WHY YOU NEED MORE REST
We all keep hearing it in the news, on blogs, from our moms, from other people’s moms… we need more sleep. Seven and a half hours of sleep per day is crucial to our mental and physical health. I do not dispute this for a second- sleep is a basic need. Nights we miss out on sleep result in us being close non-functional the next day. But what about rest? I am sure you have had days where you slept great, but still find yourself feeling tired and drained. You don’t understand why, because you got enough sleep. But did you get enough rest?
Sleep is when we are physically unconscious, and our brains form different activity patterns. This can be physically measured, and you can do this at home with a Fitbit. This can help you establish whether you are getting enough sleep, which is an essential baseline to getting enough rest.
Rest, in contrast to sleep, is a spiritual state where you let go of draining energy. It is a sense of calmness that has many forms. Some examples of rest include:
- Meditation
- Yoga
- Naps
- Time in nature
- Listening to music/reading
- Stretching/light exercise
- Creating art
- Deep breathing
Chances are, if you are working a 9-5 job, you are not getting enough rest. You are sitting at a computer, grinding with only a lunch break. You feel burnt out, and worse, unproductive. Here is why you need more rest to counter this:
Mental work is just as exhausting as physical labour. And it’s worse, because your body isn’t moving. Physical movement is essential to rest, ironically, because it allows for your focus to shift to your body, giving your mind some time to rest. So try to incorporate more physical activity into your day. Even just a 15 minute walk will allow your mind to rest and refresh.
We cannot be productive for more than about 3 hours at a time. Studies have shown this. That is why it is important to be kind to yourself and take time to rest, even if you have only been working 3 hours. This exhausts you. Despite what work culture may have taught you, 8 hours of work is not productive. Try to take more breaks to allow for more rest and productivity in the long run.
Your body knows best. Sometimes, it is 2 in the afternoon, and I feel like I can’t do anything except take a nap. I will lie down for about an hour, sometimes I won’t fall asleep, but I will just be lying there, resting. When I decide to get back up, I will feel motivated again to do what I need to do. Even better, sometimes this leads to insight I didn’t have when I was overwhelmed with stress.
You need to let go of your stress. Sometimes, we are misguided, and think it is stress that leads us to take action. This is a sure way to burn out quickly. When you are stressed, this manifests in the body physiologically. Since your mind is so connected to your body, if your body is tense and stressed, your mind will react accordingly, and this is a viscous cycle. Furthermore, your intuition will have a hard time coming through if there is too much noise. This is why you need to let go of your stress. Meditation and yoga (especially a yin practice) are great for this. Not sure how to meditate? I will be writing an article on this soon.
It is healthy to spend time in nature. Studies have shown that time in nature greatly reduces stress. I also believe that if we take the time to slow down in nature, we will be able to tune into the wisdom of the trees and improve our intuition. Nature is calming, and essential to washing away the stress, allowing your mind to rest.
You need to light your soul. Part of rest means doing things without care for the results. For example, I love to cook, and will make food to take a break from work. In a sense I do care about the results, because I want to eat my creations (yum!), but the joy I get from cooking is more intrinsic. I do not receive any monetary compensation for cooking, I do it just for me. Another thing that really struck me on this point is a quote I saw on Pinterest that says “You feel tired not because you’ve done too much, but because you haven’t done enough of what lights you”. So it is essential to do things that make you happy, and light a part of your soul somehow. Creativity is great for this. You can just grab a dollar store canvas and paints and go crazy, don’t worry about the results, just see what happens. You may notice yourself feeling more alive. Or maybe going to a Zumba class helps you get that spark. Whatever it is, find it, and do it. Often. This will take your mind away from your work, and allow it to rest.
I hope you can incorporate more rest into your every day. It will make all the difference.
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