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How to heal in Sons Of The Forest

Here's how to restore health in Sons Of The Forest

Two bottles of Meds side-by-side in the player's inventory in Sons Of The Forest.
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Endnight Games

How do you heal in Sons Of The Forest? If you've played or watched any of Endnight's massive and unsettling game Sons Of The Forest, you'll likely already know just how easy it is to get damaged. Many new players will spend their first day low on health after their first encounter with the dangerous and agile mutants that accost you as you explore the Peninsula.

Follow this quick guide to learn all the different ways you can heal and restore health in Sons Of The Forest, either through consuming food and other items, or through sleep. Hopefully by the end of this guide you'll be in a stronger position and more likely to survive your first night in Sons Of The Forest, which is now out of early access.

Looking for ways to survive your first few days in Sons of the Forest? Watch the video above for 15 essential tips.Watch on YouTube

How to heal in Sons Of The Forest

There are a few ways to heal up if you're low on health in Sons Of The Forest, but the best way is by consuming meds. If you check all of the suitcases and crates littered about your starting area, you'll usually find at least one bottle of meds - but you can find more inside skin pouches looted from dead mutants, and in various loot areas across the island.

To take these meds, open up your inventory and find them on the left-hand side (where all your consumables are kept). Left-click the meds to take them. Taking meds will slowly regenerate your health back up to maximum.

There are other ways to restore your health in Sons Of The Forest, and some are better than others. Here are the main ways you can heal up:

  • Consume meds (fast, but meds are hard to come by)
  • Consume food (slower, but food is easy to find)
  • Sleep (effective if on a full stomach, but not always an option)
A Shelter Tent on the beach in Sons Of The Forest.
Sleep is an effective method of health recovery, but requires a Shelter Tent or other resting place. | Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Endnight Games

Meds are far more effective at quickly restoring health than eating food, but if you're out of meds then eating food and drinking water in Sons Of The Forest is a good way of keeping your health topped up.

Sleep is another effective method of health recovery, though of course it requires that you have a Shelter Tent or some other sleeping area set up nearby. The effects of sleep on your health are greatly increased if you sleep on a full stomach and not dying of thirst, so make sure you eat and drink before sleeping to get the full effects.

It's a good idea to build a sleeping area like this regardless, because it will also allow you to save your progress in Sons Of The Forest - which is probably a good idea if you're low on health, so you can reload in case you die.


That's all you need to know about healing up in Sons Of The Forest. If you're looking for more information on surviving your first few days on the Peninsula, check out our guides on how to make a fire in Sons Of The Forest, as well as our primers on the two important and powerful companions of the game: Kelvin and Virginia. If you need more help, we've also got a Sons Of The Forest console commands list if you want to try out a few of the game's cheats.

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