3 Helpful Tips For Reducing Music Festival Anxiety

Home » Blog » 3 Helpful Tips For Reducing Music Festival Anxiety

By Jake Kocherhans

Raveraide Co-Founder

Looking for some reliable tips for how to reduce or eliminate music festival anxiety?

I cannot tell you how many times I have been in the crowd at a music festival, enjoying the time of my life and out of nowhere, a sudden burst of anxiety comes over me. This can often happen without warning, and I know it’s something many other people experience when at festivals.

Regardless of whether or not it’s your first time attending a large scale event, they can often times be a lot to take in. Between the large crowds, the lights, the sounds, it can definitely be a sensory overload. Especially if you’re someone who struggles with social anxiety in your every day life, being in a place with so many people can feel overwhelming and stressful.

As an avid festival goer, I’ve spent a lot of time reflecting on the different things that could be causing this anxiety, and have discovered a few reliable strategies that always seem to help me whenever I feel that anxiousness start to come on.

In this post, I want to share what I believe to be the most common causes for music festival anxiety, as well as my favorite strategies for reducing it so that you can make the most of these memorable experiences.

How To Reduce Music Festival Anxiety

Common Causes of Music Festival Anxiety

1.) Overstimulation

This is undoubtedly one of thee main reasons as to why people experience anxiety at raves and music festivals. Between the high exposure to artificial lights, the high levels of sound coming from the stages, and the massive crowds that only seem to get bigger and bigger as the years go on… It’s a LOT to take in, especially if you’ve never experienced something like this before.

Sensory overload is pretty common, and it’s actually one of the things that makes raves so addicting to people. It’s the jaw dropping displays of colors, lights, and heavy bass that gives us that rush of dopamine we all love and crave at festivals.

And while all of these things can be absolutely AMAZING, they can sometimes be too much, causing us to feel a bit overwhelmed and stressed.

2.) Pyschoacoustics

It’s a well known fact that sound waves and frequencies can impact brain wave patterns. Now what does this mean for you? This means that sound can quite literally, change your thoughts and perceptions.

Psychoacoustics have even been shown to have an effect on the structure of water molecules, which means that these sound waves could also be having a profound effect on your physical body, for better or worse.

As I’ve become more aware of how different styles of music make me feel, I’ve started to make a more conscious effort to control what sets I see early on in the night. I’ve noticed those earlier sets really set the tone for the rest of my night, so I always try to catch artists who will bring the good vibes and put me in a positive state of mind.

If you feel like you’re prone to music festival anxiety, then my suggestion would be to reflect and ask yourself if the music you are listening to could be contributing to those feelings of stress & uneasiness.

3.) Poor Nutrition/Vitamin Re-Uptake

One major underlying cause of everyday anxiety & stress is nutrient deficiencies. Many of us aren’t getting the nutrients we need each day through the food we eat, and this issue is only magnified during a long festival weekend.

Between the insane amounts of walking each day, sweating out important minerals while dancing and running around in the hot sun, and the serious lack of sleep, food, and water that most people experience… you can easily see how this could cause a problem.

When our body is running on empty, and we continue to demand more of it without replenishing those lost nutrients through food or supplementation, it can lead to feelings of fatigue, stress, brain fog, nausea, and anxiousness. These feelings are usually clear indicators from our body telling us we need to SLOW DOWN and find some nutrients to replenish us as soon as possible.

Ways to Reduce Music Festival Anxiety

Now that we’ve covered some of the main causes or contributors to music festival anxiety, here are my personal top 3 tips that help me to calm & relax my mind, get re-centered, and go on with enjoying my night.

1.) Grounding

While I know this is something that’s not possible at every festival you attend, I’ve found that any time you can find a patch of grass, take your shoes off, and get your feet touching the ground… it works WONDERS.

Anxiety can often stem during times when you’re feeling spacy and ungrounded, which can be easy at festivals due to the overstimulation we talked about above.

It is scientifically proven that when you connect your bare feet to the ground, you discharge energy in to the earth. It may seem small or insignificant, but this has seriously been a game changer for me anytime I’ve felt overstimulated. Try it out, and at the very least you are giving your legs some time to rest before you continue on with your night!

2.) Drink Some Raveraide!

One thing that I love so much about Raveraide is that they are unlike any other hydration stick out there. They don’t use any artificial or natural flavors, fillers, dyes, or preservatives. I really feel that one common reason why so many people experience anxiety on a daily basis is the amount of synthetic chemicals they are always ingesting.

Raveraide also has brain boosting nootropics like L-Theanine to reduce anxiety, and Alpha GPC & Huperzine which increase Acetylcholine production to help with mental clarity. I can’t tell you guys how much this product has saved me at festivals. The product contains a full electrolyte cell salt blend for hydration, full spectrum of vitamins, two types of magnesium to relax your muscles, and real berry extracts and lemon oils for flavoring (which is delicious by the way!). You really have no idea how much you are depleted of essential nutrients until you drink one of these and immediately feel so much better!

3.) Breathwork

This one is HUGE! I’m truly believe that your breath is your anchor. Whenever I find myself experiencing anxiety at music festivals, or even throughout my every day life, I always notice that my breathing is way more shallow than normal.

When I catch myself doing this, the very first thing I do is slowww down, and begin taking long deep, full breaths. I find this works even better when I combine it with the grounding, or if I’m sitting down somewhere away from the stages and all the stimulation.

Taking normal controlled breaths works great, but there’s also various forms of breathwork you can implement that I’ve found to be even more effective.

One in particular is called Wim Hof breathing, and if you want to learn more about the benefits of this breathwork and try it for yourself, check out this article that outlines how to perform Wim Hof breathing safely and correctly.

I know it can be frustrating to have an otherwise incredible night overshadowed by feelings of stress and anxiety. But hopefully these tips will help shed some light on how you can both prevent music festival anxiety before it happens, and how to reduce it if you ever do feel it coming on.

Just know it is perfectly normal to experience these feelings, and it’s absolutely nothing you should ever be ashamed about!

Check out some of our other favorite health hacks for beating stress & bouncing back faster after music festivals. (you can thank us later)

This post was all about how to reduce music festival anxiety.

Jake Kocherhans

As one of the co-founders of Raveraide, Jake has spent the past 6 years of his life as both a health coach and marketing consultant for small businesses. He began attending music festivals in 2018, and is incredibly passionate about sharing both his love for health & fitness, as well as his love for the EDM community. His favorite EDM artists are Subtronics, Seven Lions, LSDREAM, and Blanke. Follow him on Instagram @jakekocherhans