In the middle of an unending lecture on toxic productivity, learning how to rest properly can be tough. Here are the most effective tips to help you get the much-needed downtime.
REST — familiar with the meaning of the world, unfamiliar with how it actually feels?
Rest is one of the most essential components of our well-being. It helps us get going mentally and physically every day. It affects our productivity and cognitive skills. It heals your body and is proven to reduce stress and anxiety. Not only that, it also boosts your creativity and allows you to make better decisions.
You probably understand the importance of resting yourself, but have you wondered how to rest properly?
Don’t roll your eyes at us. We understand how simple the question is. But if you genuinely think about it, do you really know how to rest mentally and physically? Do you know how to give your brain the much-needed downtime it needs?
Let’s take a guess – you don’t. And trust us when we say that you aren’t alone. Most of us grow up with the generic ‘just rest’ advice whenever we complain about feeling tired and depleted.
However, ‘just rest’ is a terrible piece of advice because the moment you sit down to relax, you feel a familiar sense of anxiety creeping in.
And suddenly, your mind is bombarded with thoughts like:
- “How can I rest when I have so much to do?”
- “Even if I want to pause, how do I stop my monkey mind from racing?”
- “I think I’m too tired to rest. Is that a thing?”
Simply put, rest is complicated. It’s hard, especially when your to-do list keeps overflowing and you are bombarded with TED talks on ‘how to keep moving.’
However, no matter how hard it is to learn how to rest your mind and body, you cannot refuse the pressing need for relaxation. As per research by the American Psychological Association (APA), around 27% of Americans feel so stressed that they cannot function on some days.
So, How To Get Proper Rest?
The good thing is that you can do a lot to get the required rest for yourself. And you don’t necessarily have to look at resting from a one-dimensional perspective. The ways you approach rest can change depending on what your well-being requires.
Confused?
We have simplified it for you. Here are nine effective tips on how do you rest properly. Let’s dive in!
1. Build a resting inventory.
One of the best tips on how to rest your brain and body is to build a resting inventory for yourself. Start by thinking about what activities help you rest properly. Where are you able to feel the most relaxed? Knowing what relaxes you is the best way to learn how to rest a tired brain.
And while this might seem like common knowledge, you’ll be surprised by how unintentional you are with your downtime. Most of the time, people feel they are resting when they really aren’t (yes, we are talking about your Netflix marathons and doom-scrolling).
To figure this out, begin by understanding that rest is not an activity. It’s a feeling or an outcome associated with an activity. Therefore, explore different types of activities, scenarios, and the company of people and figure out what makes you feel more rested. Building this inventory will help you the next time you have questions like ‘How do I rest my brain.’
2. Be intentional about resting, but remove expectations.
Intentionality is one of the best answers to ‘how do you rest your brain.’ To relax adequately, you need to be intentional and committed to the whole process. Half a day of unintentional relaxing is not as good as an hour of proper rest.
We half-rest all the time. In fact, it’s one of the primary habits that forbid you from figuring out how to get the required rest.
Think of it properly – on a weekend, you are constantly distracted by your texts. You have turned your hobbies into side hustles and drained every last bit of joy from them. While you are relaxing, you are actually thinking of your overflowing to-do list.
Feels relatable? All this mess is created because we don’t understand what we want from the resting time. Therefore, one of the best tips on how to rest properly is to figure out your needs. Do you want to get distracted from your work problems? Do you want to feel recharged for the upcoming day? Once you figure these things out, you’ll be able to understand what activities will suit your needs and get started the right way.
3. Establish clear boundaries in all spheres of your life.
If a notification from work or a call from a nosy relative has destroyed your downtime, you know how important it is to draw clear boundaries in your life.
While it’s not pragmatic to have complete control over the circumstances around your downtime, it’s essential that you put in basic safeguards to protect yourself. For instance, you could start with a digital detox or get a change of scenery and find a new location to relax.
Pro tip: If you don’t know how to set boundaries for resting, start by not using your phone in bed. It works wonders.
4. Get long and good-quality sleep.
The optimum amount of sleep varies from person to person.
Some people struggle to live with eight hours of sleep, while others thrive on six hours. However, there’s one thing that we can all agree on – more sleep is generally better than less sleep. And better quality sleep is the best of them all.
So, one of the best tips on how to properly rest is to get enough sleep for yourself every day. Now, for the quality part, there are some things that you can do, like:
- Reduce screen time before bed.
- Avoid caffeine a few hours before sleeping.
- Try to get morning light daily.
- Create a relaxing environment for yourself in the bedroom.
5. Think of both passive and active forms of rest.
Passive rest includes lying down and watching the re-run of your favorite Netflix show. Active rest includes exercising, brisk walking, or playing a puzzle game.
While getting both types of rest is important, we tend to find more time for passive rest. After all, it’s easier to scroll social media than to read a book or exercise.
However, to learn how to properly rest your body and mind, it’s essential that you factor in active rest in your regular lives. Now, you don’t need to hit the gym or become a bookworm for that. Just invest time in regular bodily movements, spend time with friends and family, or try journaling. Small activities can make a big difference.
6. Have a daily quiet time for yourself.
While it might sound pretty cliché, the world around us is functioning faster than our minds and bodies can always match up. We are consumed with so much noise and sensations that we have forgotten what our true inner voice sounds like.
This is why one of the best tips on how to rest effectively is to have quiet time with yourself every day. This quiet time not only allows you to rest properly but also to get more in sync with how you are feeling inside.
7. Spend time people-watching.
Listen to us before you judge us for telling you to stalk people.
We spend a lot of time being focused on ourselves. We are overly invested in our problems and worries. This is why, to figure out how to rest mentally and physically, try to look around. Make a conscious effort to see the lives of people when you are in a grocery store line or public transit.
Maybe you’ll find a new mother struggling to manage her day job with her child. Maybe you’ll wonder what will be in store for the couple you just saw on the train. Has that businessman with a love letter in his hand made it to his love? What will that young college student do to change the world?
Looking at the world can be weirdly comforting and relaxing. It makes you step away from your usual worries and see the world as a whole. It helps you understand that the world is much more than just you and that there are thousands of things happening around you. It gives you the much-needed perspective shift.
8. Schedule a time for resting and make it a part of your routine.
Resting is a habit that you need to develop consciously. Therefore, make sure you incorporate relaxing into your daily routine.
One of the main restraints people face while learning how to get proper rest is that they feel relaxing will significantly jeopardize their productivity. However, this is just one of the hustle-culture-fueled misconceptions. Factoring a downtime in your schedule allows you to rest, recharge, and be better prepared for the tasks.
Therefore, try to factor in some time for rest in your schedule and be generous with this time.
9. Don’t force yourself to rest.
We know. We know. Isn’t learning how to feel more rest the whole point?
But when rest doesn’t come naturally to you, anxiousness sets in. When you are anxious or stressed, it’s easy to worsen your problems by trying more aggressively. The more you try to figure out how to rest your mind and body forcefully, the harder it gets to truly rest.
Therefore, try to factor in natural rest as much as possible. Resist the urge to push for change in your schedule aggressively. It could do far more harm than good.
Conclusion:
Resting is great. But learning how to rest properly isn’t that easy. It’s actually far more complicated than you would think it is.
However, there’s a lot you can do to rest your mind and body effectively. We hope these nine practical and efficient tips on how to get proper rest will help you get started the right way.
Still on the fence about why resting is so important? Here are the life-changing benefits of relaxing to help you convince otherwise.
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