On the ground, zero gravity mode isn’t about feeling weightless as much as feeling supported using gentle elevation to bend your body and legs into a more relaxed alignment. This distinction is important. “Most of the claims about the benefits of sleep tend to be exaggerated in the marketing world,” said Erin Flynn-Evans, director of the Fatigue Countermeasures Laboratory at NASA Ames Research Center. “What matters is whether such claims can stand up to scientific scrutiny.” NASA research simply documents posture in space — not how people sleep on Earth.

Benefits of Zero-Gravity Sleeping

Semantics aside, the claims around zero-gravity sleep are compelling. “Short-term, people notice less tossing and turning and deeper relief. Long-term, it supports spinal alignment, reduces inflammation, and helps the nervous system transition to true rest and healing,” said Annie Badis a sleep consultant and occupational therapist who also practices craniosacral therapy.

According to Schlecht, gentle elevation can relieve specific issues such as lower back pain, sciatica, waist and joint discomfort, arthritis, and leg swelling. Keeping the upper body slightly elevated can also benefit people with reflux, snoring, or mild breathing issues by keeping the airway open.

How to Sleep in Zero Gravity

If you want to try zero-gravity sleep, the most straightforward way is an adjustable bed frame that can raise the head and legs. Press a button, and make the bed. Of course, adjustable frames are not cheap or even standard. You can get closer by using pillows: Use a wedge pillow or stacked pillows to prop up your upper body and place another pillow under your knees to prop up your legs.

Photo: Julia Forbes

“The biggest mistake is overdoing it,” says Schlecht. “Excessive elevation, especially of the head, can strain the neck and interfere with breathing.” He also cautions that changing your sleeping position won’t make up for a bad sleeping position. “Alignment helps, but it doesn’t beat overexposure to light, heat, or noise pollution.”

He recommends starting with small changes. Give yourself enough knee lift to relieve your lower back, then slowly raise your head while opening your airway. And make sure your neck is supported: “Your spine should feel long and neutral,” he says. “And give your body a few nights to adjust.”

How I Measure Up

Almost every night, I wear and Garmin Lily 2 smartwatch in bed. It creates a nightly sleep score, which I don’t always think about. I often adjust my sleep habits based on how I feel, but for this experiment, I wanted some data to back up my findings.

Photo: Adrienne So

Garmin Lily 2 automatically tracks sleep while you wear it, calculate the sleep score using data from your heart rate, heart rate variability, respiration rate, and body movements throughout the night. It estimates the time spent in each stage of sleep, how often I wake up, and how restless I am. All this information is captured in the sleep score, a number from 0 to 100 that appears in the Garmin Connect app every morning.

For seven consecutive nights, I slept in the zero-gravity position and recorded my sleep score. I haven’t changed anything about my routine: same bedtime, same waking time, same bedtime routine. The only change was the position of my bed, which I adjusted when I was ready to sleep.