We use intention and pay attention to the way we move during work hours. We overlook the fact that sleeping in the proper position can also help improve a person’s good posture. There are many benefits of recovering in a good sleeping position. We rest better, recover better, and wake up feeling refreshed. Sitting with good posture at a computer desk for 8 hours is an endurance event. It takes strength, energy, and balance. The less our sleep quality is, the quicker we get tired the next day. The earlier we get tired in the day, the quicker our good posture turns into bad posture. Conversely, using more healthy sleeping habits will directly improve the posture we have throughout the next work day.
How to Sleep for Better Posture
Sleeping with bad habits can easily cause muscle tension issues and repetitive strain injuries. To improve your sleep quality, practice these good sleeping habits to prepare the body for a good night’s rest and recovery.
How to Choose a Good Pillow
My personal choice of pillow has both a medium density and a medium thickness. It’s not too firm, so it doesn’t feel like I’m resting my head on a hard foam yoga block. It’s also not too soft or too thin, which wouldn’t support my head, neck, and spine correctly. The medium density, medium thickness type of pillow that is ideal for me supports both my neck and head when I’m sleeping on my back. When I sleep on my side, I will fold the same pillow in half, doubling the thickness of the pillow, which is perfect for keeping my neck and spine straight and well supported (which avoids neck pain). We’ll talk more about each sleeping position later in this article.
Silence Your Phone at Night
It always seemed like a necessity to keep my phone on and in the same room when I slept. I did it for years. I never realized how much it disrupted my sleep until I finally silenced my phone at night. And I didn’t only silence the ringer, because I would still be tempted to check my phone if I woke up in the middle of the night. So, I placed my phone in a completely different room at night. To add one more step, I placed my phone inside a small cardboard box at night.
I did this for a few reasons. I didn’t want to be tempted to check my phone when I woke up to use the restroom at night. If the phone is just sitting there on the counter, it would be super easy to touch the screen to see what calls or messages I’ve received. If they are any, my mind would start thinking about the context of those calls and messages, as well as how I was going to reply to them. Not to mention, the light from the phone screen, even for a second, would cause a disturbance by itself. All of this would wake my brain up more and more, which would take me longer to fall back asleep after a simple restroom break.
Placing my phone inside a small cardboard box would be both a physical and mental barrier to checking my phone. I don’t take my phone out of the box until I’m fully awake the next morning. It’s helped improve my sleep quality and increased my sleep duration since I’ve started silencing my phone and removing it from my bedroom at night.
Make Your Bedroom as Dark as Possible
I minimize the amount of light in my room at night as much as possible. I don’t use an alarm clock because the displays on most of them put out a good amount of light. So I use my iPad to wake me up because it doesn’t put out light when it’s not in use. When I set my alarm at night, I also dim the brightness setting on my iPad all the way down. This way, if I wake up a little early and need to check the time, my eyes will be subjected to the minimal amount of light.
It’s also important for me to mention that I setup my iPad to NOT receive any text messages, phone calls, or emails at any time. This is because I would be tempted to roll over and check them when I wake up in the middle of the night. If you’re going to use your iPad as an alarm clock, make sure you have the will power to not surf the web if you wake up or can’t sleep. If necessary, turn off the wi-fi on your iPad when you set your alarm before you go to sleep. This will become a physical and mental barrier that will avoid your brain from surfing the internet and waking up.
Don’t Turn on Any Lights During Trips to the Restroom
This one might be tough logistically, since it’s hard to walk in the dark. Luckily, I have a window located on my way from the bed to the bathroom. I can leave those blinds open just enough to light my way to the bathroom. I also plugged a night light into one of my bathroom electrical outlets, so I don’t have to turn on the bathroom light once I’m in there. Eventually, my dark path to the restroom became a habit and I can now do it pretty easily without a light. I’ve been able to fall back asleep much quicker since I’ve stopped turning on any lights for middle of the night restroom trips. This has become a valuable healthy sleeping habit for me.
