The Three Rs
Rest is a fundamental part of health, happiness, and success. No matter your schedule or your job title, rest is vital to your long-term health.
Did you know the human body is built to thrive in a series of sprints? This is why taking a break, even if only for a few minutes, offers you the refresh and reset you need to power through the rest of your day. Breaks in your day boost creativity, improve mood, increase productivity, promote mental health, promote well-being, and strengthens relationships.
When you work too long without rest, you are working with reduced concentration. Regularly scheduled breaks—daily and weekly—allows you to feel refreshed, improves your decision making ability, and supports your emotional health.
However rest is only significant when you purposefully do it. Here are some techniques you can implement in your daily life:
Intentional silence
Meditation
Plan a weekend away, unplugged
Practice healthy sleep hygiene
Spend time in nature
Take a nap
Watch the sunset
Yoga nidra
Relaxation isn't only about peace of mind or enjoying a hobby.
Over time, low-grade chronic stress can lead to elevated blood pressure, increased heart rate, and muscle tension. The relaxation response may help people counteract the toxic effects of chronic stress by slowing breathing rate, relaxing muscles, and reducing blood pressure.
“Sometimes the most productive thing you can do is relax.”
—Mark Black
We have a tendency to get so embroiled in our hectic lifestyles with deadlines and meetings and kids to pick up that we actually forget to relax. Yet periodically relaxing for as little as 5 minutes, can give us the energy to navigate the rest of our day.
A certain amount of stress is necessary to deal with difficult situations in our everyday lives. The physical changes that occur in our bodies, enable us to take action. This type of stress usually fades quickly once the problem has been handled. However, if we stay in a state of high stress for too long, this can be damaging to our health.
Chronic stress can affect our emotional, mental, and physical well-being. Physical symptoms such as dizziness, fatigue, headaches, tension in the neck and shoulders, and poor sleep can all be a result of stress overload. Stress can also affect our mental state too and cause symptoms such as difficulty making decision, poor concentration, and worry. On the emotional front, ongoing stress can present as anxiety, depression, feelings of overwhelm, irritability, and low self-esteem.
We cannot always avoid stress but we can learn to manage stress by practicing relaxation techniques.
When we relax, the flow of blood increases around our body giving us more energy. It creates a calmer, clearer mind which supports concentration, decision making, memory, and positive thinking. Relaxation relieves tension, reduces blood pressure, and slows our heart rate. It also aids digestion as we absorb essential nutrients more efficiently when relaxed, which in turn helps us fight off disease and infection.
Relaxation techniques include:
Cooking
Exercise
Painting
Practicing gratitude
Practice yoga
Reading a book
Sharing a meal with a friend
Recovery is the hardest of the three Rs because you have to master rest and relax before you can experience true recover—improved health, living life fully and with gusto, and experiencing wellness in all areas of your life.
I believe we are made for recovery. Recovery requires a giving of self and a giving up of self. Only then can we flourish, health issues can be addressed and health restored, and we can open ourselves up to experience joy. It is through rest, relaxation, and recovery that we can nurture ourselves.
Ideally we will start our day feeling fully rested and refreshed. Then throughout the day, create time to rest and relax. Think of ways that you can weave moments of relaxation and rest into your days to create a space for recovery and healing and in turn, enjoy a more balanced, happier, and healthier you.