5 Surprising Benefits of Rest And Relaxation
Rest and relaxation can be taken as laziness but is not necessarily so. Rest and relaxation gives the body time to restore and replenish any cells or tissues that have been overworked or damaged.
When I have been very physically active, I find that my body tends to start shutting down with a loss in concentration. A number of times I have found myself dropping off to sleep.
Rest is a reward for productivity. God rested on the seventh day after the crowning of His creation in Man, as recounted in the book of Genesis. Man’s first day was therefore a day of rest. We were created to function like God, meaning that rest is a necessary function for each and everyone of us.
Benefits of Rest and Relaxation
#1 Time to meditate
Physical rest gives the mind time to meditate on what memories we have stored up and permit us to receive guidance in our spirit. God told Joshua (see Joshua 1:8) to meditate in order to have good success in life.
#2 Time to be creative
Rest and relaxation has always put me in a position to be creative. Meditation births creativity. As I meditate on what I have learnt, my creativity skills increase. The ability to reflect on lessons learnt is beneficial, provided I put these lessons to work.
#3 Brings comfort
Rest equates to comfort in a lot of cases. An uncomfortable person is not at rest. When we are uncomfortable, we are more stressed and even more irritable.
#4 Aids recovery
A change of scenery, taking a vacation, or just having a break, are all ways of improving our mental health. Before I was finally signed off the mental health system for good, I learnt to use rest as ‘medication’. Just getting some extra sleep was all I needed. Obviously when ill, especially with mental illness, the mind seems to be working non stop and sleep can be an issue. The medication one takes can however aid sleep.
However, when well, I learnt to program myself to consciously rest. And this was more marked especially when I started breaking the dependency I had on medication. That meant, at the first sign of feeling unwell, I would hit the bed, or Zoe would make sure I did! If God took a rest after six days of work, then so can I! Rest really does recharge the batteries including the mental batteries. Even with physical illness, rest goes a long way in speeding up the recovery process.
#5 Releases hormones that benefit our health
Don’t wear lack of sleep as a badge of honor and courage. A doctor friend of ours told us that when we sleep we release hormones that are beneficial for our health. I found this article about sleep and hormones. Lack of sleep affects several hormones.
World Health Organization in 2007 listed night shift as a probable carcinogen. That is not to say you pack in your night work this minute…we don’t create panic on Defying Mental Illness! Make sure you sleep when you get in and talk right concerning you (We will be blogging about the benefits of talking right in coming weeks)!
Finally…
There are no debates about the benefits of rest. Fear, anxiety and worry are definitely enemies of rest. So get rest. Don’t take rest for granted.
Turn off the smartphones, iPads, and jump into bed. And let us know how you got on!
About The Author
Recently I was feeling very unwell. I am someone who never gets sick, not even headaches or cold! But I got sick, BAD! As I lay in bed staring at the ceiling and confessing life into my body, I realized that God gave rest for a reason. If the Creator of the universe paced Himself in creating the world in 6 days, there are lessons there. Being God, He could have done it in a day. Think about it. Then on top of that, on the 7th, He rested. There is so much power in rest. And in bringing healing. Healing for the mind and soul. With rest comes more productivity anyway! Sometimes all the body and/or mind needs is R-E-S-T! Thanks Chuck for this superb post xxx