Project Zomboid is, at it’s core a survival game. Forgetting about the fact there are undead roaming the world you will have to take care of your character’s physical and mental health as well. One of the mechanics included in the game in terms of health is sleep and tiredness. Your character in Project Zomboid will need to sleep from time to time in order to stay focused and get everything done in their day.
Failing to get enough sleep in the game will cause your character to move slower, be less careful and be a lot less accurate with weapons depending on how long they prolong their sleep for. There are only certain situation where the character is able to sleep however, there isn’t just a button to sleep. This guide will show you where in Project Zomboid you can sleep and how to do it.
How to Sleep in Project Zomboid
In order to have your character rest, you will have to find a suitable place for them to sleep. There is currently no way to sleep one the ground in Project Zomboid. This must be done at a piece of furniture. You can sleep in any bed you find in Project Zomboid and most of the sofas and seats. Some of the places you choose to sleep can be better than others but we will go into that later. To sleep in Project Zomboid follow these steps:
- Make sure your character is tired enough to sleep
- Find a place to rest like a sofa, chair or preferably a bed
- Walk to the bed furniture and right-click to open up the action menu
- Select the option Sleep
- Wait for your character to get a good night’s rest
Time will speed up while you rest in Project Zomboid. Your character will sleep for as long as they need to unless they are woken up by anything. Character’s that hear loud noises will wake up from their sleep preemptively. Make sure to close any doors or curtains before you plan on sleeping anywhere. You character will also immediately wake up if they suffer any damage at all while sleeping.
Character Can’t Sleep Because of Pain or Not Tired
There are some common reasons that your character won’t be able to sleep. For example, you cannot just choose a time for your character to sleep. As in real life, your character won’t be able to sleep if they are not tired enough. Every physical action you perform in Project Zomboid will make your character gradually more and more tired. Attacking zombies nonstop, sprinting around and utilizing the new exercise feature will make your character tired very quickly.
Common Project Zomboid Sleep Problems and How to Solve Them
Some of the common reasons your character cannot sleep and how you can fix them are:
- Too panicked to sleep: Your character is panicked because of their traits or because they’ve seen a zombie recently. Smoke a cigarette or let them relax in an area without any enemies for a short while.
- Experiencing too much pain to sleep: Your character is in a good amount of pain from one of their injuries. Tend to the injury as best you can and let your character rest. Keeping your character well fed will aid this. If you just want them to sleep quicker, you can use pain medication to take the edge of the pain and allow your character to rest earlier.
- Restless Sleeper Trait: If you have taken the Restless Sleeper trait you will find your character waking up very often from their rest. Even if nothing is wrong they will have a hard time getting a full nights sleep. You will have to take short ‘rests’ throughout the day if you have a character with these traits as they have trouble sleeping through the night.
Sleeping in a Good vs Bad Quality Bed
Another thing you’ve probably noticed when you went to sleep on a piece of furniture is that each one has different qualities. Beds will have the best bed qualities, sofas are average and basic charis are not so great to sleep on. If you sleep on the beds, chances are your character will get a great night’s rest. If you choose to spend your night sitting on a wooden chair in the kitchen, it is possible for your character to wake up with an injury the next morning, (yes I’m serious). If you spend the night in a wooden chair you will often see a moodlet appear on the top right stating your character is slightly injured. Much like pushing yourself too much during exercise, you will pull muscles by sleeping on bad surfaces. Be careful where you choose to sleep!