0:01 hey it's Doug with Backcountry
0:02 pilgrimage Channel all about hiking
0:04 camping backpacking in the gear that
0:06 goes with it I have a confession to make
0:11 I am a side slash stomach sleeper [Music]
0:17 ever since the beginning of my
0:19 backpacking career I have struggled with
0:21 getting good sleep because my preferred
0:24 position of sleep is on my stomach with
0:26 one leg kicked out and that does not
0:28 work well with very many sleeping bag
0:31 sizes because sleeping bags rely on your
0:34 body heat filling up a pocket of air to
0:36 keep you warm they don't like to have a
0:38 lot of extra room in them and so many
0:40 are a mummy shape which essentially
0:42 means you're laying on your back with
0:44 your arms down by your sides and this
0:46 can be not only fairly uncomfortable but
0:48 for people like me who are also a little
0:50 bit claustrophobic it can actually be
0:53 panic attack inducing and so when I got
0:55 restarted in my backpacking a few years
0:58 back I switched from a sleeping bag to a
1:00 top quilt I have since modified that
1:03 system a couple of times and now I'm
1:05 ready to give you my recommendations for
1:08 what to do for a Sleep System if you're
1:10 a side or stomach sleeper alright we're
1:12 going to go from the ground up and start
1:15 with the Sleep Pad it is vital to to
1:17 your comfort if you're going to be on
1:20 your stomach or on your side and kind of
1:22 curled up and that is because most sleep
1:25 pads are 20 inches wide I have here the
1:29 Therm-a-Rest z-light sleep pad it is 20
1:32 inches wide and so if you can imagine
1:34 your entire sleep system is going to
1:36 have to fit on this pad now if you
1:39 compare this to my Nemo tensor wide pad
1:41 which is five inches bigger you can see
1:43 that there is quite a bit of difference
1:46 the Nemo pad gives me plenty of width
1:48 and those extra five inches are really
1:50 great for a side sleeper or a stomach
1:52 sleeper when you're considering the
1:54 width of your sleep pad it's not just a
1:56 matter of comfort though it's also a
1:59 matter of temperature if your body comes
2:01 off of the pad and touches the tent
2:03 floor there is basically no insulation
2:06 between you and the cold ground and that
2:08 makes a huge difference in your overall
2:10 temperature experience so the first step
2:13 in establishing a good side or stomach
2:16 sleep system is getting the extra wide
2:18 pads get that extra five inches and that
2:20 way you're going to stay on it and stay
2:23 insulated when you're rolling around do
2:25 keep in mind that the number of persons
2:27 that are typically considered to fit in
2:30 a tent is usually based on the width of
2:31 sleep pads so if you have a two-person
2:34 tent it should be at least 40 inches
2:38 wide to accommodate two 20 inch pads
2:40 they are not considering extra wide pads
2:42 in that measurement so if you were going
2:44 to try to get two people in a two-person
2:47 tent with one or both of you having the
2:50 extra wide pads they may not fit okay
2:52 the next big consideration when it comes
2:54 to your sleep system is of course the
2:57 bag or quilt that you are using to
2:59 insulate you from the side and on top
3:01 now for several years I have been
3:04 touting the benefits of the top quilt by
3:06 using a quilt instead of a sleeping bag
3:09 you can save volume and weight because a
3:12 quilt is essentially a big blanket that
3:14 is joined together somewhere around the
3:17 Torso area but stays open at the top and
3:18 this has several advantages when it
3:21 comes to size and weight because you're
3:24 not paying for insulation and material
3:26 under you you're not carrying around the
3:29 weight of a zipper or a hood or many of
3:30 the other features that a standard
3:32 sleeping bag would have the reasoning
3:34 behind this is that when you lay down on
3:36 a sleeping bag you're crushing all of
3:38 the insulation that's under you
3:41 rendering it practically useless and if
3:43 that's the case why have it there at all
3:45 it's just more material and more
3:47 insulation that you've got to carry
3:49 around but it's not actually keeping you
3:51 warm and the biggest benefit for a
3:52 stomach or side sleeper is that because
3:55 a quilt is not completely bound together
3:58 you can very easily kick your legs or
4:00 your arms or anything else out that
4:02 needs some extra width the quilt isn't
4:04 going to be grabbing you because it
4:06 isn't joined together in the first place
4:08 but that is also one of the biggest
4:11 problems with quilts because a quilt is
4:14 open-ended it is also very easy to allow
4:16 cold dry house to come into the system
4:18 now before all you Quilters out there
4:20 jump into the comments and start talking
4:23 about pad straps and I get it I've been
