14 Handy Tricks To Get Better Sleep While Backpacking – The Trek

Backpacking is hard work, but its also supposed to be fun (even if its of the Type II variety). When youre deep in the mountains with dozens of miles between you and the nearest town, the last thing you need is a bad nights sleep. Proper rest is crucial to your strength and spirit.

It took me forever to get comfortable sleeping outside. Partly it was the rocks and roots under my back, and partly it was the sheer weirdness of sleeping outside the protective embrace of walls and roof for the first time. But I got over it in the end, and now I can rest as easily on the trail as I would in my own bed. In fact, since getting into backpacking and thru-hiking, I now sleep better on and off the trail than I ever have in my life.

In this article, Ill outline the habits and tricks I use to overcome anxiety, aches, and adverse conditions for a peaceful night of sleep. This advice is backcountry-specific, but many of these suggestions are transferable to off-trail life as well.

First of all, feeling out of sorts the first few times you sleep outside is completely normal. If youve never done it before, it will take time to adjust. And even seasoned hikers get into a funk every now and then.

On trail, as in regular life, insomnia is often largely a mental game. Self-reproach isnt a very restful emotion, so rather than beating yourself up about not sleeping enough, accept that the occasional rough night is an inevitable feature of trail life. By anticipating the likelihood of difficult sleep, you can plan ahead and take steps to mitigate it.

Sleeping outside can be unnerving. Most of us were fortunate enough to grow up with a roof over our heads at night and a locked door between us and the world. When you swap those sheltering walls for the dubious protection of a flimsy silnylon tent, you might suddenly become aware of how puny and vulnerable you really are.

Take some time to unpack the anxieties that keep you up at nightby understanding them, you can start to dispel them.

Are you afraid of bears? Remind yourself that black bears generally arent aggressive and would much rather pilfer your snacks than harm you. Is it the threat posed by other humans that keeps you up at night? People can be dangerous, true, but crime rates are statistically much lower on trails than in cities.

Another common backcountry fear is simply of the wild itselfof getting lost or hurt or generally just not being prepared for everything nature can throw at you. This is one of those trepidations that gets better with time and familiarity with the outdoors. So again, go back to square one: give yourself time.

A little preparedness goes a long way.

The chances of you running afoul of a two- or four-legged creature while in your tent are slim, but its still a legit fear. Arm yourself with your long poky sticks for whatever theyre worth, and keep your GPS device (inReach, Spot, etc.) handy in case you need to call for help. Feeling like youre prepared to deal with hairy situations can go a long way toward easing your anxiety.

And make sure you have spare batteries for your headlamp. A little light is very reassuring on a dark night, and youll feel even better knowing you dont have to worry about your battery running out and plunging you into literal and, potentially, metaphorical darkness.

Getting out of bed to pee is fairly uncomfortable on a backpacking trip, especially if its cold or rainy. The struggle of extracting yourself from your cozy bag and going out into the elements is enough to wake anyone up, and if youre already worried about what might be lying in wait out there for you, its even worse.

Save yourself the struggle and get a pee bottle so you dont have to leave the comfort of your tent. It might sound gross now, but everyone does it. And once youve experienced the magic for yourself, youll never look back. Pro-tip: a splash of strong peppermint soap will keep the bottle smelling fresh day after day.

If anxiety is keeping you awake, dont just lay there listening to ominous rustling sounds outside your tent and picturing your impending doom. A good book or enthralling podcast is a great way to take your mind off things. Even if distracting yourself with media keeps you awake for the immediate future, it will help you get over your nerves for better sleep in the long run.

Even in the civilized world, the conventional wisdom for insomniacs is to get up and do something rather than remain in bed stewing over your sleeplessness. If books and music dont do it for you, do a little stretching or spend some time patching that snag in your base layer that youve been putting off fixing. When you start to feel drowsy, put your project aside and try again to sleep.

What does the fox say? From my tent, its peculiar cry sounds a lot like, Im a psycho sneeze monster, and Im coming to dismember you in your tent while giggling insanely. HEE! HEE!

In the dark forest, an adorable chipmunk scampering through the leaves sounds like a charging bear. An actual bear sounds like a truck crashing through the undergrowth. And those goddamn foxes, of course, sound like 1545 minutes of anxiety and lost sleep as I game out various Kelly-vs.-Slylock Ultimate Showdown scenarios in my minds eye. (I dont love my odds, but at least Ive got those trekking poles, eh?)

So anyway, while Im generally a big advocate for situational awareness, sometimes you just have to cut out the eerie night sounds to get your snooze on. Earplugs do the job, or you can play soft yoga music through headphones (but this uses a lot of battery).

Earplugs also come in handy for cutting out 0ther unwanted noise, like a snoring sheltermate or a chorus of spring peepers (if you know, you know). I never leave home without a pair tucked into my first aid kit.

