How to Heal in Don't Starve

Stock up on food. Since sleeping increases your health and sanity at the huge cost of hunger, make sure you have plenty of food on hand. Even just having a stock of Berries and Carrots in your inventory would be enough to keep you from dying of starvation.

• Cooking your food over a campfire is an effective way to increase the hunger points gained by most food types. Select your food, walk up to the campfire, and left-click or press X to cook it.

Get to a safe spot. Seeing as you want to sleep, looking for a relaxing spot to camp out is always a good idea. Ideally, the area must be free from any Spider Dens, Beefalo herds, and Frog ponds. This is because Spider Dens and Frog ponds tend to spawn hostile creatures, while Beefalo tend to become hostile and attack you during mating season, a time when their rears turn red.

• Note that you can't sleep if you're in a dangerous area or if your hunger is too low, so only sleep if you need to regain Health quick and are either willing to suffer the penalty, or if you have enough food on stock.

Make your bedding. Most characters, excluding Wickerbottom, can sleep off their troubles by crafting Fur Rolls, Straw Rolls, Tents, or in the Reign of Giants DLC, a Siesta Lean-To. You can craft a Straw Roll, which you can use once early enough in the game as long as you have a Science Machine, but it won't heal you. Fur Rolls and Tents can heal you and require an Alchemy Engine to create, which is the second available crafting station in the game.

• If you plan on making a Tent, seeing as it's semi-permanent (cannot be picked up without destroying it with a hammer, and wears out after 6 uses), you're better off using the space as your main campsite. Tents themselves need a fairly wide space, and combined with a campfire, it might require a lot of space.
• Both Tents and Fur Rolls are available with your Alchemy Engine, and Fur Rolls can be brought anywhere to sleep with. Tents are more economic, however, since Fur Rolls not only need 1 Straw Roll but also require 2 pieces of a late-game item called Bunny Puffs. A Tent only requires 6 Silk, 4 Twigs, and 3 Ropes, which are readily and available on the surface, and heals much more than the Fur Roll.

Get some sleep. Now that you've got all the preparations done for sleep, select your bedding or tent, and your character will automatically go to sleep. When your character wakes up, his or her Sanity and Health will be healed, but Hunger will be very low, so make sure to feed your character immediately after sleeping.

Choose your food options. Eating food, aside from Monster Meats, is always a good way to recover hunger, health, and sanity. Earlier on in the game, your main source of food will be from Rabbits caught in traps, Berries picked from berry bushes, and Carrots lying around, all of which you can cook over a campfire and eat to restore your Hunger and a pittance of Health. However, for food that restore more Health, you'll need more thorough methods.

• You can pick Carrots and Berries by left-clicking or pressing X.
• To catch Rabbits, make a trap with 6 Cut Grass and 2 Twigs. You can craft it in the Survival tab, represented by a looped rope icon. Once created, place it near or on top of a Rabbit hole, which is a small hole in the ground found in grasslands and savannahs, then wait until a Rabbit is caught. Once caught, the trap will rattle and jump around. If you pick it up, you'll get both the trap and the Rabbit. You can then re-use the trap for 7 more times before it disappears. You'll need to “murder” the rabbit before you can make use of the meat, though. Right-clicking (PC) it or pressing the right direction button (PS4) when a Rabbit is selected will do the trick.
• With a Science Machine, you can also craft a Bird trap for 3 Twigs and 4 Silk through the Survival tab. This functions similarly to a trap, but only catches birds.
• To make a farm plot, you need at least a Science Machine. You can make it through the Food tab, represented by a buried carrot icon, for 8 Grass, 4 Manure, and 4 Logs. You can get Manure from Beefalo, which excrete them regularly at random intervals and are found in savannahs. You can also get Manure by feeding a pig, found individually in random spots in the map or collectively in huge villages normally found at the end of roads, with some non-meat food (berries, carrots, produce from farm plots, cave bananas, etc.). Once you've placed the farm plot, you can put a seed on it by selecting the seed and interacting with the farm. You can either wait for it to grow slowly throughout the day or pile manure on it until it grows. Once grown, interact with the crop to gather it. You now have some food!

Cook some Eggplants and Pomegranate. Of all the produce you can grow in your farm plots, the Eggplant and Pomegranate are the two most filling and restorative. Select your food, then go to your campfire, and you'll see the “Cook” command by the fire. Now, when you left-click or press X, you'll immediately start cooking!

• While Dragonfruit heal about the same as Pomegranate, it's much more efficient to use it to cook a Dragonpie with a Crock Pot.

