The importance of resting
The best cure for the body is a quiet mind
Napoleon Bonaparte
Everybody would accept that after a long run you need to sit down and rest your leg muscles. But when it comes to the brain – the hardest working muscle in the body – we never consider resting. Our poor brains are always ‘on’. Remembering, learning, sorting, controlling all processes of the body. Even during the night, our brain is sorting through experiences of the last waking period, sorting and filing problems and memories away. That is why we often have such weird dreams.
Lack of sleep
With all these activities, it is no wonder that on average the brain consumes around a fifth of our daily calorie intake.
During sleep, the brain instructs the organs to get rid of toxins that have built up during the day. However, a lack of sleep means that some toxins will remain trapped in the organs and over time this can cause harm.
If you suffer from sleep deprivation for a few days or even weeks, the body is able to compensate. But if you consistently deprive yourself of well-needed sleep it can come to health problems. Think of the brain as it was a big computer. Without rest, the brain gets clogged up and static, sometimes it is just time ‘to pull the plug’ and let the brain reset itself.
Here is an article of what happens if the brain does not get enough sleep
Your body clock is the deciding factor if you are a night owl or an early riser and how much sleep you need. In essence, it does not matter when you get up or go to sleep, as long as you keep to a steady rhythm. Everybody has their own personal sleep target.
When you don’t get enough sleep your brain will find it harder to retain memory and handle information. In severe cases, the brain can even restrict the way the body functions. Over a long time, this can lead to illness. Until not so long ago sleep torture was a common way to ‘break spies’ and enemies of the state.
But in most cases, slight sleep deprivation will lead to crankiness, irrational emotional responses (like misinterpreting social situations), and lack of concentration.
A few weeks of rest per year is essential. The traditional times always used to be after the harvest season (late autumn and winter) and a short spell in early August, waiting for the right weather, state of ripeness for the harvest to start. Looking at most school years in the Northern hemisphere, these dates of rest have stood the test of time and are still adhered to.
Is rest and sleep the same?
No, there is a difference – rest means being idle, but not asleep. If you had a bad night, small periods of resting can help to compensate for some sleep deficit, but effectively rest and sleep are like apples and pears- you can’t substitute one with the other.
Sleep is vital to reset the body – like clean out toxins and build memory. Rest is also vital, but more complementary. Over time the right amount of rest can provide ample health benefits like helping with hypertension, relaxing muscle tension and increased creativity.
How did people rest in the past?
Only 100 years ago one of the most commonly prescribed ‘medicine’ was bed rest. We don’t hear of this prescription anymore, but sometimes this is exactly what the patient would need. But with every employee being squeezed for more and more productivity, the world has become faster and faster and often it would be unthinkable that an employee just rests for a few days. But the increasing amount of ‘sick day’ shows that people still need this rest.
But why prescribe rest – that surely is what the holidays are for! But are we really resting in the few weeks of holiday or free time most of us have? And if you are free-lance – when do you rest then?
I would argue not many people really rest these days, – at least not in the old-fashioned sense of the word. Usually, during our holidays we go on a foreign trip with lots of added stress, or a staycation with kids off from school and don’t forget what are you doing in your downtime, holiday or not. Self-checkout at the supermarket, self-service in the restaurant, booking your flight online and wasting hours doing so, etc. This does not count as rest! This is stress!
In earlier centuries a successful person was somebody who had ample time to ponder about life, art, and philosophy. The poor had no such luxury as they had to work all day, often seven days per week. The only exception was Sunday prayer.
These days the trend almost seems to have reversed. Being busy has become a badge of honor. Just look at modern-day celebrities. They attend every event going, have perfect children and a perfect house. And of course, have highflying careers on top of all that, not to mention the work for charity, teach/partake in a course/TV show, run a marathon and the list goes on and on.
Social media promotes an ever-acute sense of permanently missing out. I am not anti-social media, it has its uses. But we must accept that we can’t be superhuman and have to make choices. Therefore we should put quality way above quantity. I know, easier said than done.
- Reading (58 per cent)
- Being in the natural environment (53.1 per cent)
- Being on their own (52.1 per cent)
- Listening to music (40.6 per cent)
- Doing nothing in particular (40 per cent)
What all these resting activities show is that people crave occasionally solitude. We need to get away from the world around us. No interactions with others, no stress, no communication, not thinking about others’ problems, wants and needs – just being in and enjoying the moment, daydreaming and no care in the world. This is rest – without guilt!
The good news is that ‘resting’ can be learned. There is no use of spending days in bed without any conscious benefits – that is not resting, this is lazying around. Resting only works when you are otherwise busy. The main objectives are to ease muscle tension and to lower your heart rate. Take a deep breath, exhale and think calming, pleasant thoughts and relax.
How do you successfully ‘rest’?
People who have mastered the art form of ‘resting’ can do this in ‘micro resting breaks’. Here is an example. You are driving through town, it is a stressful morning, everybody is in a rush, beeping horns, etc. At the next red traffic lights, relax your hands holding the steering wheel. Roll your shoulders back a few times and take a few really deep breaths and exhale long and hard. Make sure you pay attention to relax all the muscles in your body and release all angry thoughts from your brain.
These are all little exercises, but over a day they can have a big impact – as they get rid of rising tensions as it happens. So there is never a big build-up and you will stay in a good mood (at least most days!)
Whenever you have the chance to a 5minute ‘shut-down phase’ please take it! Sit still with your eyes closed and banish every thought. You can call it meditation, mindfulness or else. There are now many apps available to guide you. But you could just close your eyes and simply have a rest.
Think Hercule Poirot before he solves another complex case – he rests and lets his mind unfold. With all these benefits I would not be surprised if employers finally see the light and offer resting booths for hard pushed employees – to offer small power windows to boost their health, happiness and ultimately their productivity with much less sick days!
