Sleep is one of the most important variables of computer ergonomics. Other variables include posture, breathing, hydration, and nutrition. Ergonomics means the study of people’s efficiency in their work environment. Even though we don’t sleep while we’re at work, sleep quality from the night before directly relates to how good or bad our computer posture is the next day.
The earlier in the day we get tired, the more our computer posture suffers. The better our sleep quality is, the more energy we have the next day. More energy allows better computer posture. Good computer posture is critical for high work productivity. This is how sleep quality and posture directly lead to health benefits and good computer ergonomics.
This article is not professional medical advice. It’s based off my personal experience and opinions. My sleep health problems used to contribute directly to my poor computer posture, muscle tension, inflammation, and chronic pain. All the workplace ergonomic tips I write about are directly related to improving posture at a computer. You are your primary caretaker. Do your research. Make good decisions. And be the best advocate possible for your own healthcare.
Sleep Habits for Better Posture
Full disclosure: I’ve paid my own money for all the products I mention in this article. I’m usually not compensated by any of the companies whose products I write about. If I am, I will mention that in the product write-up. I enjoy sharing products with my readers that have helped improve my sleep and computer ergonomics. The only company I make a small commission from in this article is Hostage Tape.
I’m dedicating this article to all the healthy sleep habits I practice on a daily basis. The goals of this article are to provide easy, actionable ways to improve your sleep quality and improve your posture at a computer.
Practice an early, consistent sleep time
I used to be a chronic procrastinator. I would even get in bed late. Improving sleep patterns has become more important for me as I get older. I just don’t recover as well as I used to, so I’ve become dedicated to finding more strategies for better sleep. Realizing this has helped me stick to a consistent, early bed time. Most days I plan to wake up at 5:30am. I make sure to get in bed by 9:30pm at the latest. Getting in bed any later than that will mean I’m definitely not getting 8 hours of sleep that night. Especially after including any time it takes to fall asleep, or lay awake after trips to the restroom.
Maintaining an early, consistent sleep time is easy for me now. However, it was very difficult when I committed to it in the beginning. I would lay in bed for an hour to 90 minutes before I fell asleep. But I would continue to get in bed by 9:30pm every night regardless if I was tired or not. Every week, I would fall asleep just a few minutes earlier than the week before. It took a few months of this, but now I fall asleep every night within 5 minutes after getting in bed. To help fall asleep faster, read the paragraph about the sleep stack drink I use before bed.
Use red lights after the sun goes down
To maintain good sleep wellness, I try to avoid looking into any lights in my home after dark, especially bright, blue, or white lights. This applies to my phone, laptop, television, and home lights. Looking into these types of lights keeps my brain active. My brain still thinks it’s daytime when I have a lot of bright lights in my surrounding area. This makes it take longer for me to fall asleep. I want to slowly start relaxing way before 9:30pm when I get in the bed. This way, I will fall asleep quicker. Using red light bulbs (instead of white) to improve my sleep hygiene has been very helpful.
Turn off all electronics at least 1 hour before bed
Looking at bright, blue, or white lights, even for a few seconds, can cause a massive drop in melatonin. I learned this from Andrew Huberman of Huberman Lab. Melatonin is a natural chemical in the brain that plays an important role in falling asleep. Turning off all electronics is not a perfect practice for me. Sometimes I just need to look at my phone quickly. Read on to the next paragraph for a sleep optimization solution for that.
Use the night shift and grayscale options on your phone at night
I have the night shift option on my iPhone scheduled to automatically turn on at 8pm and turn off at 6am. Night shift automatically shifts the colors of my display to the warmer end of the color spectrum. In addition to that, I set up a shortcut in my accessibility setting that allows me to turn my phone screen to grayscale easily. All I have to do is triple-click the side button to turn grayscale on and off.
I try to avoid looking at my phone at all once the sun goes down. But if I have to glance at it quickly to check messages or set an alarm, the combination of the night shift and grayscale options are much gentler. They don’t wake me up as much mentally compared to looking into a bright, blue light without filters.
Sleep stack drink from Dr. James DiNicolantonio
I’d like to preface this section of my guide for better sleep with a quick disclaimer. None of my articles contain professional medical advice. They are for informational purposes only. I simply talk about good sleep advice habits that have worked for me. Do your research. Make good decisions. Speak with a doctor. But also, be the best advocate possible for your own healthcare.
With that said, I’d like to share one of the better sleep solutions that’s a key part of my bedtime routine for better posture (not paid promotion). I learned this from Dr. James DiNicolantonio (Doctor of Pharmacy). He’s one of my favorite wellness experts to follow. He talks a lot about how to improve sleep quality. His Instagram is full of better sleep strategies and other good wellness advice.
