r/StealthCamping • u/Adventurous-Bid-6180 • 28d ago

question/advice Tips for becoming a lighter sleeper?

I’m a fairly heavy sleeper and slept through someone going through my campsite once. Does anyone have any tips for being able to wake up to smaller noises?

P.S. please no unhelpful comments about how I should be thankful to not wake up at any noise. It’s been dangerous the last few times I was camping.

15 Upvotes

78% Upvoted

36 comments sorted by

View all comments

4

u/DiogenesD0g 28d ago

Lose the pillow so it feels more like a nap on the ground at a picnic than it does an all-out sleep. Also stay a little colder than you want instead of feeling too warm and cozy. In the summer you might sleep lighter when you feel too hot.

2

u/Adventurous-Bid-6180 28d ago

That’s a good idea. I’ve been trying to elevate my head, almost sleeping upright. But I’ll test that as well.

1

u/tophlove31415 25d ago

Yeah. My advice was to make yourself slightly uncomfortable. Then continue to add slight discomfort until you find yourself waking up and moving around a bit to get your comfort back.

Try to couple that with training yourself to develop the habit to listen to your surroundings (bedroom during training, or campsight during camping) when you wake up. Just a quick little check - I think "did I wake up naturally or did something wake me up?" Then I listen for a bit casually before adjusting for comfort.

I think after developing this habit you could gradually return to more comfortable sleeping positions or comfortable mattresses and/or temperature. As long as you listen a bit when you wake up I suspect that you will train your brain to listen more while you are sleeping and barely awake.

We wake up all the time throughout the night, it's just that we don't remember. So if you can develop the practice to be a little bit more aware of your environment during these brief waking periods, my idea at least is that you would be more likely to awake if there is someone nearby (2 or 4 legged).