Seaford Emergency Survival Website in Seaford Delaware - We must learn to take care of ourselves

Sleeping in the woods at night

By Kristopher B. Parish

As a child you may be wondering what you should do when you sleep in the woods at night. The first thing you would need to do is make sure you have bug spray on you so that you do not get eaten up by the mosquitoes. You should always make sure that you have a few extra layers of clothing on. The nights in the woods can get very cold.

You should make sure that you have some very comfortable clothing on as well as a sleeping bag with you so that you can get a good nights sleep. I recommend having some caned foods available if you plan to be there for more than one night. This way you have food to eat. When you are in the woods if you feel like you do not know what to do next you should first stop and think of a plan and then observe the plane carefully.

The next question you may ask is what you should do if you don't feel safe being in the woods overnight. First you should stay calm and have some type of light on so you can easily see around you. I believe the one thing that you don't want to do is to have a snack if you feel scared because that will become a habit.

The next thing to do if you can is to have a person next to you who is awake so that you will feel protected. I find that as a kid if I am scared I feel scared I can get under a blanket and keep very silent. I don’t talk but just think happy thoughts and then I fall back asleep.

You might be wondering what to do if you were to wake up in the middle of the night while you are camping. First before we get to that subject you should always have some activates that you can do at any point of the trip.

You should turn a light on if you can and color in a coloring book so that it can help you to get back to sleep. You can also try to close your eyes so that you will go back to sleep. I know you can’t go outside because you don't know what's out there so you should just sit in the tent and listen to the animal sounds like the owls, squirrels or birds. The sounds of nature can calm you down and make you fall asleep.