escaping
W
e spend a third of our lives asleep,
but getting a good rest can often seem
elusive. My solution is simple – try
a night in the great outdoors. Sleeping outside (be
it in a tent, hammock, bivouac, yurt – the choice is
yours) removes us from the artificial surroundings
of a house, a street, a city. It takes away solid walls,
automated central heating and bedtime Netflix
binges and strips sleeping back to a simple ritual
of curling up to recharge in the dark. Camping,
if you ask me, is the perfect tonic for bad sleep.
Getting some shuteye outdoors has been proven
to help us sleep by boosting our serotonin and
energy levels. We now know that simply being
outdoors is very good for you, and that the sounds
and sights of nature reduce our cortisol levels,
which lowers stress.
Take that connection further by spending a night
outdoors, and you’re reconnecting with your
natural sleep pattern (going to bed when it’s dark
and waking when it’s light). Our body is skewed
by working and living indoors, but natural light
and fresh air work fast to make you feel calmer
and more balanced, reconnecting with your
circadian rhythms even after just one night in
nature. I think the best part is sleeping far from the
distractions of artificial lights, laptop screens and
wifi signal – I can physically feel myself relax when
I remove myself from these stimulants before bed.
This is all a complicated way of saying that
camping out is very good for you, both mentally
and physically. But sleeping under the stars can
be intimidating if you’ve never tried it before. I often
hear from people who want to give it a go but are
worried about being cold or uncomfortable. My
advice is always the same. First, arm yourself with
good camping kit. Second, make your first trip easy
for yourself – pick a good weather window, camp
close to home and go for just one night on your first
try. Third, pitch your tent – and then just relax into
the pleasure of doing nothing for a night.
Besides being warm and comfortable enough,
there’s another common fear to address – isn’tShut-eye under the stars
Just one night spent in the great outdoors is enough to feel more
connected, more balanced and completely relaxedsleeping outside scary? We modern humans are
conditioned to fear every bump in the night, but
years of camping have taught me that the only thing
to really fear is your bloody-minded imagination.
The most worried I’ve ever been on a camping
trip was in Canada, when after being very careful
to bearproof my belongings, leaving food miles
away locked in my car, I hung my hammock up
between two pine trees. I was just dropping off to
sleep when I suddenly remembered the half-eaten
Snickers bar in my backpack. I spent the rest of the
night wide awake, flinching at every scratch in the
night, convinced I would be a bear sandwich before
dawn. I must have fallen asleep from exhaustion –
and when I realised it was daylight, I heard an
unmistakeable furry rustling right next to my face.
Finally, I couldn’t take it any longer and opened my
eyes to confront a ravenous... chipmunk. He saw
me, screeched and ran for the nearest tree trunk.
The moral the story? Your fears of sleeping in the
unknown are often the size of grizzlies in your
head, but mostly chipmunk-shaped in real life.
I always think of the bear-to-chipmunk ratio if
I’m camping alone and feel a niggle of fear, and after
many nights outside, I find that the pleasures of a
night outdoors far outweigh any worries. Camping
can be surprisingly comfortable, too – you might
even love the feeling of swinging from trees or
sleeping on the ground, far more connected to the
earth than in a stuffy bedroom.
Want to sleep like a baby? Try a night on the wild
side – I promise there’s nothing like the feeling of
waking up, unzipping your tent to a view of the
world and feeling a true connection to nature.Sian Lewis is a travel writer
and adventurer. Sian blogs at
thegirloutdoors.co.uk and her
book, The Girl Outdoors: The
Wild Girl’s Guide To Adventure,
Travel and Wellbeing (Conway,
£14.99) is out now.Words: Sian Lewis / Illustration: Vanessa Lovegrove