Many Adjustable Bed Frames Have a “Zero Gravity” Feature. I Tried It for a Week

On earth, zero gravity mode isn’t astir feeling weightless truthful overmuch arsenic feeling supported utilizing gentle elevation to nudge your assemblage and legs into a much relaxed alignment. This favoritism matters. “Most claims astir slumber benefits thin to beryllium exaggerated successful the selling world,” says Erin Flynn-Evans, manager of the Fatigue Countermeasures Laboratory astatine NASA Ames Research Center. “What truly matters is whether specified claims tin basal up to technological scrutiny.” NASA’s probe simply documents posture successful space—not however radical should slumber connected Earth.

Benefits of Zero-Gravity Sleeping

Semantics aside, the claims astir zero-gravity sleeping are compelling. “Short-term, radical announcement little tossing and turning and deeper comfort. Long-term, it supports spinal alignment, reduces inflammation, and helps the tense strategy displacement into existent remainder and repair,” says Annie Schlecht, a slumber advisor and occupational therapist who besides practices craniosacral therapy.

According to Schlecht, the gentle elevation tin easiness circumstantial issues similar little backmost pain, sciatica, hep and associated discomfort, arthritis, and limb swelling. Keeping the precocious assemblage somewhat raised tin besides payment radical with reflux, snoring, oregon mild breathing issues by keeping the airway much open.

How to Sleep successful Zero Gravity

If you privation to effort zero-gravity sleeping, the astir straightforward mode is with an adjustable furniture framework that is capable to assistance some the caput and the legs. Press a button, and fto the furniture bash the work. Of course, adjustable frames aren’t inexpensive oregon adjacent standard. You tin get beauteous adjacent by utilizing pillows: Use a wedge pillow oregon stacked pillows to elevate your precocious assemblage and spot different pillow underneath your knees to assistance your legs.

“The biggest mistake is overdoing it,” Schlecht says. “Too overmuch elevation, particularly astatine the head, tin strain the cervix and disrupt breathing.” She besides cautions that changing your slumber presumption won’t compensate for a atrocious slumber space. “Alignment helps, but it can't override excessively overmuch airy exposure, heat, oregon sound pollution.”

She recommends starting with tiny adjustments. Give yourself capable genu elevation to relieve your little back, past gradually assistance your caput portion keeping your airway open. And marque definite your cervix is supported: “Your spine should consciousness agelong and neutral,” she says. “And springiness your assemblage a fewer nights to adapt."

How I Measured

Almost each night, I deterioration a Garmin Lily 2 smartwatch to bed. It generates a nightly slumber score, which I don’t usually obsess over. I thin to set my slumber habits based connected however I feel, but for the involvement of this experiment, I wanted immoderate information to backmost up my findings.

The Garmin Lily 2 automatically tracks slumber arsenic you’re wearing it, calculating a slumber score utilizing information from your bosom rate, bosom complaint variability, respiration rate, and assemblage question passim the night. It estimates clip spent successful each slumber stage, however often I aftermath up, and however restless I am. All of this info gets condensed into the slumber score, a azygous fig from 0 to 100 that appears successful the Garmin Connect app each morning.

For 7 consecutive nights, I slept successful the zero-gravity presumption and recorded my slumber score. I didn’t alteration thing other astir my routine: aforesaid bedtime, aforesaid wake-up times, aforesaid presleep habits. The lone adaptable was the presumption of my bed, which I adjusted erstwhile I was acceptable to autumn asleep.