What Does It Mean to Really, Truly Rest?

[Sly Saint]

I confess that I didn’t give the topic of rest much thought prior to getting COVID-19 in January 2021, which was the first time in my life that rest was “prescribed” to me. After my positive PCR test, I dutifully got in bed with my box of tissues, cough medicine, pulse oximeter, and phone. A few days in, when my symptoms had started to improve, I got up to do a couple of basic chores, like unloading the dishwasher and bagging up some trash…and was very quickly wiped out. At that point, I realized that resting for recovery was going to involve a lot more laying around than I’d anticipated. So back to bed I went, where I scrolled, texted, and browsed like I normally would, without thinking twice about it. And I still felt like shit.

But learning how to rest properly is important, and not just when it comes to COVID recovery; rest is a recommended treatment for nearly everything that wears your body down, from the common cold to burnout. It’s recently become a key form of self-care for me personally: After testing positive for mononucleosis in early September and dealing with months of persistent and ongoing fatigue, brain fog, and muscle aches, I’ve become even more aware of the ways in which rest is both extremely necessary and incredibly difficult.

So, what does rest look and feel like, exactly? What “counts” as resting, and when are we simply swathing our toxic productivity in soft pants and a robe? And what might rest look like for the millions of people who don’t have access to a social safety net that will allow them to do it meaningfully and properly?

As part of SELF’s upcoming “Rest Week”—an editorial package that’s dedicated to doing less—I sought to come up with a better understanding of rest, so that we can all do a little more of it.

If you aren’t entirely sure what resting for your well-being actually means, you’re not alone: It is hard to define. “It’s going to depend on how that person feels and where they are in terms of getting back to their normal,” Jaime Seltzer, director of scientific and medical outreach at myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) advocacy group #MEAction, tells SELF.

https://www.self.com/story/what-does-rest-mean

 

[alktipping]

Who can truly rest in the modern age we live in even with the very much begrudged financial support from government agencies . I find it very difficult to truly rest as in lying still in bed trying to sleep needing to be distracted from pain and nausea means finding something other than rest .

 

[Sly Saint]

seems like 'rest' is becoming more 'popular', although this article is largely 'rest' in relation to mental health.
‘Don’t feel guilty about resting’: Why rest is so important and how you can do it better

How much do you rest? Do you prioritise it? Maybe you feel you don't have time to rest? Or maybe you feel guilty about taking time out?

Radio presenter and author of The Art of Rest, Claudia Hammond, joined Jessica Creighton for BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour special all about rest, to explain why it’s so important and how we can all make time to feel more rested.

Claudia was involved in the world’s largest ever study on rest, The Rest Test, conducted in 2016. It was launched on All in the Mind on BBC Radio 4 in collaboration with the Wellcome Collection, Hubbub and Durham University. They developed a questionnaire asking people what rest meant to them, how they rested and whether they would like more of it. She shared what she learnt about how to make your life a bit more restful.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/ar...-is-so-important-and-how-you-can-do-it-better