Sleeping is the process of resting in a bed, sleeping bag/roll, or pile of hay to fully restore your health, magicka, and stamina.
As long as you are not a werewolf and do not have the Lover Stone active (see notes), sleeping for any length of time also confers a bonus to the rate at which all skills increase, lasting for eight in-game hours. A message on screen tells you which bonus you have received; for example, "You awaken feeling Well Rested".
- In a normal bed, you receive the Rested bonus, which confers a 5% bonus to skill increases.
- In a bed that you own, you receive the Well Rested bonus, which gives you a 10% bonus to skill increases. This applies to beds in purchased houses and beds that you are allowed to sleep in in an inn.
- If you are married and you sleep in the building where your spouse is, you receive the Lover's Comfort bonus, which is a 15% bonus to skill increases.
- The Lover Stone provides this same 15% bonus permanently (unless you select another Standing Stone bonus), but it cannot be combined with any resting bonuses.
- (DG) If you're a vampire and you sleep in a coffin, you will receive the Vampiric Blood Rested bonus, which boosts your resistance to magic by 10% for one in-game day.
- (HF) If you have adopted a child and you sleep in the same house as your child, you will receive the Mother's Love or Father's Love bonus, which makes healing spells and potions more effective.
The sleeping bonuses are all cumulative with the skill-increase bonuses from any one of the three Guardian Stones—the Mage Stone, the Thief Stone, and the Warrior Stone.
If the Aetherial Crown(DG) is equipped during sleeping, the skill bonus is not activated. You must unequip and re-equip it to sum up all the possible skill bonuses (Guardian + Lover stones + rested/Lover's comfort).
Waiting
Rather than sleeping, you can use the Wait command anywhere to fully restore your health, magicka, and stamina. However, this will not give you any resting bonuses.
Notes
- Unlike previous Elder Scrolls games, sleeping is no longer necessary to level up.
- You cannot sleep or wait when enemies are nearby, or while you are trespassing.
- You cannot sleep in a bed owned by someone else, though some NPCs will allow you to use their bed if you befriend them. Killing the owner of a bed will not (usually) remove the ownership.
- When the owner of a house is killed, beds in the previously owned house become free to sleep in. Note that this may be a different person than the bed's owner.
- The Aetherial CrownDG makes it possible to obtain both resting bonuses and the benefits of the Lover Stone. See the related article for details.