4:25 using a quilt for three years in general
4:27 I've been very happy with it but I have
4:29 to admit that the quilt works best for
4:31 people that can just get in lie down on
4:33 their back close their eyes and fall
4:35 asleep until they wake up the next
4:37 morning that is not me I need to be able
4:40 to be on my back on my side on my
4:42 stomach leg kicked up leg not kicked up
4:45 curled into a ball and when it comes to
4:47 that the quilt just doesn't work as well
4:49 as a sleeping bag even a very
4:52 restrictive mummy style sleeping bag is
4:54 meant to move with you even if you roll
4:56 over onto your side and when you do
4:59 that's when that back insulation that
5:01 Quilters will often point out is useless
5:03 when you're lying on your back suddenly
5:05 becomes very useful as I was planning
5:07 for this video my friend Steve from my
5:10 life Outdoors put out a short arguing
5:11 the quilts were better than sleeping
5:13 bags and at one point he rolls over in
5:15 the quilt and just before the scene Cuts
5:17 you actually see a large portion of his
5:19 back get exposed as he's trying to roll
5:22 over interestingly almost the same thing
5:25 happened in a video by ugq the makers of
5:27 my quilt when they were demonstrating
5:30 how their system avoids the problem of
5:32 drafts you also see that when the person
5:35 rolls over the quilt lifts up exposing
5:38 his back now ultimately the system ends
5:40 up working but this is not a system that
5:42 comes with all quilts even the ugq
5:45 quilts and as was shown and admitted in
5:48 the video it takes a bit of expertise to
5:49 really get it to work it doesn't mean
5:51 sleeping bags are better than quilts it
5:53 just means that quilts aren't absolutely
5:55 perfect fortunately there are now
5:57 sleeping bag systems that are really
6:00 made for side and stomach sleepers I'm
6:01 going to show you a couple of the
6:04 options right now the sleeping bag I'm
6:06 going to talk about is the Nemo disco
6:09 the Nemo disco has a nice big Hood it's
6:11 got a pocket in here to keep like a cell
6:13 phone or something or maybe like your
6:14 water filter or batteries that you don't
6:16 want to be and exposed to freezing cold
6:18 it's got a nice big draft color it's a
6:21 down filled sleeping bag it's 650 down
6:24 there's an 800 down version with
6:26 slightly thinner materials but this one
6:27 is a little bit more in my price range
6:30 both the Nemo disco and the rift are
6:32 rated at 15 degrees so these are very
6:34 warm bags which is one of the reasons
6:37 that I love these Thermo gills these
6:40 really interesting vents these things
6:42 unzip and they allow you to vent the top
6:45 of the sleeping bag when you're maybe
6:47 getting a little too warm they allow you
6:49 to take the bags into situations that
6:50 aren't quite as cold as they are
6:52 potentially rated for and actually
6:55 change the temperature rating of the bag
6:57 manually so that you can use these bags
7:00 in a much wider variety of situations
7:02 and not have to just buy more and more
7:04 bags for every temperature condition
7:06 when it comes to side and stomach
7:08 sleeping there are two features I like a
7:10 lot one is that the zipper goes almost
7:11 all the way to the bottom so
7:13 theoretically you could actually get a
7:14 leg completely out of here if you need
7:17 needed to but the thing that really sets
7:19 the Disco and the rift apart from other
7:22 sleeping bags is their spoon shape at
7:23 the bottom of these sleeping bags the
7:25 material actually gets wider and allows
7:27 you to move around quite a bit more
7:29 without completely sacrificing the
7:32 warmth of the volume of the bag when I
7:34 am on my side I can actually turn all
7:36 the way over onto my stomach and kick a
7:38 leg up and I still am inside the
7:40 sleeping bag I am able to move around
7:43 and stay nice and warm but I am not in a
7:46 panic inducing claustrophobic situation
7:49 and I can get onto my stomach I still
7:51 have a hood that is keeping my head warm
7:53 and I can get my arm up into it if I
7:56 need to to lay my head on my pillow on
7:58 my arm get my arms up keep them down all
8:00 of these positions work just fine with
8:04 the Nemo disco or its 800 fill brother
8:06 the rift another bag with some
8:08 Innovative features for side and stomach
8:11 sleepers is the Sierra Designs Cloud 20
8:13 degree rated sleeping bag this is
8:16 something of a hype hybrid between a
8:18 quilt and a sleeping bag from top to
8:20 bottom like a normal sleeping bag you
8:22 have an insulated Hood so you don't have
8:24 to carry something extra to keep your
8:25 head warm
8:28 unlike a sleeping bag instead of a
8:30 zipper coming down the side the bag is
8:34 basically a folded quilt up on top this
