To sleep or to rave: must we choose?

Originally published by MattressNextDay – Written by Barry, Entertainment Guru, with insights from sleep expert Martin Seeley.

You know the feeling. It’s 10am, the bass is still hammering, you haven’t slept in 28 hours, you’re nibbling soggy bread next to your half-collapsed tent, and your only plan is… not to sleep, because your favourite DJ plays in two hours.

Welcome to festival life – a parallel universe where sleep becomes a luxury, often ignored, sometimes feared.

And now, a study by MattressNextDay has dug into the chaos: which festivals are the worst for sleep?

UK: Green Man wins the no-sleep crown

Surprisingly, the top spot goes to Green Man, the nature-loving, eco-conscious festival nestled in rural Wales. Turns out, those good vibes aren’t very nap-friendly: attendees only average 4.07 hours of sleep per night.

It gets weirder. At Lost Village, 23% of festivalgoers admit to napping inside portaloos. At Boomtown, they fall asleep standing up in crowds. No joke.

Download, the UK’s metal mecca, is the noisiest overall. 65% are kept awake by others, and 21% report being disturbed by very vocal… tent-mates.

Europe: clubbing through the fatigue

On the mainland, rest is no easier to come by. At Hellfest and Primavera Sound, people stay awake for over 20 hours a day.

At Dekmantel in Amsterdam, a jaw-dropping 90% say they’ve accidentally fallen asleep mid-rave. And at Open’er in Poland, 1 in 4 are kept awake by romantic neighbours.

US: less sleep, more folk

Across the Atlantic, Stagecoach (country fest) is the roughest on the body, with only 4.58 hours of sleep per night. At Camp Bisco, 78% sleep outside their tent. And shockingly, 35% of Newport Folk Festival goers doze off right by the speakers.

But some try to fight back. At Snowglobe (EDM), 70% bring earplugs – a small but hopeful act of resistance.

Sleep at festivals: mission impossible?

Not entirely. Sleep expert Martin Seeley recommends:
Earplugs + eye mask
Quiet camping areas
Herbal tea, comfy mattress, a bit of routine even in chaos

But let’s be real. Many of us go to festivals to not sleep. To enter that hazy zone where exhaustion becomes euphoric and time disappears.

And honestly? We’ll sleep when it’s over.