Your brain needs more rest than it is getting
These 9 tips can help
When you think about getting rest, which of these situations comes to mind?
A. Enjoying a good night’s sleep B. Taking a midday nap C. Reclining on the sofa to watch mindless television
While these restful moments all have their place in daily life, it’s a common misconception to view rest as an entirely passive experience. True rest, say experts, is not just about being sedentary or in the prone position — it’s also about giving your brain the restorative breaks it needs to function at an optimal level. While adequate sleep is essential to brain health, many forms of rest involve activity, not slumber.
“The most restorative kinds of rest — the things that recharge our mental and physical batteries most effectively — are the things that are active rather than passive,” said Alex Soojung-kim Pang, author of the book “Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less.”
“Going for a long walk or hike or working out can give us more rather than less energy and leave us feeling mentally more rejuvenated,” he said.
This is your brain on rest
A series of cultural and generational shifts have fueled interest in the concept of rest. Workfrom-home habits forged during the pandemic have prompted many workers to rethink how and where they work, reviving interest in a four-day workweek. And boundary-setting millennials and Gen Z workers have rebelled against the after-hours work habits of earlier generations.
The advocacy for more rest is backed by science. When researchers began mapping brain activity, they were surprised to learn that the resting brain is still an active brain. When we shift our attention from concentrating on a task to something that requires less active mental focus (such as daydreaming or introspection), our brain’s “default mode network,” or DMN, becomes more activated. While there’s still much to be learned about this network, the DMN is believed to be involved in a variety of cognitive functions, including creative thinking.
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