Music Festival Sleep Tips: How to Actually Rest in a Hot, Noisy Tent

Music festival sleep is usually the first thing to go: late sets, a hot tent, a campsite that never quite goes quiet and a sun that hits the canvas at 6am. You won't sleep like you do at home, but you can sleep a lot better than most people around you. This guide covers how to set up your tent for sleep, handling heat and noise, alcohol and caffeine, protecting your ears, and getting up for the set you actually came to see.

The short answer: pick a shaded, quieter spot away from the main paths, and bring earplugs, an eye mask and something to lie on that isn't the ground. Keep cool with airflow and cotton, drink water through the day, and expect alcohol to make the second half of your night worse. Protect your hearing at the stages so your ears aren't ringing when you try to sleep. Plan one or two decent sleeps across the weekend rather than hoping for all of them.

Set up your tent for sleep

Where and how you pitch matters more than anything you pack later.

• Look for afternoon and morning shade. A tent in full sun becomes an oven by mid-morning, and that is usually what ends the night.
• Stay away from paths, toilets and generators. Foot traffic and doors banging at 3am are the most common wake-ups.
• Get off the ground. A self-inflating mat or air mattress makes a bigger difference than a better sleeping bag.
• Pack a small sleep kit: earplugs, an eye mask, a light sheet, a pillow and a head torch with a red setting.

Our silent alarm for camping guide covers campsite sleep in more detail.

Heat: the real festival sleep killer

Most Australian festivals run in late spring and summer, so the tent is often warm when you get in and hot by sunrise. The Sleep Health Foundation's advice for hot nights translates well to a campsite (source):

1. Get air moving over your skin. Open both vents and the door mesh. A small battery fan helps.
2. Wear less, and wear cotton. Loose shorts and a cotton top beat synthetic fabrics.
3. Cool your hands and feet with a damp cloth before you lie down.
4. Drink water across the day, not just a litre at midnight.
5. Have a light sheet ready. Desert and inland festivals can get cold before dawn.

For more on handling summer nights at home, see hot weather sleep tips.

Noise and light

A festival campsite is never going to be quiet. The World Health Organization recommends less than 30 decibels in a bedroom at night for good quality sleep (source). You will be well above that, so you're aiming to reduce noise, not remove it.

Problem	What helps
Bass from the late stages	Foam earplugs pushed in properly, plus a hood or beanie over your ears
Neighbours talking at 4am	Earplugs, and pitching further from group camps
Sunrise on the tent	An eye mask, and a dark-coloured tent or shade over the top
Head torches and phone screens	Face your door away from the paths
Generators	Pitch upwind and well away from them

Earplugs bring their own problem: you may not hear your alarm. More on that below.

Alcohol, caffeine and sleep

Alcohol helps you drop off, but it costs you later in the night. The Sleep Health Foundation notes that in the second half of the night, sleep after drinking brings more frequent awakenings, night sweats, nightmares and more trips to the toilet (source). In a hot tent, the sweats and dehydration add up fast.

• Alternate with water through the evening.
• Stop a couple of hours before you plan to sleep if you want the night to count.
• Watch the afternoon energy drinks. Caffeine can still affect sleep many hours later, so a 6pm can may still be working at 1am.

See does alcohol help you sleep for more detail on what drinking does to your sleep cycles.

Look after your ears

Ringing ears make it harder to settle, and loud music is one of the avoidable causes of hearing damage. Healthdirect lists loud noise as a cause of sensorineural hearing loss and recommends earplugs or earmuffs at concerts, and limiting time in loud environments (source).

• Wear musician-style earplugs at the stages. They take the volume down without making the music sound muffled.
• Don't stand next to the speaker stacks.
• Take breaks away from the main stage every hour or two.
• If ringing lasts more than a day or two after the festival, see your GP.

If you already live with ringing ears, our guide to alarms for tinnitus has more on sleeping with it.

Getting up for the set you came for

Sometimes there's an early set, a shuttle, a volunteer shift or a long drive home. A phone alarm is a weak tool here: earplugs block it, a flat battery kills it, and a loud one wakes the tent.

• Charge your phone and power bank every chance you get.
• Set your alarm on something you'll feel, not just hear, if you're sleeping with earplugs in.
• Tell your tent mates the plan so nobody is surprised.
• Don't drive home tired. If you've had little sleep, a 15 to 20 minute nap before you set off is safer than pushing through.

For more on this exact problem, see how to wake up with earplugs in.

Recovering after the festival

You'll likely get home short on sleep. Don't try to sleep the whole next day away. Get up within an hour or two of your usual time, get outside in daylight, and go to bed a little early for a few nights. Our guide on whether you can catch up on sleep explains what recovery sleep can and can't do.

This guide is general information, not medical advice.

Where the Sovune Nudge fits

We make the Sovune Nudge, a vibrating alarm wristband, so we're not neutral. At a festival the point is an alarm you feel, even with earplugs in, that doesn't wake the tent.

• Silent. No speaker, no sound, so tent mates sleep on.
• Wakes you with vibration on your wrist, starting as a gentle tap and building through three intensity levels over a full minute, and you can switch it off sooner.
• No phone needed. Set on the band itself, so a flat phone doesn't cost you your alarm.
• Up to 14 days of nightly use per charge, comfortably longer than any festival.
• Water-resistant for everyday use, so rain and showers are fine. Not for swimming.

It comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Quick answers

How do you sleep in a tent at a music festival? Pitch in shade away from paths, sleep on a mat, and use earplugs and an eye mask. Keep cool with airflow and cotton.

Do earplugs work at festival campsites? They cut a lot of the noise, though not all of the bass. Push foam plugs in properly and add a beanie or hood.

Will alcohol help me sleep at a festival? It may help you nod off, but it tends to break up the second half of the night with wakings, sweats and toilet trips.

How do I wake up for an early set with earplugs in? Use an alarm you can feel rather than hear, such as a vibrating wristband, and keep your phone charged as a backup.

For every type of silent alarm compared, see our complete guide to vibrating alarms in Australia.

See the Sovune Nudge →