Talking to a friend recently reminded me of the importance of rest. She lives in the Lismore area and she and her community were significantly impacted by the devastating floods earlier this year. When asked how she was going she replied ‘ok…. sad, tired, angry, busy’ and a range of other emotions and experiences that suggested she was worn out, overwhelmed and potentially heading to a mental and physical health crisis if she did not stop to look after herself. It turns out she had pretty much been working non-stop since the floods: in her role as nurse; in clearing and cleaning up her own home; in supporting others in her community with the clean-up of their homes and businesses; and supporting her family, her husband and two children. While inspired and encouraged by her community’s optimism, strength and support for one another, she was exhausted.
Sometimes there is a great deal of pressure and stress to ‘get things done!’ This can occur in your typical daily routine, but is also apparent in larger life situations such as re-crafting your life and routines post pandemic lockdowns or following significant natural disasters and all the clean-up and decisions that are subsequently required.
Sometimes stress can be a powerful motivator for action and at other times a heavy and tiring burden to carry. Stress is typically defined as some sort of challenge or stimulus change or the perception of such, which can result in a physiological response in the body. Chronic stress can decrease your immune system and increase your risk of illness and disease.
During stress (and/or the perception of danger) our bodies prepare for flight or fight – a physiological reaction that readies the body to respond to the perceived danger. The sympathetic nervous system (a branch of our autonomic nervous system) responds to perceived signs of danger and triggers the release of adrenaline, in preparation for our potential need to fight or flee. The breath quickens, hormones flood the body to boost alertness, the heart rate and extra oxygen is sent to the muscles, readying them for action!
The parasympathetic nervous system in contrast, responds to cues of safety and connection. It works in tandem with the sympathetic nervous system to calm the body once the stressor or danger has passed. Resting activates the parasympathetic nervous system, allowing our body to calm, reconnect and recharge.
As my friend in Lismore can attest - rest and relaxation are typically not seen as crucial when there is so much to be done. However, rest is not only vital for better mental health, concentration, memory, and improving mood, it is also critical for enabling longer endurance in tasks that are more marathon than sprint. Over use of the sympathetic nervous system, without the balancing calm of the parasympathetic nervous system has been linked to a number of diseases such as heart disease and heart failure, hypertension in addition to association with kidney disease, obesity, type II diabetes, and even Parkinson’s disease.
The importance of rest, relaxation and sleep cannot be under-estimated. Rest and relaxation help our parasympathetic nervous system to calm and help us to maintain a healthy balance in our body.
If relaxation and rest are important to everyday life, they are absolutely essential during times of great stress, workload and pressure. Finding ways to calm your mind and your body are vital to endurance during tough times.
It is important to note, that rest, relaxation and sleep are different things, but all are important to our longer-term wellbeing. Rest and relaxation can look different for different people as they are individually defined.
Rest is considered to be any action aimed at increasing mental or physical well-being. These actions can be passive (sitting and breathing quietly for 5 mins) or active (going for a walk in nature). Irrespective of the behaviours each individual finds restful, the goals are to help us recover and recharge from mental and physical activity.
Sleep is the opportunity to disconnect from our world and is an essential part of maintaining our physical and mental health. Good quality sleep allows us to recuperate and heal, refresh and reset. Sleep is, in fact, so vital that we actually cannot function effectively without it. Sleep deprivation can impact our memory, our mood, our concentration and immunity. As a consequence, it can also be a factor in accidents occurring, increasing the risk of injury or worse.
My friend in Lismore realised that if she wanted to continue to help her community, to partner and parent well, to nurse and to clean up and repair her home, it was time to take charge of her own physical and mental health. She started this journey by taking one morning a week for herself, to slow down, sit in the sun, read and be still. She also committed to a sleep routine that helped to get the amount of sleep necessary for her to function well. She revised her family’s routine to ensure they had time as a family to connect, play and relax. In addition, she actually set a timer each day to remind herself to check-in with how she was feeling emotionally and physically and take a short break if she needed it. She acknowledges that managing her well-being and getting to all the things that need to be done is a work in progress but she is well on the way to ensuring she can continue without collapsing.
If you are facing some large hurdles or even just the typical stressors of life, we urge you to find methods that work for you, that enable you to switch off, calm down, relax and unwind – you are selling yourself short if you do not! Not to mention your body will thank you for allowing it time to recharge!
References
· Why It’s Important to Allow Yourself to Rest, 16/4/21. https://integrisok.com/
· The Benefits of Resting and How to Unplug in a Busy World, by Heather Cherry. 15/01/2021, Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/
· Danner, D. The Polyvagal Theory in Therapy. 2018
· Fight or flight: The sympathetic nervous system. By Nicoletta Lanese and Scott Dutfield, 9/2/22. https://www.livescience.com/65446-sympathetic-nervous-system.html
· The effects of sleep deprivation on the your body, Healthline. By Stacy Sampson and Kristeen Cherney, 15/12/21. https://www.healthline.com/health/sleep-deprivation/effects-on-body