People, particularly in survival situations, tend to shortchange their need for sleep. You need all the mental power and alertness you can muster. Even if you aren't wiling to buy that you need to value sleep more than food I think we need to, at the very least, get sleep on the same list as water, food and shelter.

http://blogs.hbr.org/schwartz/2011/03/sleep-is-more-important-than-f.html

IMHO, no disaster or emergency plan is complete without a sleep/awake plan. Moving it sleep up the list also can effect what gear you include. In my experience a $4 sleep mask and $1 earplugs can make a getting some sleep much easier.

i found when i was in the Army-67-69- that if i had warm food and decent sleep i could put up with just about anything else.even if the food was C Rats and the sleep was in a bunker.when i put a ditch kit together for canoe trips i made sure i had something to cook in and compressed soup tabs.for the sleep part a good foil type bag and a bug net were top of the list.

Easily the most important single piece of outdoor gear is a sleeping bag (or perhaps "sleep system" as some would put it) adequate for conditions.

i totally agree. shelter is usually at the top of my priority list. food is always after that. after protecting from the elements, sleep is the second aim of shelter in my mind. in fact, i break shelter into three categories: "something to sleep under, something to sleep on and something to sleep in".

bacpacjac,

I'm going to steal your phrase "something to sleep under, something to sleep on and something to sleep in" and use it since I assume it isn't copy-written.

njs

credit goes to ray mears, njs. i think it's from the intro to one of his books. so simple!

Concur wholeheartedly; good post Art. This concept is completely in line with Mors Kochanski's credo that beyond maintaining 98.6 degF, the two most important needs when in the bush are 1) staying hydrated and 2) getting decent sleep. If you can't achieve these two goals it makes executing further strategies much, much harder.

Mors goes to a lot more trouble to obtain sleep than he does to procure food.

I think that is pretty smart. If given the two, lack of sleep, lack of food, I personally function better on lack of food. I can go a night or two with little sleep but it catches up to me fast with mental mistakes.

I've done some 24-36 hour races/runs and even though I am eating, its not enough calories so technically I am energy input deprived. But if I can't get even a little sleep, think I am worse off.

A good night's sleep makes mundane, everyday life easier to manage and tasks easier to accomplish ... it stands to reason that resting well while in any emergency/survival situation will improve your chances of a successful outcome. Thanks for the reminder Art.

Hmm. If sleep is more important than food, then perhaps a means of pain relief and some sort of relaxant/sleep aid might be considered essential?