I used to have a problem falling back asleep after a trip to the restroom. But since I’ve been using his sleep stack (pictured above), that problem has improved 90% for me. I’m not even using his full sleep stack. My partial sleep stack is just the inositol, magnesium, and glycine. I mix those 3 into 12 ounces of spring water and sip it an hour before I get in bed. I haven’t implemented the theanine yet. Mainly because the other ingredients have improved my sleep quality to where it needs to be. I always fall asleep within 5 minutes of getting in bed. I also fall back asleep quickly now, 9 times out of 10, after a restroom trip.
Keep bedroom dark as possible
I never used to think I needed blackout curtains to improve sleep naturally. I already had good blinds over my bedroom window. There wasn’t much light getting in. At least, I didn’t think there was. In 2022, I finally got some thick, blackout curtains to put over the blinds in my bedroom window. It definitely made my room much darker, which allowed for better sleep at night. This is one of the easiest, inexpensive, natural sleep tips that made a big improvement. I wish I would’ve taken this sleep advice years ago.
Temperature Controlled Mattress Cover
One of my favorite natural sleep solutions is my Eight Sleep Pod (Mattress) Cover (not paid promotion). I got mine back in 2019. Admittedly, this is the most expensive way of enhancing sleep quality I’ve tried, but it’s been totally worth it. I can’t imagine sleeping without one. I never wake up in the middle of the night sweating anymore.
The Eight Sleep Pod Cover is basically a mattress cover that has small water lines running throughout it. The second component it comes with is a water tank. It’s about the size of a desktop computer tower. It goes on the floor, next to my bed. It plugs in to the electrical outlet. This is where the water is stored, heated, and cooled.
The Eight Sleep Pod Cover can be cooled to 55 degrees Fahrenheit.
It can also be heated up to 110 degrees Fahrenheit. I have mine set to automatically warm up slightly (not much) at 8pm. Then, I set it to cool slightly as soon as I get in bed around 9:30pm. This way my body temperature drops and I fall asleep quickly. It has 4 different pre-set times throughout the night where you can select the desired temperature in advance. I also set mine to warm up slightly before I wake up at 5:30am. This is one of my favorite sleep solutions for waking up naturally, as opposed to a loud alarm clock.
I’m not affiliated with, or compensated by Eight Sleep. It’s a product that I paid my own money for. The Pod Cover has essentially helped improve my computer posture because it creates a natural way to sleep better. Anything that improves my sleep quality is directly related to how good my computer posture is the next day. The Eight Sleep Pod Cover can be found here on their website.
100% organic cotton sheets and blanket
I try to avoid my skin from touching polyester or other synthetic materials whenever possible. Sleeping 8 hours a night is a large percentage of my day. So I definitely want to sleep on 100% organic cotton bed sheets (not paid promotion). I also chose the color white for my bed sheets because cotton is naturally white. Sheets that are any other color will contain some kind of dye or coloring additive. I don’t want any synthetic materials up against my skin for long periods of time. I also don’t want to be breathing in any chemicals that a synthetic sheet may or may not put off. So, I avoid these possible health problems by buying white, 100% organic, cotton bed sheets. This also applies to the heavier blanket that I use on top of my bed sheets.
Grounding Sheet and Pillowcase
I recently discovered one of the most helpful products I’ve ever used to decrease inflammation. The best part about it is, it does all the work for me while I’m sleeping. This affordable product is called a grounding sheet. I got mine on Amazon. The one I got cost $50. It’s the length of a bed sheet, but it’s only 3 feet wide. It goes on top of my normal fitted bed sheet. The grounding sheet I got can be found here. Amazon does have full-sized sets available, but they are more expensive. I also bought a grounding pillowcase that cost $20, which can be found here.
I’m not affiliated with any company that sells grounding sheets. I bought mine with my own money. And I enjoy sharing products that’ve helped me improve my computer posture by enhancing sleep quality.
Using Grounding Sheet and Pillowcase
My grounding sheet and pillowcase have given me noticeably better sleep at night. Anything that improves my general wellness also improves my computer posture. I started to see improvements after the first few days.
The definition of grounding (in this case) is the process of connecting my body to the ground of the Earth. There are different ways to do this. You could walk outdoors bare foot. Another common way of grounding is sleeping on the ground (when camping, for example). But sleeping on a grounding sheet (in my own bed) is the method that has given me the most benefits. It’s also the most convenient.
