Why should we prioritize rest?
Our society is all about getting things done! We reward those who work hard. I’d like to point out some data on why resting is critical. I hope when you finish reading this article you will prioritize rest both during the night and between stressful events,
I’ve learned some key things my new favorite book Circadian Code by Satchin Panda, PHD.
There are two reasons rest is critical during night that I learned from his book.
Sleeping allows the body to clean up and rebuild. These mechanisms go to work when you stop eating. They start removing dead cells or cells that aren’t behaving correctly (cancer). They fix damage (aging) and injuries. After the physical cells are cleaned up and repaired the body moves to the second phase.
Keep the brain healthy. Sleeping reorganizes the brain. Your brain sorts through the neurons and loosens ones that it doesn’t need any more and strengthens ones that it has been using. This helps you study, improves memory, helps with creativity, helps prevent dementia and Alzheimer’s.
These mechanisms have the following benefits:
1. Keeps your immune system strong. Mice that have been kept awake have sever immune issues and most of them died without treatment
2. Ensures you are mentally healthy. Sleeping well is key to keeping away depression and anxiety. Also keeps you from getting grumpy
3. Helps reduce the symptoms of ADHD
4. Keeps your body a healthy weight. Losing sleep both makes your body more likely to store calories as fat and make you hungrier.
Next why resting outside of sleep is important during the day.
Resting between sets of exercise is also critical. Dr. Andy Galpin talks to Andrew Huberman about the importance of resting between sets. His studies show via biopsy that the muscle tissue grows thicker, and the person is less sore after a workout.
Finally, slowing down our breathing helps us manage the stress response.
Andrew Huberman interview Dr Jack Feldman, distinguished professor Neurobiology at University of California, Los Angeles finds that doing a box breath for 10 minutes a day helps him and is working on increasing his length of time. He has chosen this because of his studies on mice. Mice who slowed their breathing for 30 minutes had a much less strong stress response. Listen to the results of the study.
I hope these facts help you prioritize rest both at night and between hard work. Taking time to rest and slowdown is not a priority for most people in our rush rush society. Doing yoga everyday slows you down and makes you realize the value of rest.
