Why a hammock feels so good.
On swaying a little, slowing down and spending more time outside.
There's a moment, a few seconds after you lie back in a hammock, when everything goes a little quieter. Your shoulders drop. The leaves move overhead. Whatever you were thinking about can wait.
Settling into a hammock just seems to slow everything down a little. So we got curious about why.
The gentle sway
Think about how we settle a baby. We rock them. Slow, rhythmic movement tells us it's time to relax, and it turns out that doesn't stop when we grow up.
Sleep researchers at the University of Geneva have put this to the test. In a 2011 study, 12 men took afternoon naps on a bed that gently rocked from side to side. They fell asleep faster than when the same bed stayed still. In a 2019 follow-up, 18 people spent a whole night on a rocking bed. They fell asleep sooner, spent longer in deep sleep, woke less often, and remembered more of what they'd learned the evening before.
Those were rocking beds in a sleep lab, not hammocks, and the groups were small. Still, they go some way to explaining why a gentle sway feels so nice.
Weightless and supported
A hammock takes your whole weight and wraps around you. There's no hard edge to lean on and nothing to sit up straight for. You just lie back.
Here's the trick most people miss: lie diagonally. Put your head a little to one side of the middle and your feet a little to the other. The fabric flattens out, so you lie flatter and comfier instead of curling up like a banana.
A reason to get outside
This is the part we care about most.
In 2019, researchers at the University of Exeter looked at nearly 20,000 people in England. Those who'd spent at least two hours in nature over the past week were more likely to say they were in good health and felt good about life. It didn't seem to matter whether that time came in one long visit or a few shorter ones.
Two hours a week.
The study found a link, not proof that time in nature was the cause. But it's a good nudge, and a hammock makes those two hours easy to find. Hang it in the backyard, take it to the park or pack it for the beach, and you've got a reason to stay a little longer.
A break from everything else
Part of the magic is what a hammock leaves out. No screen, no to-do list, no desk chair telling you it's time to work. Just the sky, the trees and whatever book you brought along (or didn't).
You don't have to do anything in a hammock. That's rather the point.
Make the most of it
- Lie diagonally. It's flatter, comfier and much easier to doze off.
- Leave it up. A hammock in the backyard gets used far more than one in the cupboard.
- Take 20 minutes. After work, before dinner or on a Sunday afternoon. Little breaks add up.
- Check before every hang. Look over the straps, carabiners and fabric, and hang from live, healthy trees or solid posts about 15 cm across or more.
- Keep it low. Once you're in, it should sit around chair height, over clear, soft ground.
New to it? How it works walks you through setup and safety, step by step.
Sources
Bayer L. et al. (2011). Rocking synchronizes brain waves during a short nap. Current Biology.
Perrault A. A. et al. (2019). Whole-night continuous rocking entrains spontaneous neural oscillations with benefits for sleep and memory. Current Biology.
White M. P. et al. (2019). Spending at least 120 minutes a week in nature is associated with good health and wellbeing. Scientific Reports.
