It’s a vicious cycle. We work so we can rave. We rave so we can make it through the work week.
“All the kids they dance, all the kids all night until Monday morning fuels another life,”
Swedish House Mafia DOES NOT LIE. We’re all adults here (who just happen to enjoy bathing in glitter, hula hooping, and trading plastic beaded bracelets), and we all have responsibilities to attend to during the week. So after enough of our own experiences dealing with the post-festival struggle of will I/won’t I go in to work tomorrow, WRR has compiled our most sound advice for the working raver on how to enjoy the festival/event life on the weekends, but return to the workplace ready to go on Monday.
Take Your Vitamins
We’re not talking Flintstones chewables. In order to feel like a real person come 2:30 Monday afternoon, you have to seriously commit to a daily vitamin regime. It’s not going to be easy to drag your granny bag of vitamins around, but it will be so worth it in the end.
Vitamin C is going to ease the stress a festival puts on your body by minimizing tissue damage. It will also help ward off any cold you might catch from being in close quarters with strangers or sleeping outside. I recommend Emergen-C They will even send you free samples!
B Vitamin complexes are super important in order to keep your energy levels up! B-1 (Thiamine) will prevent the build up of glutarate in the brain, which is just a fancy way to say it’ll keep you headache free. Personally I’m a B-12 fan. It gives you a steady boost of energy without the excess sugar and nasty crashing feeling from an energy drink.
Magnesium is going to help detoxify your body, regulate your body temperature, produce energy, help with transmitting nerve impulses, and replace the important minerals being drained from your body during a fun festival weekend. Cough…hangover cure… cough.
Supplement with Alpha-Lipoic Acid (ALA) as well to speed up the process of flushing toxins out of your system. ALA is especially important because it will replace the glutathione you need in your body to feel refreshed the next morning.
5-HTP, a neurotransmitter more commonly known as serotonin is going to keep you from wanting to punch everyone at work the next day square in the face. Post-festival depression is a real thing. Transitioning from our version of paradise back into regular everyday life freaking sucks. I’m getting upset just thinking about it now. A serotonin supplement is going to restore the feeling of contentment and happiness that left your body simultaneously as you left the festival gates.
Get in Shape Before the Event
No, it’s not just to tighten your rave booty. Going to a multi-day festival (if you’re doing it right) takes the same toll on your body as it does to run a marathon. You wouldn’t just wander into a marathon and be like, “Hmm I guess I’ll go run a quick 26 miles here.” Getting in shape will help your stamina, and keep you from struggling with being crazy sore and fatigued for the week to follow.
You Have to Sleep
The kids holed up in the cuddle puddle next to the Spicy Pie tent all night don’t have to work the next day. They’re going to spend the following week hibernating in their parent’s basement, while you have rent money to earn. Wax Motif and Neoteric lied to you. You do need sleep. I always bring a melatonin supplement, the hormone in our bodies that helps regulate sleep, for a natural way to help my confused sleep cycle and drown out my fellow campers belting, “CARLLLL,” until the wee hours of the morning. (If that was you at Electric Forest 2013, and you’re reading this now – that was just excessive.)
Eat Balanced Meals
It’s so easy to get caught up in the moment and completely forget to refuel yourself. Even if you’re not hungry, you have to eat! Bring foods you would normally eat with you, especially fruits and vegetables. Not only will it save you a ton of money, it will be less of a shock to your body than when you get back home and realized, “Oh wait I haven’t eaten in 4 days. I hate everyone. Me want food.”
Power Nap
There is a reason that kindergartener’s have so much energy. They nap! Bring a hammock or blanket, find some shade, and doze off for 20 minutes between sets. It’s going to increase your stamina and leave you feeling refreshed and ready the conquer the rest of the festival. The power nap has actually been proven to improve muscle memory and clear the brain of useless information. This break from the chaos of the day is so amazing for your body that really they should start being mandated at festivals. You hear that @EDMsnob? Next Ultra… mandated power naps… make it happen.
Eat Antioxidant Rich Foods
Raver meet antioxidants; antioxidants… raver. Get acquainted because you two are going to have to be best friends if you wants to get to work in tact and on time Monday! These nutrients are another surefire way to help with recovery and fatigue prevention, and the best part is they’re found in foods you can bring along with you to the campgrounds! Fill your cooler with blueberries, cranberries, raspberry, and blackberries.
Oh and small, dried red beans. They can’t all be delicious. Prunes are also a good source of antioxidants, but just in case I somehow end up in line at the porta potties behind you at a show, I’m going to request that you save the prunes for home.
Hydrate With Electrolytes
You know the drill. Stay hydrated. Drink lots of water. We all know that dehydration will leave you feeling like shit, but we don’t want to guzzle water day and night because lets face it, no one likes a long, solo walk to bathrooms at 5 a.m. The most effective way to hydrate yourself is through electrolytes. There’s the usual suspects-Gatorade, PowerAde, etc., but Emergen-C actually makes a Electro-Mix that comes in powdered packets that you can add to your refills at the water station! (I promise I don’t work for Emergen-C.)
Try Not To Head Bang
I’m serious. A night of basshead banging at day one of Basslights last year gave me legitimate whiplash that just about ruined not only the rest of the event, but my attempt to rejoin society the following Monday. A few hair whips won’t kill you, but do be conscious and kind to your neck and upper back!
Take It Easy The Last Night
You’ve been raging hard for two maybe even three days by now, and lying to yourself that your body is getting fatigued is going to make that impending doom of a work day all the more unbearable. Have yourself a nice mimosa darty (day-party), then plan on unwinding towards the evening, and beginning the transition process back into your mundane work routine. Mentally and physically preparing yourself to head back home ahead of time will do wonders for your Monday morning attitude. Truthfully I’ve stayed up all night, maybe slept an hour, gotten up, gone to work, and thought that my adrenaline from the show was going push me through the day. It doesn’t. The adrenaline wears off leaving just a cranky, complaining co-worker that is seriously going to piss off the boss. Be considerate to your health and your friends and get in the right mind to pack up and leave a good six hours before the rest of the crowd.
Split Up The Driving
Taking shifts for traveling to and from the festival is not only safer in general, but is a great opportunity to squeeze in some extra, much-needed, shut-eye. Getting five hours or less of sleep in a night (very common at a festival) actually increases your risk of getting in a crash up to four or five times. So carpool with buddies. It won’t only save on gas, but also physical strain on your body.
Listen To Your Body
This is the key to not overdoing it on such a short festival turnaround. It takes a lot of self-control and awareness in order to stay on point immediately following a few days of raging. Everyone has different breaking points, and it’s up to you to stay true to yours. If you have to head back to the tent an hour early, then who cares? You’re not going to have fun barely able to keep your eyes open at 4 a.m. set anyways. Focus on what your body is craving, and less on keeping up with your friends trying to stay at the Silent Disco until 8 a.m.
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