What are the recommended self-care procedures for Burning Man? Find tips for dealing with playa mud, sun exposure, cold, medical emergencies, sleep, food, drug interactions, and any other situations that have been called- out.

Treat self-care as a daily system, not a first-aid kit you open after something breaks. Official guidance is blunt: the desert will try to injure you, medical help exists, and you are still the first responder.

The daily loop (do this before anything fancy)

Use H.A.L.T. — Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired. Those four states cause most “I made a stupid decision on playa” stories. Eat, sit in shade, find a person, sleep. Then go back out.

Water rule: at least 1.5 gallons per person per day for drinking, cooking, and washing. Carry a bottle whenever you leave camp. Pee every couple of hours; aim for pale urine. Alcohol, caffeine, and other drugs all raise dehydration risk. Electrolytes with some of the water, not only plain water if you are sweating hard.

Hands: sanitizer after every porta-potti. Camps should have a wash station. Gastrointestinal illness spreads faster than dust.

Sun and heat

You are at nearly 4,000 ft. UV is stronger than Dallas. Skin, lips, and eyes burn fast.

SPF in the morning, again at midday, after sweat. SPF lip balm.
Shade is infrastructure. A tent is not shade. Rest in the hot hours.
Wide brim, sunglasses, long loose layers that actually cover skin.
Cool with shade and water, not by chasing dust-control water trucks. That water is not potable and the wet playa is slick.

Heat exhaustion vs heat stroke (get help early)
Move to shade if someone is dizzy, nauseated, cramping, or “off.” Official first-aid guidance: go to a medical station if they are confused, worse after an hour of rest and fluids, keep vomiting, or do not pee within two to three hours of hydrating. Chills under the midday sun is a red flag, not “I’m fine.”

Do not ice-bath a large burn or a collapsing person in wind; hypothermia is real even in daytime if you over-cool someone who is already crashing.

Cold nights

Drops of 50°F after sunset are normal. Lows can be in the 40s. The people who get hypothermic are often the ones who left camp in a harness and no jacket.

Pack a real sleeping bag rated for the 40s, not a sheet.
Bike with a puffy or fleece in the basket after 6 p.m.
Change out of sweat-soaked clothes before you sleep.
If someone is shivering, clumsy, or slurring: dry layers, insulation under them (pad off the playa), warm sweet drink if they can swallow, and medical if they do not improve.

Dust, eyes, nose, throat, lungs

Alkali dust is high pH. It burns skin cracks, eyes, and sinuses. Prevention beats treatment.

Goggles + particle mask on you, not in the car, when the wall of dust appears.
Whiteout protocol: shelter. If you cannot reach camp, sit, back to the wind, cover face, watch for vehicles. Drivers stop. Do not “feel your way” on a bike.
Saline nasal spray several times a day. Neti only with sterile or boiled-then-cooled water, never raw playa water.
Saline eye wash. Do not rub dust into the cornea.
Moisturizer after you get the dust off. Alcohol-heavy scented lotions sting cracked skin.

Playa foot and skin

Official recipe: soak 20 minutes in 4 parts water : 1 part vinegar, then lotion and socks. Do this daily if your feet are cracking, not after they are hamburger.

Also:

Closed shoes + real socks. Flip-flops for the shower only.
Wash dust out of cracks before it becomes a chemical burn.
Coban / self-adhesive wrap holds better than Band-Aids in dust.
Finger cots over small wounds so playa does not pack into them.

Mud year extra: stay out of wet clay. It pulls shoes off, hides rebar and lag screws, and wrecks ankles. Have camp shoes you can sacrifice and a dry pair in a sealed bin. Do not drive. A twisted ankle plus mud plus 2 miles to medical is a long night.

Sleep

Sleep debt plus sun plus stimulants is how people get lost, hypothermic, or hit by art cars.

Dark, earplugs, eye mask. Expect generators and bass.
One guaranteed “down night” mid-week.
Benadryl is in the official kit as allergy and a possible sleep aid; do not stack it with alcohol or other sedatives.
If you cannot sleep for two nights and start feeling unreal, that is a medical/mental-health problem, not a badge of honor. Rangers and Crisis Support exist for this.

Food

Most GI disasters are camp kitchens, not “mystery grilled cheese from a stranger,” though both happen.

Keep cold food under 41°F. Ice is a medical supply. Cut melon counts as perishable.
Cook animal protein to 165°F.
Drink water you trust. Do not share bottles.
Bring the boring calories: nuts, tortillas, instant meals, electrolyte mix. Costume weeks fail when people eat only gifts and booze.
Constipation from dust + low fiber + dehydration is extremely common. Official kit includes both anti-diarrheal and a laxative. Use water and fiber first.