The Earth provides us with an endless amount of beneficial electrons. If we’re always indoors, or wearing shoes while we’re outside, we don’t get to take advantage of these electrons and their healing, regenerative processes.
The grounding sheet I have looks like a normal bed sheet.
Except, it has a small metal connector stitched onto the fabric. It comes with a thin wire that attaches to this connector. The other end of the wire plugs into the ground portion of an electrical outlet. It only plugs into the bottom (negative) hole of a 3-prong outlet. The top 2 (positive) slots stay empty.
The sheet is 95% cotton and 5% silver fiber. The energy is conducted through the silver fabric of the sheet. This is how the grounded energy is conducted from the Earth to our grounding sheet. And essentially to our bodies, while we sleep on the grounding sheet in our own bed.
Our bodies are always healing. How well they heal can depend on many variables. Some of my biggest enemies are chronic pain, muscle tension, and inflammation.
I first heard of grounding a few years ago. At that time, I couldn’t remember the last time my bare feet actually touched the Earth. I was always indoors, or I had shoes on when I was outdoors.
Adding a grounding sheet to my healthy sleep habits was the last variable I added to my bedtime routine for better posture. I could tell within a few days that this sleep habit was making a difference. I’ve noticed a decrease in muscle tension, improved functionality in my muscles/joints, and improved digestion. Most importantly, I’ve noticed better sleep at night. I also got a grounding sheet and pillowcase for my dad. He’s experienced noticeable results of sleep optimization just like me.
Best pillow for spine alignment and neck support during sleep
I use a standard memory foam pillow that I got from Target. It cost about $30 (not paid promotion). It’s got just the right firmness and height for me when I’m sleeping on my side. I used to suffer from back pain due to sitting at a computer for long periods of time. Using side sleeping posture tips helped provide back pain relief while sleeping. But having a pillow that is firm enough and high enough was an important variable of that.
I used to have a softer pillow, but it didn’t provide good neck support during sleep. This caused neck pain for me in the past. But I haven’t had any neck pain since I started using this new memory foam pillow. It’s also given me good back sleeping benefits when I do sleep on my back.
Mouth tape for sleeping
Until recently, I had been a chronic mouth breather all my life. Both on the inhale and exhale. This caused increased risk of many health problems. I was overusing my jaw muscles to constantly hold my mouth open. My overused jaw muscles were causing muscle tension in my head, face, and neck muscles. This was the catalyst for a lot of bad headaches.
Another problem was shallow breathing through my mouth. My breath wasn’t in my lungs long enough to be highly effective. I needed to slow my breathing down, so that air spent more time in my lungs.
Hostage Tape
The brand I use is called Hostage Tape. At first, it seemed expensive ($25 for a 30 day supply). I was hesitant. But I’d heard many people raving about it online. So I tried it. Also, there is a subscription option that lowers the price if you wish to subscribe. Or, you can purchase multiple months in advance. This is the route I like to take. It doesn’t lower the price as much as the subscription model. But, it’s no monthly commitment either.
I’ve gotten multiple health benefits of mouth taping since I started using mouth tape for sleep in early 2023. My favorite benefits are how much it reduced muscle tension and improved my sleep quality. These were accomplished because mouth tape helped me keep my jaw in a closed, neutral position all night (compared to sleeping with my mouth open). Continue reading this article to learn more reasons why I use mouth tape for sleep benefits.
Full disclosure: I pay my own money for my Hostage Tape. But I do make a very small commission if you purchase directly from them via this link. I only write honest reviews about products that’ve helped improve my quality of life. In my case, mouth tape for sleep benefits has also led to broader health benefits like good posture at a computer.
Hostage Tape is comfortable to wear, while still maintaining a good grip. At the same time, the adhesive they use is very minimal. It’s not painful to remove. It also doesn’t leave any residue on my skin.
Click here to visit HostageTape.com.
THANKS FOR YOUR INTEREST IN COMPUTER POSTURE.
If you’ve read this far, congratulations! You’re taking valuable steps to reduce computer-related injuries by improving your posture. That’s something to be very proud of!
If you liked this article on sleep habits for better posture, check out my free ebook titled 3 Ways to Improve Computer Posture Immediately!
>>> Click here to download your free copy
This ebook is a great supplement to the article you just read. In this ebook, you’ll learn 3 of the most painful, poor computer posture mistakes. Then, you’ll learn how to fix those mistakes immediately with 3 simple changes to your ergonomic computer desk setup.
Go to SittingPosture.com/ebook to learn more.
Take care,
Todd Bowen