Health and wellness, both physical and mental, have become the forefront, especially during the pandemic. Also, with many festivals now running entire weekends (or more) with back-to-back calendars. So how do you survive from one weekend to another without getting sick while maintaining a normal lifestyle Monday through Friday?

Professional partiers have a common theme: develop a routine outside the festival bubble to promote their overall party experience. In many circumstances, we all leave a festival feeling rejoiced and vibrant. Still, fatigue and hangovers are unavoidable. Not to mention feelings of frustration, sometimes gloom, irritation, anxiety, and more.

We’ve all been there, the day after a marathon rave weekend. Snapping back from having the time of our lives, we get slapped in the face with reality. Things feel contorted both physically and emotionally, making it a challenge to manage even the most mundane tasks. 

Here are some simple tools and routines that empower the sustainability of a healthy rave life and keep you feeling energized and level-headed while dancing from one festival to another!

We call it the Rave Diet.  

Part 1: Eat

The essential component of the rave diet is eating. Diet and nutrition play a huge part in getting you back on track. A well-balanced diet is vital to maintaining that feel-good energy after a music festival. 

Dancing, drinking, and, let’s say, indulging deplete so many of our essential nutrients and minerals. It is vital to continuously refuel to get your energy and mood levels back up.

Junk food may feel satisfying when you’re eating it, but it will not help you on your road to recovery. It’ll make you feel lethargic.  

The key is to focus on foods that make your body feel amazing. Steering clear of sugar-heavy sweets, starches, heavily greasy, and other processed goodies will go a long way. Although they look yummy, that sugar crash will make the impact of your rave crash feel like you hit a brick wall.  

Try to stick with whole foods. Fruits, veggies, whole grains, nuts, and heavy proteins are packed with essential nutrients to keep your body going by balancing sugar levels and boosting overall mental cognition. The best part is they help your gut out tremendously, which leads to... 

Leading with your Gut 

The gut is one of the most remarkable bodily organs, accounting for two-thirds of our immune system and producing more than 20 unique hormones. Eating whole foods rich in fiber, lean meats, probiotics, and prebiotics will help keep your digestion system going and improve the gut-brain connection—the messages traveling between the digestive and nervous systems.

This will help your body process substances such as MDMA, ketamine, amphetamines, and alcohol faster, which is beneficial to your body as it replenishes itself at a quicker pace, effectively removing toxins.   

Drink up 

That hydro pack is your best friend, and the refill station has your back. All seasoned dancers know that properly hydrating helps keep the body from overheating (which happens double when indulging in party drugs). Believe it or not, hydration also promotes heat loss when dancing full out to the set of your dreams, improving longevity and aiding in the long-term post-rave recovery.  

So try to make sure to drink one to two glasses an hour of water or some other sodium-containing sports drink in the mix to prevent dehydration and keep your electrolytes ready to light up the dancefloor. 

Best practices to take this show on the road, young Rave Warrior.

When at festivals and missing your food. Try to go with the healthier food truck options. As much as that greasy spoon option like some loaded fries, a giant soda, or funnel cake sounds fantastic. 

Steer clear!

Instead, go vegan or vegetarian. If chewing has become a chore, grab a smoothie, which will be well-rounded and awesome as many plant-based meals include many of the magic “whole food” ingredients listed above and taste phenomenal.  

We are your friends

Here is a cheat sheet of foods and supplements that will help you rave on post-rave: 

• Mineral and Vitamin Support Supplemental Cocktail:

   Vitamin C, Magnesium, Zinc, B12, Vitamin D, Iron 

• Mood support:

   5-HTP, ALA (Alpha Lipoic Acid), which will help keep those post-festival demons at bay. 

• Gut Support:

   Prebiotic Foods such as fermented foods (kimchee, pickles, etc.), kombucha, healthy carbs, and fiber 

• Muscle Support:

   Proteins 

• Water retention:

   Ginger or other anti-inflammatory herbs 

Part 2: Sleep

Resting and a healthy sleep routine at and between raves is just as crucial as getting your body nourished. Our sleep helps our body regulate our motor complex system, house cleaning for our digestive organs. Sleep primes them for the next day. A lack of sleep stresses our bodily systems, making it harder for them to eliminate toxins and get rid of everything that is not useful to us.   

Between raves, you should get a minimum of six to eight hours of sleep every night on weekdays to compensate for the severe lack of sleep on the weekends dancing around the clock. Be sure to give your body a weekday relaxation to balance the weekend raving.  

Part 3: (the urban) Rave 

Exercise 

Exercise is essential to a healthy rave life for two reasons. First, it helps more additional toxins leave the body and helps alleviate the festival blues. It’s like hitting a reset button on your body. 

Second, having a solid workout routine boosts your fitness and stamina, giving you a more robust body that can carry you to rave warrior for more extended periods. So hauling yourself out of hibernation to exercise is a win in the long run!

Yoga, shuffle classes, cardio drumming, and meditation are fun festival-style workouts that help clear the mind and boost energy. But even if you are completely exhausted, a few walks will do the trick.  

Part 4: Repeat 

This one is easy... do it all over again!  

But note one of the best things you can do for your body and brain is to allow ample time for their recovery between extensive party favor sessions. The more extended the break, the better, as your mental and physical health will be properly restored. Raving is a marathon, not a sprint.   

For so many of us, raving can be a form of caring for ourselves and others—feeling euphoric in the company of other people and good music while physically and mentally releasing stress through dance. However, without proper care, this act can quickly become self-destructive. Without harm reduction, it leaves us feeling worse when we intend to feel better. 

In partying smarter and following the RAVE diet, we build awareness of what’s going on outside the rave—our eating, sleeping, physical activity, and recovery time—along with sharing practical tips with others, we can thrive in a state of stability and satisfaction.