Sometimes the zs wont come because youre too cold and drafty to get comfortable. Pay attention to your sleeping bag temperature rating in particular: many bags, especially mens and unisex bags, are rated to the temperature at which an average warm sleeper can maintain thermal equilibrium while curled up to conserve warmthwhich isnt the same thing as sleeping comfy and cozy.

Try investing in a bag with a more conservative temperature rating and/or a sleeping pad with a higher R-value. Closed-cell foam pads typically only have an R-value of 2, while inflatable pads can have R-values as high as 7. The Therm-a-Rest NeoAir XTherm NXT is the warmest pad on the market with an R-value of 7.3.

If you dont want to shell out for a complete sleep system overhaul, you can modify your existing setup by adding a sleeping bag liner and/or a 1/8-inch supplemental foam pad.

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Beyond just upgrading your gear, you can employ the following tricks to boost your warmth overnight:

On the opposite end of the spectrum, many people get poor sleep because they overheat at night. This can be tricky to deal with, especially if you suffer from hot flashes or full-on night sweats, to which theres no easy or perfect solution. But the following tricks can help you to mitigate the Im-too-hot issue.

Some hikers carry sleep supplements like melatonin or valerian root to help conk them outjust make sure to repackage them into a ziplock bag to save pack space. Also, our intrepid leader, Zach, says hes had good results with magnesium l-threonate supplements.

Meanwhile, if aches and pains are keeping you up at night, dont underestimate the power of good old Tylenol PM to knock you out. This obviously isnt a long-term sleep solution, but when your body is killing you and you really need a full complement of zs, its good to have a few Tylenol PMs on hand.

Photo: Madison Dragna

Stretching before bedtime is a useful nightly routine for footsore long-distance hikers. Besides keeping your muscles happy so you can avoid injury, stretching is a great way to improve your nights sleep.

You can ease your discomfort by stretching out tense muscles and doing a little self-massage before hitting the sack. The physical tension release is invaluable. Its also sort of meditative, a gentle transition phase during which you can downshift into snooze mode.

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If youre using a foam sleeping pad and struggling to get good sleep on trail, table every other piece of advice on this list and go try an inflatable sleeping pad first. Closed-cell foam pads have many virtues, but comfort isnt one of them. Some hikers can make it work; others cant. Inflatable pads offer more cushioning and keep you from feeling every rock and root under your tent.

One of the greatest things about inflatable sleeping pads is that you can control the level of firmness. I struggled for months with a sore lower back in my tent before I realized I was overinflating my sleeping pad. Try adjusting the inflation level to see if a firmer or softer mattress works better for you.

Im a fan of the good old clothes-in-stuff-sack technique myself, but many thru-hikers swear by a proper pillow in the backcountry. The Sea to Summit Aeros inflatable pillow and its ilk are among the most popular luxury items in thru-hikers backpacks. Its a small investment of money and weight that can pay huge dividends in terms of your nightly comfortso why not?

On that note, dont be afraid to experiment with your pillow configuration. I actually find my improvised stuff-sack pillow more comfortable than the inflatable type because I can control the size and shape. Get creative and consider all of your vaguely soft gear as a possible pillow candidate: when not in use, my rain fly in its little stuff sack is also a killer pillow, as is the removable brain on one of my larger packs with my puffy stuffed inside it.

Some hikers find hammocks easier on their backs: suspended above the ground, hard earth and rocks and roots are a non-issue. Youll have to work a bit harder to stay warm and find a viable sleeping position, but theres a reason the hammock lifestyle has such a passionate following.

One caveat: hammocks really are not the best choice if youre a side sleeper, and theyre a hard pass if you like to sleep on your stomach.

READ NEXT Hammock vs. Tent for an Appalachian Trail Thru-Hike

Hiking takes a lot of energy! I think the biggest reason I now sleep so soundly in my tent is that Im so dadburn tired by the end of each day. Many thru-hikers find that sheer physical exhaustion is the best treatment for backcountry insomnia; if youre having a hard time sleeping and nothing else is working, maybe you need to push a little harder each day to ensure youre primed for sleep.

Common sense and body awareness are obviously key to this strategy. You want to strike a balance between wearing yourself out and not injuring/emaciating yourself (and hiking the hike that YOU want, which might include shorter days). So yeah, make your own call here, but just know that the physical demands of a 20-plus-mile day often trump sore muscles and anxious thoughts on a thru-hike.

Long-distance hiking is exhausting. The sheer fatigue of trekking long miles through the mountains each day is often enough to overcome your worries and physical discomforts, bringing sleep in an instant. But it doesnt always work that way. When sleep is slow to come, try these techniques to get your Circadian rhythm back on track.

But above all, be patient with yourself. Bad nights of sleep can and do happen, even on trail, and stressing about it isnt going to make it better. Get as much rest as you can overnight and follow the golden rule during daylight hours (Never Resist a Nap).

Featured image: Graphic design by Zack Goldmann.

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14 Handy Tricks To Get Better Sleep While Backpacking - The Trek