Ever felt guilty for turning on the tv or just relaxing?
Well, the good news is that you do not have to feel guilty.
Perhaps we have learned something during our lockdowns that it feels good to take a gentle walk, it is ok to put your feet up and relax and watch a box set back-to-back, pick up a good book or listen to music.
As we rest the body it has many amazing benefits - physiological, psychological, and spiritual. Rest is vital for our health and well-being.
Physiological
Rest plays a massive role in the health of your endocrine system, which directly affects the immune and nervous systems. Do allow yourself to sleep more in the winter months. Melatonin is synthesised by the pineal gland and released in response to a dark environment. Sleep not only keeps your hormones in check, but plays a vital role in metabolism, immune function, learning and memory. Lack of sleep can contribute to hormonal imbalances by affecting your body’s ability to regulate stress hormones and blood glucose levels.
Psychological
Some of the greatest geniuses of time, like Darwin and Einstein, only worked about four hours a day. In between their work sessions (which usually lasted less than two hours at a time), they rested. Many successful people, sometimes workaholics, do not allow themselves to rest and yet by resting every 90 minutes for ten minutes, taking a walk, listening to music, or simply just resting and contemplating, can have significant benefits to productivity. By doing this you will recharge your brain, making you better able to acquire new information, consolidate existing information, and recall past information.
“If I had my life to live over again, I would have made a rule to read some poetry and listen to some music at least once every week.”– Charles Darwin
Spiritual
When you meditate, you quiet the mind and follow the breath, you can reach deeper insights that may have been pushed down by the stress of daily life. Meditation has also been shown to help with insomnia, depression, anxiety, and high blood pressure, and helps to re-oxygenate the brain for optimal functioning after a session.
Meditation is quite simply awareness. For ten minutes be aware of your breath or go for a walk and be aware of your footsteps FOCUS and AWARENESS is meditation.
“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.” – Albert Einstein
Enjoy and rejoice in relaxing as it is vital to your wellbeing, ready to face the world feeling physically, psychologically, and spiritually renewed.
Written by Daphne Bath and published on Saturday 9th January 2021 at 10:45
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