Use a Fitness Wearable that Tracks Your Recovery and Sleep Quality
Until recently, I’ve never been big into technology wearables that tracked my fitness. Being in my forties, exercise is more of a zen process for me these days. My primary fitness goals are to experience less pain, feel energetic, improve my posture, and increase my strength (in that order of priority). I’m not as focused on the amount of weight, number of reps, or how much I destroyed my body in a workout. That’s what I thought wearables were all about, until now.
I’ve recently started wearing a technology that also tracks my sleep quality and recovery quality. It gets specific by also reporting the number of disturbances I had in a night. It also, shows how much time I spent in each state of sleep. Using this wearable has been eye opening for me. I knew I had bad sleeping habits before I started wearing it, but this wearable has taught me that I really need to get my act together and improve my sleeping habits immediately. Stay tuned, I’ll cover more about the specific brand of wearable I use in a future article.
How to Roll Over in Bed
I know this one seems obsessive. And I didn’t start paying attention to this until recently. I had pulled a piriformis muscle (it starts at the sacrum, runs through the gluteal region, and connects to the top of the thigh bone). It was a serious injury. I was in bed for two days. I couldn’t walk or stand. The only thing I could do was roll over in bed, which was a huge task for me at the time. My pain would go from a constant 6 to an immediate 10 each time I rolled over in bed. Anyway, going through this made me realize that rolling over in bed properly is an important healthy sleeping habit.
When I roll over, I make sure to use intention while making the movement. I use my arms to create momentum. I swing one of them in the direction I want to roll. And I use my other arm to push off the bed. This will reduce the strain on my back muscles when flipping my torso. And when I do roll my torso over, I slowly activate as many back, chest, and ab muscles as I can. This avoids making a reckless movement on my part that would wake me up more than I need to. Making a gentle, careful movement with as much light muscle activation as possible has definitely helped me roll over in bed more peacefully. This contributes to better sleep quality for me, which essentially leads to improving posture both in and out of bed.
How to Get Out of Bed
This one may also seem obsessive, but it’s an important healthy sleeping habit. The moment I wake up in the morning is one my most vulnerable moments of the day both physically and mentally. My anxiety and stress wake up at the same time my brain does. I go from comfortably resting to having multiple things run through my mind instantly. “What time is it? Do I have to be somewhere? What’s for breakfast? What’s the weather?” I also wake up feeling physical aches and pains that my good sleeping habits couldn’t resolve. Next up, I’m getting off of a super soft foam mattress that’s over 3 feet off the ground. Doesn’t sound like it takes an athletic movement, but at my most vulnerable moment of the day, it is.
First, I don’t get out of the same side of the bed everyday.
I rotate which side of the bed I get out of often. Getting out of the same side uses the same muscles every time. I counter balance that by hopping out of the other side as well. I know it doesn’t sound like a big deal, but I could easily tell a difference once I started doing it.
Second, just like when rolling over in bed, I use intention when I get out of bed.
I don’t just jump out and accept that I will somehow land on two feet. In my older, recent years (40+), I make sure to get out of bed slowly, gently activating as many muscles as I can. I consider injuries I currently have, then I compensate for them as I carefully get out of bed. Getting out of bed this way helps set the tone for my day during my most vulnerable moment of anxiety and stress. It tells my mind that I’m going to use plenty of body awareness today, and that I’m going to move consciously throughout the day.
Best Sleeping Positions for Good Posture
Everything I write is based off my personal experience and results. It’s not medical advice. Some of these tips may be good for you and some may not. Choose what resonates with you if it’s in your best interest. Be the best advocate you can be for your own health.
That said, I don’t sleep in just one position. Doing anything in the same position all the time can cause repetitive strain injuries, even if we are positioning our bodies correctly in that position. That said, I try to vary my sleeping position as needed.
Sleeping on Your Back
By sitting at a computer 8 hours a day, one of the most overused muscles are the shoulders. Typing on a keyboard and clicking on a mouse all day causes chronic internal shoulder rotation. When I used to sleep on my back, this internal shoulder rotation was so bad, it would pull my spine out of alignment even while I was sleeping on my back. I sometimes counter balance this when I lay down at night with some external shoulder rotation.
First, I would lay down on my back and put my arms flat on the bed and by my side.