8:37 wraps over and inside the bag and seals
8:40 up with your own body and that keeps the
8:42 top very wide it allows you to move your
8:44 arms get them up above your head if
8:46 you're on your stomach and although you
8:48 might be laying on your stomach or side
8:50 the bottom still functions as a regular
8:53 sleeping bag because it is enclosed one
8:55 of the nice things about a quilt or a
8:56 sleeping bag that can zip up from the
8:58 bottom is that you can maybe get a foot
9:00 out or something if you need to because
9:01 often that's where you're going to
9:03 overheat a little bit well the Sierra
9:05 clouds has another Innovative feature
9:08 here and that is a baffle at the bottom
9:10 that is actually open you notice right
9:13 here we have a folded over piece I can
9:15 get all the way inside the bag from
9:17 inside I can basically just kind of push
9:20 my foot out under the baffle and out the
9:22 bottom I can actually lay here as if
9:24 this was a blanket and the only part
9:26 that's going to be really wrapped around
9:28 me is going to be from my waist to about
9:30 my ankles another feature about the
9:33 cloud 20 that is very quilt-like is that
9:36 there is no insulation on the back panel
9:37 right here you can actually see through
9:40 this because they have not filled it
9:42 full of down because typically you're
9:43 going to be laying on this now you might
9:45 wonder well what happens when I roll
9:47 over well the idea with this is to not
9:49 roll over with the bag the way you would
9:52 with a sleeping bag but more like a
9:54 quilt you roll around inside of it but
9:56 isn't it going to pop up and isn't this
9:58 going to make you cold not necessarily
10:00 and that is because this bag comes with
10:04 a sleeping pad sleeve you slide this bag
10:06 over your sleeping pad and this part
10:09 covers the area with no insulation when
10:10 you get to the bottom
10:13 the bag is now
10:16 insulated because it has the sleeping
10:18 pad behind it so if you're not only a
10:21 side sleeper or a stomach sleeper but a
10:23 tosser and a Turner this thing is
10:25 fantastic because it keeps the bag stuck
10:28 where it's supposed to be you don't have
10:29 to worry about rolling over and exposing
10:32 some part or rolling the hood over the
10:33 top of your head or any of those kinds
10:35 of annoying things that often happen in
10:37 the back country this is going to make
10:40 it a self-contained Sleep System that's
10:42 pretty much not going to move once it's
10:45 in place the long version will attach to
10:47 a 25 inch pad whereas the standard
10:49 length is only going to work on a 20.
10:51 finally I'd like to suggest the Western
10:54 mountaineering Terra light sleeping bag
10:55 now for those of you that know sleeping
10:57 bags Western mountaineering needs no
11:00 introduction these are pretty much the
11:01 very best sleeping bags that can be had
11:03 if you are looking for the absolute best
11:06 of the best this is it now you're going
11:08 to pay top price for this but one of the
11:10 things that sets the Terra light apart
11:12 from other sleeping bags besides the
11:15 quality is its usefulness to side and
11:17 stomach sleepers and this is because the
11:19 bag although a essentially mummy shape
11:22 is specially designed to be wider in the
11:24 areas where a leg is going to kick out
11:26 if you need it to sleep on your stomach
11:28 further the zipper goes all the way
11:31 around the bottom so you can essentially
11:33 open this sleeping bag up and use it
11:35 like a blanket or a quilt so it is
11:37 extremely versatile extremely
11:39 comfortable and it's going to work out
11:42 fantastically if you are a side or
11:44 stomach sleeper or if you just want to
11:46 treat it like a regular mummy bag a good
11:48 night's sleep on the trail is so
11:49 important that is where you get
11:51 recharged and if you get a bad night's
11:54 sleep the whole next day is going to be
11:56 a lot harder than it needs to be so even
11:58 if it means carrying an extra few ounces
12:00 or even a couple of pounds extra if it
12:02 translates into getting a good night's
12:04 sleep those extra pounds or ounces
12:05 aren't going to make that much of a
12:07 difference to me whereas a good night's
12:08 sleep is going to make a world of
12:10 difference alright I hope this video has
12:12 been helpful to you tell me in the
12:13 comments below what you do if you're a
12:16 stomach or side sleeper I'm always
12:18 interested in a better night's sleep on
12:20 the trail and if the video helped you
12:21 how about giving it a like subscribe to
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12:30 videos Drop until next time as always
12:32 thank you so much for watching [Music]
12:33 [Music] [Applause]
12:35 [Applause] [Music]
