonable, maybe 3 feet off the deck when you are in it. Also keep the area below completely clear. I jumped into mine once (mounted in steel studs, but that's the next point) and ripped it clean out of the wall, and fell from 5 feet straight on my back onto the fan shroud from my truck which was sitting underneath. Couldn't walk right for 3 weeks.

Hanging it: I recommend setting your hanging points too far apart, as you can easily extend it with webbing. I used 3' sections of 2x6 screwed into multiple studs, but I was attaching to steel studs, which have maybe an 1/8 inch of metal thickness to hold your threads. I had some webbing fastened to the 2x6 that was my attachment point and extended that with more webbing and a quicklink until I found the right angles. Hammocks can easily put more than your body weight on EACH anchor depending on the angle of the setup, google "hammock physics" for more info. Same concept as climbing anchor equalizing. You wanna make your setup crazy strong, especially if you go the occasional or consistent double occupancy route. I dodged some bullets with my hammock anchor not failing during a D.O. occasion, in retrospect I think it was probably close to maxed out. Would have been really disastrous and a little embarrassing.

Sleeping: Keep your bed around for a while so you can bail if you just can't get comfortable while you're getting used to it. Sleep diagonally in it, and experiment a lot. I can now comfortably sleep on my side, stomach, or back. For the first couple months I think it was back only. Have some blankets, which help for acting as a pillow while you are getting used to it. If it is not too cold, and it definitely ain't here in Vegas, I can sleep well without anything but the hammock, no pillow or anything. Just takes some playing around and getting used to.

For colder temps, rig a comforter UNDER your hammock. I've never needed to with my everyday setup, but I've used underquilts for hammock camping. The pad thing is a pain in the ass, and why do I want to bring a pad if I brought a hammock?