Why is rest so important? What can you achieve by making sure your body and mind get enough rest? Why do we neglect it? And what are the ways of restoring and resetting your mind and body?

At GOE, we believe that rest is very important for a healthy and balanced life. We will share some scientific facts of what happens with your body when resting. But also, let’s not forget about the mind. We all heard the phrase ‘’ to switch off’’, as a way of explaining the need to have some time away from daily activities and work. This can be hard, when you have a full-time job, family and household duties to look after daily. In this pillar, we will share tips and ways of ‘’switching off’’, relaxing, calming your nervous system down, in order to feel better.

We all know how important sleep is but do we know other forms of resting and how to incorporate rest into your busy schedules?

Many people associate resting with being lazy, lacking ambitions, being unproductive or avoiding your daily duties. Therefore, we tend to be active and occupied all the time. It gives us a sense of importance, gives us validation of our worth, makes us feel useful and productive.  In reality, resting can bring you more benefits than you could ever imagine.

Let’s look at the physical side of things first. If you are physically active, your muscles will need rest to restore and rebuild from the times of activity. If you don’t provide it for your body, sooner or later it’ll start lacking nutrients and result in injury or illness. Sleep is a great way of restoring the system but it’s not always enough. Especially, if your activity levels are high, you will need more resting time to allow your body to function properly. Remember that if you are super active and don’t like stillness, there are also ways of giving your body a rest while still being active. The best way for it is walking. Slow, mindful walks can do wonders to your body and mind.

And what about the mind? What happens when we don’t give it enough rest?

In situations, when we overload our nervous system with too much stimulants and we don’t give it enough break, sooner or later we’ll start experiencing one or more of the following:

-       Disturbed sleep

-       Lack of patience

-       High stress response

-       Short temper

-       Exhaustion

-       Lack in motivation

-       Mood swings

-       Anxiety

-       Depression

-       A need of switching of by using drugs, alcohol or other addictions

-       Low sex drive

-       Lack of interest in your own wellbeing

-       Low concentration

-       Low immune system and what comes with it - high risk of catching illnesses often

-       Low productivity

-       Heightened appetite, which can cause weight gain

-       The list goes on

If you look at the above, any of the symptoms (and they usually come in more than just one) , can really impact your daily life in a negative way. Hence why, we want to share with you techniques, methods and tips on how to rest your mind.

Today, we want to give you a few, simple but effective ways of giving your mind a quick rest, which you can easily incorporate in your daily life.

1. Take deep breaths in and long exhales staying focused on the sensation of the breath only. Try this for 5 min each day
2. Take a bath
3. Meditate, even if it’s just 5/10min
4. Walk in nature
5. Listen to some soothing music
6. Read
7. Write a journal
8. Do puzzles
9. Listen to bedtime stories or podcasts that interest you
10. Call a friend for an honest and meaningful chat
11. Switch off your phone and sit in silence for a few minutes
12. Try yoga
13. Start your day with a 5 min silence and do the same before going to sleep

There are just some suggestions on how you can start being more mindful of the importance of rest. Stay tuned and keep an eye on more advice on how to keep your mind healthy and calm.