Dry out some Jerky. Jerky and Small Jerky are long-lasting food items that restore quite a bit of all three gauges. To make Jerky, you'll need to make a drying rack first, which is made with a Science Machine and requires 3 Rope, 3 Twigs, and 2 Charcoal.

• Charcoal can be obtained by burning down Trees. You can do this by making a Torch, equipping it, then right-clicking on the trees. Each burned tree can be chopped down with an Axe to get 1 Charcoal.
• Upon creating a Drying Rack, you can then place a piece of Meat of any kind, including Frog Legs, Batilisk Wings, and Monster Meat, by approaching the rack and using the left mouse button or X. After a few days you'll have your Jerky ready for consumption!

Cook with your Crock Pot. The Crock Pot is another way of cooking your food, and you can make one with a Science Machine. It costs 6 Charcoal, 6 Twigs, and 3 Cut Stone. The Crock Pot's cooking mechanic requires you to put in four items of food in the four slots to cook and takes about a minute for the dish to cook. Most meals can restore a great amount of Health, as long as you figure out the recipe.

• You can use Twigs as fillers for recipe, which would usually save you from using up more important “edible” ingredients.
• Be careful when adding Monster Meats and Durians, though. Use too much without a twig, and you'll end up with a Monster Lasagna, an incredibly damaging food with a hefty penalty to Health and Sanity.
• As previously mentioned, if you find yourself with a Dragon Fruit, you're better off making a Dragonpie with it than cooking it over a campfire. It's only requirement is a single Dragon Fruit and excludes all meat products and Mandrakes from the recipe. You can simply use Twigs and Berries as fillers to make an easy Dragon pie, which heals double the Health than simply cooking it would.

Eat what you cooked (or dried)! Just select the food item and drag it to your character. When you see “Eat” when hovering the food over your character, click again. You can also right-click on the food item to immediately feed it to your character.

Know why you should hunt insects. You can kill some insects to loot their wonderful restorative items. Butterflies, Bees, Mosquitos and Spiders all have one thing in common: They drop items that can heal your health, and the items from the Bees and Spiders can be used to create more successful healing items.

Make your armaments. While your axe and pickaxe can be serviceable for minor slaying ventures, you're better off making a Spear and some armor for prolonged and more efficient hunts. You can make these necessities through the Fight tab, represented by a crossed sword and spear icon.

• Spears cost 1 Rope, 1 Flint, and 2 Twigs, and are first crafted through the Science Machine. This is the first true weapon of the game and is rather efficient when it comes to killing early-game mobs. Equipping it is identical to equipping your tools. Select your item then equip it with right click or the right direction button.
• Grass Suits can be crafted at the very beginning of the game and costs 10 Cut Grass and 2 Twigs. You equip them the same way you did with your tools and spear.
• Log Suits require the Science Machine to make the first time, and costs 8 Logs and 2 Ropes.

Make a Bug Net. Aside from Spiders, you can catch bugs of any kind with a Bug Net. This would actually save you some time if you don't want to bother killing but need some bug-related resources. You can make a Bug Net through your Science Machine's Survival tab for 4 Twigs, 2 Silk, and 1 Rope. Afterwards, equip it, and swing it at the first bug (that isn't a spider) you see.

Kill Spiders. While one of the more dangerous creatures you can encounter in the surface, killing spiders can yield lucrative amounts of loot, including the ever-useful Silk and the restorative Spider Glands. By itself, it won't heal much, but it can be used to craft the Healing Salve, which heals a decent amount of Health. Simply step on the “web” of a Spider Den, which resembles silk-wrapped, cobweb-covered mounds, and wait until a Spider emerges to chase you. You can then keep hitting it with your spear until it dies!

• You can also set up traps around the Den and lure them into it if you feel extra cautious. The traps would drop the Spider's loot instead of the Spider itself in your inventory.
• Healing Salves cost 2 Ashes (obtained from extinguished Campfires), 1 Rock, and 1 Spider Gland and heals for 20 Health, compared to the 8 Health healed by the Spider Gland.

Kill Mosquitos. While dusk is the most hazardous time to be in the Swamp, you'll find that killing the Mosquitos will yield the healing Mosquito Sac item. It heals the same amount of health as a plain Spider Gland, but cannot be used to make more effective healing items. In a pinch, though, it's very useful.

• Mosquitos spawn from Ponds in Swamps, and immediately become aggressive towards you. Whenever they hit you, their bellies will grow more bulbous until they explode. As long as you kill them before they explode, they will drop a Mosquito Sac.
• You're actually better off trying to catch them with a Bug Net than killing them with your Spear.

