Are You Really Resting?

by Kelly Beischel PhD, RN, CAPP, CPPC

 

The new year is in full swing.

I’m betting like most, you started the year banging out your goals with the verve of a flapper dancing the Charleston.

You want to maintain the limits and boundaries of your workday because you understand the importance of rest.

But, you’ve noticed that the number of hours you’re working is creeping up, encroaching on your family time, recreation, and sleep.

You’re not alone. It’s all too easy to get swept up into the vortex of work. The next thing you know your days are gone. Your evenings as well. And let’s face it, many weekends too.

Unfortunately, I am well versed in getting sucked up into the work vortex. How do I know so much about this topic? Just ask my husband.:)

But, there are serious, negative consequences of working too much.

The research is clear about what happens to your health when you sit too long.

The research is also clear that sleep deprivation can cause accidents as well as wreak havoc on your sex life, memory, health, weight, stress, and looks.

You also become less productive. You might think, “If I just put in a few more hours, I will get a lot more done.”

Turns out your productivity actually dissipates when you work too long.

And you want to know the saddest consequence of not resting?

The consequence of thinking and doing the same thing day in and day out without rest?

We create ruts in the neural pathways of our brain that impede our creativity, essentially shutting down our ability to have breakthrough ideas.

For me, this was the decisive factor to take rest seriously.

I’ve discovered that when I am in a rut, my creativity wanes and I become resentful of work. Who wants to live in that state?

You know the importance of rest, what can you do to get more of it?

Find a hobby that you love.

Resting doesn’t simply mean taking a nap in an easy chair, though it could.

Resting can also be participating in recreational activities. It depends on where you derive energy.

Find a hobby that lights you up, a hobby that you anticipate with excitement.

Did you give up a hobby or recreational activity over time because you’ve become too busy?

Resurrect it. Take it out. Dust it off. You’ll look forward to putting away your work to get started on your hobby. Or better yet, schedule your hobby first. (More on that in the next strategy.)

One of my friends farms 11 acres and is crazy productive as a faculty member. In fact, as we were trudging back to our offices after a marathon faculty meeting one Friday, she animatedly told me about her plans to raise her lavender beds over the weekend. She was also excited about her newest hobby, making gourmet soap.

My thought? “I have got to come up with a better hobby (life). I want to be excited like that.”

Now, like my friend, I have that a few hobbies that boost my energy with anticipation and excitement. Each step of the artwork I create – the planning of the project, thrift shopping for the materials, painting, molding the pieces and placing the molded pieces together like a puzzle – is so ridiculously satisfying. 

Hobbies allow us to rest our brains from the work that depletes our energy.

Take the time to rest by prioritizing it.

You may have said “yes” so many times that you think you don’t have time to rest. That’s when you take back time by saying “no”. Cue Meghan Trainor.:)

The best way to be sure you take the time to rest is to calendarize your rest first – before meetings, before writing, before teaching, before it all. Decide in advance when you will take a vacation, your activities, family time, the hours you will work, when you will nap, the time you will go to bed, and get up. 

Calendarizing your rest first ensures a few things. One, you don’t have a blank day on your calendar giving your brain the impression that you have all day to accomplish your work. And it is easier to say no when you have a full calendar. Two, scheduling it tells your brain that rest is indeed a priority. Three, by prioritizing your rest first, will stimulate your brain to look for ways to become more efficient.

I’m working with a client who is steeped in overwhelm and stress.

She is teaching in overload (said yes too many times), has an overflowing number of online students, and still must find clinical sites for students in one of her four courses. To this end, she has given up playing her cello, being a member of her book club, attending town discussions at her local library – all things that raise her mojo. 

To decrease her stress and overwhelm, we are working together on systematizing her work and creating grading strategies that free up her time as well as flipping her calendar to bring at least one or two of her beloved activities back into her schedule.

It feels counterintuitive, I know. But it is imperative. I promise.

Unplug.

Give your brain downtime. Unplug from your phone, email, social media. You don’t even need to explain yourself.

But if you need permission, I’m giving it to you.

Remember all those times your parents hollered, “Go to bed!” when you were running around at bedtime, resisting sleep?

For many of us, our devices have taken the place of running around at bedtime to resist sleep.

Now I’m hollering it to you. Unplug and go to bed! Good health requires sleep.

It’s that simple.

Scrolling through Facebook or answering one more email doesn’t offer relief from the stress we hold in your shoulders.

But, the world is always brighter when we’re refreshed after a good night’s sleep.

Your device will be there in the morning if you want to plug back in.

Take a nap in the middle of the day.

Yes, in the middle of the day.

I do this whenever I can.

Research demonstrates improved cognitive functioning, immunity, productivity, creativity, mood, and memory after a short nap.

Wow! Those are good reasons for shutting this article down and taking a nap, right?

Schedule your nap and think of it as an appointment for your wellbeing. 

If you need to take a break and keep getting interrupted, here’s a sign just for you. Edit the sign to meet your needs, hang it on your door, and rest. (Look at you – remodeling a healthy way of living and working.)

My Challenge to You: Challenge Your Thoughts about Rest

I used to think of rest as a gift for a job well done – an end of the week thing.

But this thinking has always kept me from resting. Because, how do you rest after a job well done when your work is never really done?

After learning about the importance of rest, I was challenged to flip my thinking, to consider rest as preparation for work.

So, I started playing with this idea. And you know what? Flipping my thinking has made a world of difference.

Now, I challenge you to do the same.

I now view rest as vital preparation for the creative work I plan to accomplish.

No less important than water or air.

Yes, it’s that important.

Try it.

Prepare for work by first resting.

See how much more you accomplish.

I’d love to hear your strategies for resting and/or why rest Is important to the work you do.

What do you do to revitalize, to fill your mojo’s well?

Comment below to let me know.