Drug interactions and substance harm reduction

Official line, which is enough: alcohol, caffeine, and other drugs increase dehydration risk, and heat plus altered judgment is how people get left in the sun. Medical care on playa is described as non-judgmental. Use that. Do not hide a heat emergency because you are afraid of being scolded.

Practical rules that match the environment:

Never mix heat + heavy exertion + anything that impairs temperature or thirst signals (including a lot of alcohol). Sit down on a schedule, not when you collapse.
Sip fluids with electrolytes when dancing; do not chug gallons of plain water. Both dehydration and over-hydration can become emergencies.
Do not stack sedatives (alcohol + extra sleep meds + opioids, etc.).
Prescriptions stay in original bottles. Closest pharmacy is Fernley/Reno, not Gerlach. Bring extras for a weather delay.
If someone is overheating, confused, seizing, or unresponsive: shade, cooling, radio for ESD. That is not a “let them sleep it off in the sun” situation.

I will not give dosing or mixing recipes. If you use anything, pre-decide a sober buddy, a time to be back at camp, and a plan to go to medical without debate.

Medical emergencies — how help actually works

Do not start with a cell-phone 911 as your only plan. Coverage is bad and the call may bounce through off-playa dispatch. Fastest path: flag anyone with a radio (Ranger khaki, ESD yellow, law enforcement, staff) or send a person to a station.

2026 map to memorize

Resource	Where
First aid / plaza medical	3:00 & C and 9:00 & C (red cross)
Main ESD / Rampart emergency care	5:15 & Esplanade
Ranger HQ	6:30–6:35 & Esplanade
Ranger outposts	behind 3:00 and 9:00 plazas
Crisis support	ESD stations + Ranger posts

If you carry a radio, BRC emergency dispatch has been published as 451.9000 MHz, CTCSS/PL 91.5, 12.5 kHz, 4-watt handheld limit. Confirm on the current Survival Guide before you program it.

If you are evacuated to Reno: take ID, insurance, phone, wallet, ticket. There is no shuttle back. A friend has to retrieve you. Sign the release so staff can tell your camp where you went.

Wear or carry ID. Unconscious patients cannot tell Rampart who they are.

Other situations that get called out every year

Wounds and burns. Clean, dry, cover. Dust is an infection factory. Burns and deep cuts belong at a station, not under a bandana for three days.

Bike and night. Lights on you and the bike are a survival item. Art cars will not see a dark rider. Lasers are not bike lights.

Consent and sexual health. Bring barriers you will actually use. No means no when someone is intoxicated. Rangers handle boundary and safety problems; you do not have to “handle it in camp.”

Mental health. Isolation, no sleep, dust, and big feelings stack. Rangers and ESD Crisis Support are 24/7. That is self-care, not failure. A 2026 on-playa death notice again pointed people to those same desks.

Tetanus and “I just had surgery.” Official: do not come fresh from major surgery; keep tetanus current. Puncture wounds + playa + rusty shade hardware is a bad combination.

Keys, glasses, meds. Spare car key on a person who is not you. Glasses strap. Meds in a labeled dry box.

Gray water and fuel spills. Those are environmental emergencies above small volumes. Stop the leak, contain it, get Rangers/Earth Guardians. Do not dump gray water on playa.

MOOP that injures people. Count lag screws in and out. Flag them. A buried lag in mud is how playa foot becomes a trip to Rampart.

Small kit to keep on your body

Water, electrolytes, SPF, lip balm, mask, goggles, light, whistle or radio plan, a few doses of your meds, blister care, and a camp address written on you. The full camp kit from Burning Man’s list (vinegar, Coban, saline, Benadryl, antacid, Imodium, laxative, thermometer, aloe) stays at camp in a sealed box.

The short version: drink, shade, cover skin and lungs, sleep, wash hands, go to the red cross early. Most playa medical problems start as pride plus a preventable deficit.

Sources

Thinking about your request

Gathering Burning Man self-care tips

Searched web

Burning Man Survival Guide 2026 health first aid dust mud sun hypothermia

[Survival, Health & Safety – Survival Guide 2026

Survival, Health & Safety – Survival Guide 2026 # Survival, Health & Safety Burning Man sure is…

](https://survival.burningman.org/survival-health-and-safety/)

The daily loop (do this before anything fancy)

Sun and heat

Cold nights

Dust, eyes, nose, throat, lungs

Playa foot and skin

Sleep

Food

Drug interactions and substance harm reduction

Medical emergencies — how help actually works

Other situations that get called out every year

Small kit to keep on your body

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