Kill Butterflies. Butterflies are plentiful and adorable, but you can murder them and take their wings to heal yourself with. Like with Spider Glands and Mosquito Sacs, the Butterfly Wings heal you for about 8 Health. Unlike the other two, they lose freshness and eventually rot, reducing their effectiveness. But you can cook the Butterfly Wings into a Butter Muffin in your Crockpot for 1 Wing and 1 Vegetable, which heals you for 20 points. While Butterflies normally tend to fly away from you, when they land on a Flower they are vulnerable for a couple seconds. Use these precious seconds to smash it to bits and gather those precious wings!

• Occasionally, instead of Butterfly Wings, a dead Butterfly drops Butter instead. It heals you for 40 points and can be used to cook Waffles in your Crock Pot for 1 egg, 1 berry and 1 butter. Waffles are one of the best healing food in the game, giving you a whopping 60 points of health, but plain butter lasts longer (40 days) without spoiling.
• If you catch a butterfly instead of killing it, when you place it on the ground a new Flower grows. This would be useful if you plan on starting a Bee farm instead of killing Bees, or if you need some Flowers and more Butterflies, since they spawn from Flowers.

Kill Bees. Bees are pesky things and come in two variations in this game. Normal bees don't do much except hover around flowers and return to their hives unless attacked, but Killer Bees tend to be hyper-aggressive, come out in droves, and try to kill everything in their path. While that sounds too bothersome to deal with, they drop useful things like Stingers and Honey. While Stingers are more common and can be used for other items, what you're after is the delicious golden Honey. Honey can be used to cook specific Crock Pot dishes and is used to craft Honey Poultices, which heal for 30 health!

• Honey Poultices are crafted through your Alchemy Engine for 2 Honey and 1 Papyrus. Papyrus is crafted from 2 Reeds, which are found in the Marsh, in your Science Machine through the Refine tab.
• You can make a Beekeeper Hat for 8 Silk and 1 Rope through your Alchemy Engine's Dress tab, and it will reduce all damage taken from bees by 80%, making this vital if you need to go bee hunting.
• If you don't feel like killing Bees all the time, you can catch just destroy a Hive, take the Honeycomb, and make a Bee Box. It can be crafted through your Science Machine's Food tab for 2 Boards, 1 Honeycomb, and 4 Bees. This way, you have regular Honey production with less stinging and pain.

Understand what the item does. The Life Giving Amulet is a somewhat rare and valuable item available late in the game that resurrects you upon death once, but more importantly, it heals your Health and restores Sanity for as long as it remains around your neck. It will degrade over time while you recover your Health.

Go grave-digging. While this takes a toll on your Sanity, you can take your Shovel and go dig up Graves. Graves resemble large mounds of dirt sometimes accompanied by stone grave markers. While you can find the occasional grave in the Forest, they sometimes spawn in large groups, forming a graveyard. Life Giving Amulets are somewhat rare yields from grave digging, so don't count on this to be a reliable way to get it.

• Shovels are made through the Tool tab with a Science Machine for 2 Twigs and 2 Flint. You can also use it to dig up Saplings, Grass Tufts, Berry bushes, and Tree stumps.
• Be very careful when grave-digging. While the chance to spawn a Ghost is low, they're also very aggressive and dangerous, and can bypass any armor's protection. Fortunately, it's easy to outrun them, so you can just run away and it will eventually find something else to kill.

Make a Prestihatitator. You can make this crafting station as soon as you get a Science Machine, and requires 4 Rabbits, 4 Boards, and 1 Top Hat. Head over to the Magic tab, represented by a red skull, then create it! Like the Science Machine and the Alchemy Engine, it's a permanent structure.

Make the Amulet. The Amulet requires 3 Gold Nuggets, 2 Nightmare Fuel, and 1 Red Gem to craft on your Prestihatitator under the Magic tab.

• Nightmare Fuel can be hard to find, but reliably you can get them from lowering your sanity until your hallucinations become solid and killing the Nightmare Monsters that spawn. Once you get enough, quickly recover your Sanity immediately so you don't die. If you're feeling cautious, you can simply pick Evil Flowers, then craft Nightmare Fuel for 4 Dark Petals in the Magic tab of your Prestihatitator.
• You can actually cultivate Evil Flowers for Dark Petals by placing some Bees near some Evil Flowers, and those Bees would slowly pollinate and propagate your Evil Flowers.
• Red Gems can be found Underground, especially after earthquakes, from grave-digging, or by killing Red Hounds that occasionally spawn during summer.