A study, of 1,000 festival fans, revealed the illnesses and injuries they suffer while enjoying a jampacked musical line up, with fatigue and exhaustion the most common (24%). More than a fifth (21%) will get sunburnt, and 11% will return home with a cold or flu.
At the more extreme end of the scale, one in 20 (6%) will experience diarrhoea, while 4% come away with a sickness bug. The same percentage have also been left with bowel issues after avoiding the loos for the duration of the festival.
It also emerged 31% pay little or no attention to their health while in the carnival spirit, with 21% admitting they usually feel ‘completely broken’ by the end of it. As a result, the average festival-goer needs at least two days to recover before they feel back to normal.
Dr Elizabeth Rogers, clinical director at Bupa Health Clinics, which commissioned the research and created a guide on how to avoid and treat some of the common illnesses, said: “Festivals are brilliant fun and dancing to music with your friends in the sun is a great way to boost your mental health.
“As well as making sure you’re having a good time, it’s really important that people are taking precautions to look after their health while they are there, or they may find they become unwell during or when they get home.
“Britain’s weather is famously changeable, and it’s not surprising that people are often caught out by unexpected sunshine after packing raincoats and wellies. Which is why so many of the issues people struggle with tend to be heat-related – like sunstroke, dehydration or sunburn.”
The findings come after fans fell ill with symptoms of food poisoning at Download Festival earlier this month. It also emerged 37% of those who struggle in the days after will book extra time off work when the festival is over, to give their bodies time to recover. With four in 10 needing two days off work afterwards just to return to feeling normal.
Worryingly, many are doing little to prevent the issues and injuries, with only 13% always wearing suncream throughout the festival, and another 38% only sometimes remembering. Of those who don’t, 29% forget to bring it with them and 12% worry it will make them dirtier and stickier than they need to be.
It also emerged a quarter of festival-goers who drink will consume six or more alcoholic beverages each day they’re there – adding up to at least 18 in total over a three-day event. But they will also only get an average of four hours and 49 minutes of sleep each night they’re there – far below the recommended amount.
And only 40% regularly put on hand sanitiser, 18% take a first-aid kit, and just 15% consider their festival diet to be ‘balanced’. As a result, 44% of those polled, via OnePoll, have had to visit a medical tent at a music festival due to some kind of illness or injury.
Dr Elizabeth Rogers added: “From diet to sleep, to water intake, and specific health issues like ear ache due to loud music and sore feet from walking and dancing, festivals really can play havoc with our bodies.
“My advice to all those off to festivals this summer is to always be prepared and try to remember to stay hydrated, protect your skin and ears to prevent long-term damage and try to get enough sleep, especially if you are there for the whole event – and don’t forget to enjoy it.”
