Glastonbury 2024: 5 health tips on how to recover form a music festival and get over the blues

• Glastonbury Festival attracted an estimated 200,000 people at Worthy Farm in Pilton.
• Headliners this year included Dua Lipa, Coldplay and SZA.
• Shania Twain will play the coveted legends slot on Sunday.
• As the greatest festival of the year draws to a close, our resident health expert, Sarah McCann shares her five top tips for recovering after Glastonbury and beating the Glastonbury blues.

Glastonbury festival is coming to a close and what an eventful weekend it has been. Headliners including Dua Lipa, Coldplay and SZA have rocked the Pyramid Stage, with country queen Shania Twain playing the legends slot to see us off.

It can be a hard transition back to normality, Glastonbury is otherworldly, a brief moment in time and space where you put down your phone, connect with like-minded people, sleep (if you got any sleep) in a tent amongst thousands of others and watch some of your favourite artists perform live.

Recovering after Glastonbury can take time and many festival-goers will experience the “Glastonbury blues”. To help you readjust to a post-Glastonbury life, here are my top tips on how to recover after Glastonbury or any other music festival.

Hydrate

After a weekend of indulging in alcohol and basking in the sunshine your body is bound to be crying out for some H20. It’s time to rehydrate by drinking plenty of water. The Eatwell Guide recommends six to eight cups of a day, the best way to manage this is to take regular sips and to avoid alcohol and caffeine which will only dehydrate you further.

Eat well

It’s understandable that when you have a raging hangover the first thing you want is a good fry up, and despite Lily Allen endorsing this last year as her Glastonbury cure, steer clear from the bacon and sausages. After a long weekend of debauchery it’s vital that you show your gut some love, tuck into a nutritious smoothie, packed full of leafy greens to help replenish your vitamins.

Herbal teas are also your friend, while it may be tempting to down copious cups of coffee, mint tea is the safer bet, especially if your stomach is feeling the effects of a few days on the booze.

Make time to rest

Do you really plan to turn up at your desk tomorrow? It’s important to allow yourself plenty of time to rest after the workout that was Glastonbury. All that walking, pitching a tent and dancing until the small hours really takes it out of you. Book an extra day off to give your body (and ringing ears), time to recover.

Look after your mental health

Glastonbury is otherworldly, and you may be feeling particularly vulnerable due to something which many festival-goers dub the “Glastonbury Blues”. This is when people will experience feelings of sadness after attending the music festival.

It’s not just Glastonbury, post-concert depression is reportedly on the rise in the UK. Medical News Today explains that it’s normal for people to feel “down” after experiencing a big event.

Moments that bring us joy cause our body to produce endorphins and dopamine, which are chemicals in the brain that make us feel good. When pleasurable activities end, people experience a dip in these hormones and can leave them feeling down.

Take a social media break

It may be tempting to immediately upload photos to Instagram and videos on TikTok, but hold off while you’re still in the Glastonbury bubble as reminiscing on those moments might just trigger a bout of the “Glastonbury blues”. Instead call a friend, invite someone over for dinner or just take some time out from the world to catch up on all the TV you’ve missed.

How do you recover after a musical festival? Share your top tips in the comment section below.