The Physical Benefits of Rest and Relaxation
There are many ways a person is able to take care of themselves. First and foremost, the easiest way a person can take care of themselves is by managing their time well and dedicating time for them. You can read our full article about time management for trainers. If you are a person who likes to work out at the gym and think of it as taking care of yourself, that is good.
However, there is more that you could do. You could and need to have a time when you can rest and relax. There are many benefits for this, but especially there are physical benefits of rest and relaxation.
Difference Between the Two
Rest and relaxation have been used as the same thing and have been used interchangeably. However, there are a few differences between them. Rest is thought of as a time of resting where work or movement is stopped so a person is able to sleep or recover strength. Relaxation is a release of tension and a time to refresh the mind and body.
People mainly rest at night when they go to sleep. Most people need to have at least seven hours of sleep. Sleeping refreshes your mind and repairs your body. Relaxation can happen at any time. It is where the mind can rejuvenate, it will also reduce the arousal humans feel when they are stressed or have anxiety. Meaning people relax when they are awake.
However, these two things, rest and relaxation work hand in hand. One is not better than the other, and one does not work without the other one. Meaning, it is important to set time aside for rest and relaxation. You should make this a priority, it is important for both your mental and physical health. But what exactly are the physical benefits of rest and relaxation?
Physical Health Benefits
Improved Brain Health
When we lay down for the night and rest, our bodies and minds do not stop working. Our brains use the time for rest to sort and store the things we have learned and experienced in the day. If we don’t take that time to rest and allow our brains to work, then we might experience what is called ‘misfiling’ where our thoughts and memories can be shuffled around.
Concentration and Judgment
Rest is important for the mind in many ways. Rest is crucial for learning and thinking. If you do not have enough sleep, it can negatively impact your reasoning, ability to concentrate, and problem solve. This will make us excessively sleepy in the day, and that will affect our cognitive performance.
Sleepiness, impaired concentration, and judgment can result in an increase in the possibility of accidents when driving or at work. A lack of sleep can affect your mind and reaction time to the same level as alcohol.
Vital Sign Increase and Tissue Repair
If you are lacking relaxation, but mainly rest, then your vital signs can be changed. You could have a high or low body temperature, trouble breathing, a higher or lower heart rate, and a higher or lower blood pressure. If this gets worse, then it is possible to develop a risk of high blood pressure and heart disease.
There are more visible physical effects if you are lacking in rest and relaxation. A lack of sleep can result in premature aging of the skin. This can be seen through thin lackluster skin, fine lines, and most obviously, dark circles under the eyes.
Sleep deprivation can have long-lasting physical effects, especially when you are younger. Lack of sleep impacts the secretion of growth hormones. Secretion of growth hormones happens when we are in our slow-wave sleep. So when sleep is disrupted, the growth hormones are compromised, and not as many are released. It mainly affects children and their ability to grow to their full potential and repair normal tissue.
Stress and Sociability
The need for rest can have mental effects that turn into some physical effects. One of these is a stress threshold. When you are in need of rest and relaxation, you can get yourself worked up and stressed out. The simplest and everyday routines can feel like more work to the point they can be overwhelming. Most likely not, you will feel more irritated or upset. These mental feelings can turn into physical ones.
Stress can make people upset and irritated, and all these things combined can be shown in physical ways. When a person is stressed, they might pull at their hair, their skin, or want to get in fights. Not only that but when people are tired, their pain sensitivity increases. Whatever physical ways stress is shown, we know it’s because your body is telling you it is time to rest and relax.
More reasons to rest and relax include it being able to benefit your sociability and optimism. If you are tired, then you may find it more difficult to do activities. Usually, these are activities that take concentration and your attention. These activities can be something as simple as watching television.
Since the need for rest and sleep can cause your attention to be slow or nonexistent, it’s no surprise that it can affect your social life. Lack of sleep can make a person grumpy, less friendly, and less sociable. Meaning if you sleep and give yourself time to relax, then you will be more energetic and have a more sociable life. Your friends will thank you for that.
Boost of Creativity
When setting aside time to rest and relax, you could become more creative. You are freeing up parts of your mind that were previously filled with information that was important at that time. However, it is likely that information was taking up too much room and not leaving to allow you to refill the reserves. The time you set aside will allow you to reflect and breakthrough creative barriers. You can experience solutions to problems you might have.
Way to Rest
As we learned, the only way to rest is to sleep. The best time to do this is at night when you are all done with your day. That way it allows your mind to process through all the events in the day and get everything logged. Resting at night allows you to have the full amount of sleep, which is between 7 to 8 hours long.
Sure you are able to take naps during the day. However, if you are out looking for ways to rest, that means you probably have a lot going on and don’t have time to nap in the day. There are probably dozens of other things you could be spending your time on.
Not only that, but that is not a quality level of rest. It doesn’t allow your body enough time to process all the day’s events. Nor does it allow your body and muscles to recover.
Ways to Relax
Unlike rest, there are a lot of ways a person can relax. There are also no specific guidelines for how much relaxation a person should have. All that is important is taking the time and setting it aside to unwind and enjoy life. There are different levels of relaxation. One level could be the base level such as leaving the place that stresses you out, shutting off your phone, and just sitting in silence. Or there is a deep relaxation such as mediation.
When you practice meditation and other deep relaxation regularly, it relieves stress and anxiety. And it will also improve your mood. Not only that but there are physical benefits for deep relaxation. It can decrease blood pressure, improve your immune and cardiovascular systems, and relieve pain.
Relaxation comes in many forms. It can be finding enjoyment, something as simple as laughing. Laughing allows your body to recover in many ways. It can decrease your pain, help your heart and lungs, promote muscle relaxation, and reduce anxiety.
Closing Thoughts
We all can be busy in our everyday lives, and sometimes we can be too busy at the point where we are not allowing ourselves to take time and dedicate it to rest and relaxation. This could be because we don’t have the time to just set it aside, or it just slips our minds. Rest and relaxation can have many physical benefits, as this article has covered. and there has been a lot of mention as to how rest and relaxation can be achieved.
However, there is one way to achieve relaxation that has not been mentioned yet. This one is mainly focused on if you run your own Fitness or Wellness business. If you are a person who has your own business you’re probably swamped with trying to figure out how to meet up with your clients, how to schedule all your clients, and how to receive payment from them. Here at our company, Persona, we are here to help you!
We are able to do that all for you. And even better, it is completely free! You can download our app today in Google Play or the App Store.