Then, I’d place both hands on my stomach. Finally, keeping my elbows in place next to my torso, I’d rotate at the elbows and let my hands fall open onto the bed. My forearms and biceps are now at a 90 degree angle. My forearms and waistline are now running in the same direction, parallel on the bed. This creates an external shoulder rotation that counteracts the typing I’ve been doing all day. It also allows the spine to fall out of that compressed position it was in all day when we were sitting at a computer desk. My spine is now relaxed against the mattress, but maintaining that natural “S” curve.
Once I’m in that position, it’s super important for me to focus on relaxing completely and breathing deeply. This sets the tone for the rest of my night. If I go to sleep while tense and crunched up in the fetal position, I’m bound to stay there all night. Whether sleeping in the fetal position is bad or not, that’s debatable. I’m personally not a fan because it takes the natural “S” curve out of the spine.
I’ve experimented with putting a pillow underneath my knees.
Sometimes it helped me in the past, specifically when I was sleeping on a firm bed. It disengaged my knees, relaxing my muscles from my calves all the way up to my lower back. But recently after choosing a mattress that’s made of a soft memory foam, I don’t need to put a pillow underneath my knees.
Finally, when sleeping on my back, I want to avoid sleeping in a position that will promote neck pain. To do this, I make sure that my pillow is pulled down close enough to my torso so it’s underneath my neck. The pillow doesn’t only support my head. It also has to support my neck.
Sleep on Your Side
I wasn’t always a member of the side sleepers club. But once I learned a couple easy tips, I can now get into a good sleeping position on my side. I usually place a pillow between my knees. This will keep my legs aligned properly and reduce muscle stress and fatigue, mainly in my hips, lower back, and pelvis area.
Second, it’s important that my neck and spine stays parallel with the mattress. I will fold my pillow in half, doubling the thickness of the pillow, which is perfect for keeping my neck and spine straight and well supported (which avoids neck pain).
Finally, as when in any position for an extended period of time, it’s important to maintain that natural “S” curve I’ve talked about often. In a future article, I’ll dive deeper into the different regions of the spine and what it takes to find that natural “S” curve position if we’ve lost it.
Sleeping on Your Stomach
It’s not uncommon to hear that sleeping on your stomach is not a good sleeping position. This is mainly because of how the head and neck needs to be turned to one side in order to breathe. Otherwise, your face would be flat on the mattress. For the longest time, I’d avoid sleeping on my stomach at all times. I just had too much chronic neck and spine tension going on that would cause neck pain (if I slept on my stomach).
Nowadays, I’ll only sleep on my stomach if I know it’s going to be a short amount of time, like a nap. I also don’t lay on my stomach unless I’m in a super relaxed state. If I can’t relax my shoulders, neck and spine enough to comfortably turn my head to one side, then I won’t do it. Also, I never use a pillow while sleeping on my stomach. It would cause too much overextension in my neck and spine. I just lay my head flat on the mattress.
While lying on my stomach, I keep my knees somewhat close together. It might feel natural to open one of my hips and let a knee flare out to the side, but it’s not. My knees are somewhat close to each other and my feet are together at the toes. Finally, I let my heels gently fall open away from each other.
Keeping these 3 sleeping positions in consideration, I avoid sleeping in the same position too often.
I try to make sure that I don’t only sleep on my back, or my side, or my stomach. When I’m sleeping, it’s nearly impossible to be aware of my posture and positioning. As soon as we fall asleep, our muscles will probably fall into the bad habits of our repetitive strain injuries. That is why it’s very important to be conscious of our posture before we fall asleep.
Final Thoughts: Thanks for your generous time and energy. I don’t take that for granted. I only write about the minimal information that will provide the most results. My main focus is to create better posture, more energy, more mental clarity, and less pain while sitting at a computer desk.
If this article was helpful, check out my book titled “45 Ways to Improve Computer Posture.” It’s available in both digital and paperback versions.
>>> Click here to pick up your copy
This book explains how to improve your posture through different variables of health and wellness. These include sitting posture, standing posture, sleep, hydration, and breathing. Poor posture is not just how we sit at a computer. The health habits we practice, 24 hours a day, are directly related to how good (or bad) our computer posture is.
Go to SittingPosture.com/book to learn more.
Take care,
Todd Bowen
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