I often say that rest is the forgotten piece of the longevity puzzle. It benefits us physically, mentally and cognitively. But compared to many of the Age-Well protocols we write about here, there’s very little research on it. Possibly because it’s so difficult to quantify. How do you put ‘taking time to look out of the window’ or ‘having a bit of quiet time for myself’ into an algorithm and assess it?
There are many types of rest, of course. In her 2017 book, Sacred Rest, Dr Saundra Dalton-Smith describes seven different varieties we should aim to incorporate into our lives:
- Physical – this includes sleep, but also gentle stretching and muscle relaxation
- Mental – giving our brains a break from constant activity with meditation or just getting up from our desks and doing something else
- Emotional – this is an opportunity to express feelings and seek support
- Social – surrounding ourselves with supportive and uplifting people
- Sensory – where we switch off from the overload of stimulation in our lives, and seek out quiet and dark (this is a key theme in Annabel’s new book, Sleepless)
- Creative – engaging with art, music, or our own creativity to spark joy and new ideas
- Spiritual – finding meaning and purpose beyond the day-to-day and connecting to something greater than ourselves
Reading this, I’m sure there are some areas that you feel need more focus than others. If you’d like more guidance, Dr Dalton-Smith has a ‘rest quiz’ on her website. I found some of the questions surprisingly intrusive for an online quiz, but gleaned that mental rest is where I fall short – something to work on.
Why we don’t prioritise rest
Where I find I, and many of my health coaching clients, struggle with rest is the overriding sense that we need to be ‘on’ all the time: there’s always another ‘to-do’ to be done. Rest comes at the end of a long list of tasks. We’re simply not very good at doing nothing. Instead, we seem to excel at linking our self-worth to our busyness, meaning that rest isn’t a priority. Other countries and cultures seem to be better at this – there’s a great article in the Guardian here about niksen, the Dutch art of doing nothing. Essentially, it boils down to letting go of any expectation of an outcome from whatever we’re doing.
Active relaxation
In my book, The Power Decade, I write about the concept of Sustainable Nurturing: committing to look after ourselves as an act of self-respect. And I love the concept of active relaxation, a term that refers to anything that engages our minds but allow body and brain to feel relaxed. That could be yoga, walking, meditation and music. Or something that uses our hands like sewing, knitting, crafting, gardening, cooking – even cleaning!
American psychologist and neuroscientist Dr Kelly Lambert has described how using our hands activates our brain’s ‘effort-driven reward circuit’, particularly when these actions produce a tangible result, like a new jumper, a delicious meal or a tidy kitchen. Dr Lambert proposes that using our hands purposefully stimulates the accumbens-striatal-cortical network in the brain to produce the ‘feel-good’ hormone, dopamine. What’s your favourite way to ‘actively relax’? Let me know in the comments.
NSDR
Annabel and I are both big fans of Yoga Nidra, a deeply relaxing form of ‘conscious sleeping’, also know – more prosaically – as non-sleep deep rest, or NSDR. The practice has also been shown to raise dopamine levels, and significantly improve cognitive performance tasks. Have a search online for a session if you fancy giving it a go. We talked about how Nidra helped Annabel to function when she was suffering insomnia during the online launch for Sleepless last week. If you missed that live webinar, you can catch up with the recording here. And see below for how you can join me and Nidra teacher Kanan Thakerar for a live session in London next month.
TIME TO REST AND RESET
Kanan and I have created an afternoon Rest Reset on March 9th in West London. I’ll give a coaching session on rest and how to incorporate it into our lives, then Kanan will lead a beautiful restorative Nidra session. You’ll be able to lie back and enjoy conscious relaxation as Kanan’s voice guides you to a deeply rested state. We’ve got a gorgeous venue and there will be time for refreshments, questions and chat too. Tickets are available at this link.
Susan
Hello Susan. I hope you enjoyed your trip to Norfolk this week.
With regard to rest, well I knit, sew, paint and draw, do mindfulness meditation, gentle yoga and tai chi, so should be so rested it’s amazing I’m awake at all!
I do find that in summer, being out in the garden in my comfy chair, doing absolutely nothing, is so relaxing and refreshing, but it’s more difficult to do nothing in the house. I always felt I should be doing something productive but have learnt that this isn’t the case. Gazing at a beautiful view is very restful of course, thank goodness for our lovely countryside.
Thanks Monica. Norfolk is indeed very beautiful, and very relaxing! It sounds as if you’ve covered off rest very well. Looking at the view, and those big skies, is definitely very good for the soul
I found the quiz a bit odd as the only reference to spirituality seems to reference God which is a very limited concept. Scores didn’t seem to reflect my answers. Overall probably better to just reflect on the types of rest and understand for yourself which area you could focus on more for your wellbeing.
Ah thanks Jill, yes I found it a bit odd too. The seven types of rest are definitely thought-provoking though. But, as you say, the best thing is to bring self-awareness to our wellbeing and focus on the areas that need support