Seeking Rest is more important than Seeking Comfort: Quiet Wakefulness
I think that when I discuss the Pillar of “Rest” with potential or current clients, it is very common for the connection to be made with “Sleep.” “Sleep” is a critical aspect of what creates a healthy foundation in our Pillar of “Rest.” However, it is not the only aspect of this Pillar to understand if you want to have a positive impact on your Wellness. It is beneficial to understand as a busy, and driven person, how we can promote “Rest” in our system, outside of just our sleep patterns.
I think one of the challenging aspects of the busy lives we live to work hard at accomplishing our goals, is that when the limited opportunities for down time present themselves we often want to seek comfort as an escape from the intensity of the daily grind. The only problem with activities that are chosen based solely on seeking comfort, is that they often do not help us actually recuperate, and continue pursuing the fulfilling life we are working towards.
Let's look at an example of this in action. I worked with a client in 2022 who felt like between early morning workouts, and a long and busy workday with multiple fronts when the evening rolled around, all this person wanted to do was crash on the couch and put something on TV, or peruse social media for entertaining videos. The client described wanting to “turn off” for a little while before going to bed. While this provided some temporary relief from the busy day, it also came with negative consequences that would build over time if not addressed. These consequences included:
Less intention towards nutrition intake in the evening.
Lack of consistency with bedtime due to letting the mind switch off while interacting with the screen.
Difficulty falling asleep/getting quality sleep due to screen time leading into sleep.
Negative impact overall on the evening routine supporting you in recouping your energy for the next day. This leads to a downward trend in your energy levels and Wellness over the long term.
So what did this client and I discuss as an alternative to simply seeking comfort when they walked through the door in the evenings? There were several things that we talked about adjusting in the evening routine so that there was still the ability to rest the mind after a busy day, while also doing other things that supported recovery:
Put on some relaxing music when you first come home, and give yourself 15 minutes to settle into “home.”
Prepare a thought out dinner that provides quality nutrients to support the body after a busy day.
Prepare clothes, bags, etc for the following morning.
Fill the 30-60 minutes prior to bed with reading, journaling, or meditation.
Set a consistent bedtime, especially through the week!
Another challenging aspect as a busy human, can be asking yourself how do I “Rest” without “Sleep” in a way that is not simply seeking comfort in downtime? A term that is commonly used is “Quiet Wakefulness.” We could also look at it from a physiological perspective, and state that “Rest” is promoting activity in the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS), while down regulating activity in the sympathetic nervous system (SNS). Which can be accomplished without falling asleep, by using tools that can be applied at any time of day.
Let’s outline a few of the practices that have been shown by research to help us accomplish “Rest” without sleeping:
Gratitude Practices
Open Meditation
Progressive Muscle Relaxation
Imagery/Mental Rehearsal
All of these practices help create an environment where the body is able to stimulate the PNS. So why are these two branches of our Nervous System so important to our “Rest” Pillar? Well, our PNS is our “rest and digest” system, and our SNS is our “fight or flight” system. Imagine, if your body was ALWAYS in “fight or flight” mode due to the stress or high stimulation of your environment. That’s very demanding on the system from an energy perspective. Even if you appreciate the immediate response of alertness and increased focus when you first experienced these environments, it quickly becomes a hindrance to your Wellness if it is a chronic experience due to the energetic toll it takes on your system.
Many of the negative wellness consequences that occur due to lack of “Rest” are due to an overstimulated SNS. This results in increased release of the hormones adrenaline and cortisol. This can negatively impact the system in many ways, of which a few are listed:
Increases in Blood Pressure
Promotes increases in Plaque build up in the arteries if conditions are pre-existing
Negatively impacts Brain health and Central Nervous System structure over the long term, leading to anxiety, stress, or addiction issues.
Decreases in motivation, drive, or energy
When utilizing any of the practices listed above, you are allowing the physiological scales to be re-balanced between the PNS and SNS. For example, open meditation has been shown to increase the release of GABA (Gamma Amino Butyric Acid) from the Thalamus in the Brain. GABA is responsible for decreasing the SNS ability to excite the system, due to the fact that when GABA interacts with a nerve cell, it makes it more difficult for that cell to receive or send messages.
Maintaining the balance between these two branches of your Nervous System is imperative to creating a strong foundation in the Pillar of “Rest.” Now, do not get me wrong. If you are struggling with getting good sleep consistently, then working on routines that help this will significantly improve this Pillar of your Wellness. However, do not let “Sleep” be the full picture of “Rest.” If you want to actualize the potential within yourself, you will have to create Wellness practices that extend beyond “Sleep,” and fully encompass “Rest.”
sources:
Wamsley EJ. Memory Consolidation during Waking Rest. Trends Cogn Sci. 2019 Mar;23(3):171-173. doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2018.12.007. Epub 2019 Jan 22. PMID: 30683602; PMCID: PMC7024394.
Petroff OA. GABA and glutamate in the human brain. Neuroscientist. 2002 Dec;8(6):562-73. doi: 10.1177/1073858402238515. PMID: 12467378.
