Do you know anyone who seems to be extraordinarily efficient with their time? Like they seem to get so many things done in the same timeframe it took you to scramble the eggs for your kiddo’s breakfast (a massive win in and of itself). Believe it or not, we all have the same 24 hours in a day. Now let’s assume you’ve made it your New Year's Intent to improve your sleep, and you’d like to reach that magical 8-hour number that all your friends and coworkers without kids say they get every night. If there’s one thing 4 years of wearing an Oura Ring has taught me, it’s that if I want to get 8 hours of sleep, I need to be in bed for about 9 hours. That’s a long time to lie horizontally!

So let’s assume you’re only in bed for 8 hours, and there are 24 hours in a day, how many hours do you spend not sleeping? 16! Bravo! I still broke out my phone just to ensure I did the calculation correctly… force of habit. You spend 16 hours awake. Now onto the second part of this elaborate math problem: What’s greater, 8 or 16? By that logic, you spend more of your day (and therefore total life) in postures while you’re awake. So then, which postures do you think matter more: the ones while you’re asleep, or the ones while you're awake? Hopefully, you see my point. Rule 1: Pay more attention to your posture while you’re awake.

“But why do I wake up with so much neck pain? It must have to do with my sleeping postures or the type of pillow I’m using.” Phenomenal thought. First off, I commend you for taking ownership of your health and looking for habits to help ease the aches and pains you’re experiencing. You shouldn’t have to wake up feeling so stiff and achy that you need to stand in the hot shower for 15 minutes just to loosen up. Secondly, I don’t believe sleep is causing your aches and pains. Rather, it’s amplifying ones that are already there in the first place. What leads me to think that? Let’s return to our math problem: Did you spend more time the previous day in a sleeping posture or an awakened posture? More importantly, what postures did you find yourself in more throughout your waking hours? At a desk? A car? Or lying down in your home office (bedroom)?

Maybe you’re the parent who’s at home all day with the kiddos, and you're constantly shifting postures throughout the day. You go from changing diapers, cleaning up the kitchen, to pushing a swing all within a matter of 20 minutes (and that’s just for your toddler). That’s great. I love that you get the opportunity to change your posture so frequently, but you’re likely still repeating many movements, such as bending over, hunching over at the kitchen sink, or holding your kids on the same hip. Again, ask yourself: which postures/movements am I performing most often in the day?

Now let’s address the pillow situation. I used to think that if I found the best pillow or the best sleeping posture, all my morning aches and pains would go away. I wish it were that easy. I went through a phase where I was so hyperfixated on my posture that I would sleep on a hardwood floor, flat on my back, with a rolled-up towel under my neck to “maintain alignment.” After 3 nights of becoming incredibly familiar with the design imperfections in my ceiling, I decided this was not the best posture for me. Whatever health gains I was getting from the posture were likely far outweighed by the detriments to my recovery from not being able to sleep more than 4 hours. Rule 2: Find a sleeping posture that helps you sleep.

Am I saying your sleeping posture has zero impact on your health? Not in the slightest. If you’re horizontal for 8 hours a day – which is a high bar already – that’s still ⅓ of your life. That’s a substantial amount of time as well! However, I don’t want what happened to me to happen to you: become so obsessed with your sleeping posture and trying to “optimize it” at the expense of your overall health. Start by taking an inventory of what postures you find yourself in most throughout the day, and then ask, “How might these postures be impacting how my body feels?”