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Sleep Struggles Defeated!
I have not slept well on the trail. Not camping. Not in a shelter. Not in a hostel. Not EVEN in a hotel.
I have tried all the tricks. No cell phone for an hour before sleep. No caffeine after 4pm. Sleepytime tea before bed (that actually made it worse because I had to pee in the middle of the night more frequently!). Yoga. Meditation. Prayer. Nothing worked.
Hiking after a poor night’s sleep is challenging. My struggles ranged from being sluggish in the morning to running out of energy before lunch. It’s difficult to hike AFTER lunch anyway but when you haven’t slept well in a week, it is just plain exhausting.
I use a Coros Apex Watch to track my progress. Day after day it was listing my recovery progress as exhausted. I knew that couldn’t be healthy. So I had to figure out how to get a better night’s sleep.
I went back in my mind to my pre-thru-hike life. Thinking through my past, I remembered what helped me sleep well on bad nights. Reading a book.
I am an avid reader. At home, I have a stack of five or six books I read at once. One chapter a day. If I’m not falling asleep easily, then I read until my eyes get heavy. It works every time.
My vision isn’t that great and reading on my phone isn’t my favorite. But before we left for the trail, I downloaded my current read (David Copperfield) to my Kindle app. So I started reading every night until I got tired a few weeks ago.
It worked! I am sleeping better, and as a result feeling better all day. I am overjoyed at what a difference a simple change can make. Good sleep improved my last hundred miles’ hike. And I’ve made it to 700 miles now!
So if you are having sleep problems on trail, then trying reading a book. Maybe it will help you too!
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Comments 3
Having a sleep deficit even as your body is worn out is another level of exhaustion. I cannot imagine adding hiking to that. Woah. I am so glad you rediscovered what works to help you get back to your homeostasis. A stack of five or six books of different flavors is such a pleasure, and I’m going to use that advice to deal with my sleep deficit. I think it’s a tell of what we want in life that we’ll give up those pleasures we enjoy for other goals, like what you’re out there doing right now. It’s too easy to get caught up in the grind of more, either because other people around us think they want it and/or because we just can’t see it ourselves. Thank you for continuing to post and share valuable insights.
Thank you, Emily! So glad my experience sparked a sleep solution idea for you! Enjoying a good book can be part of my hike, I just had to be flexible!
Benadryl is your friend! Also known as Dipenhydramine. You can get it at just about any big brand store. It’s cheap, lightweight and I’ve experienced no side effects. If I can’t get to sleep, I take one… and 30 minutes later I’m in dreamland. I typically anti-drug, but I wake up refreshed.