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It doesn’t seem like it should be so complicated just to figure out how to relax.

If you’re trying to figure out how to relax to better your health, you first need to figure out what it is that you need, to rest and relax.  And even more, is it really necessary to relax and rest?

Short answer? For a healthy lifestyle it is absolutely necessary to sleep, to take a break, and to relax. For some, it takes deliberate planning just like it does to deliberately put a doctor appointment in your calendar. It isn’t always easy to get proper rest, whether that is actual sleep, or relaxation in some other way.

It is important for us to discover in which ways our bodies need rest in order to actively enable true healing rest and relaxation.

In our society today, we feel or think that if we sleep too much, we’re wasting away precious time; time is money. And if we take a day off from the gym, we’re losing muscle. If we take a day off of work we look lazy, and if we skip church, we appear to be struggling spiritually. If you set your phone down, you might miss a streak on snapchat. And what if you don’t eat a single morsel of food for 5 whole hours? Ohhh nooo! Your body is going to go into starvation mode.

 

These days, with all the “to-do” lists and notifications on our phones, the pressure and the demands coming at us are like a million things a second! It’s a no wonder that anxiety, (along with depression), is one of the most common mental health disorders in the world. It’s crazy out there guys!

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For balanced health, our bodies need more than just a few hours of sleep here and there.  We need total muscle relaxation and mental clarity.  

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Not to overcomplicated matters, but our bodies need more than just sleep, more than a day off from the gym, and more than a vacation.

Here are 5 ways our bodies need rest for balanced health:

• Deep muscle relaxation
• Rest for the nervous system
• Fasting for the digestive system
• Spiritual and mental rest
• Sleep

DEEP MUSCLE RELAXATION 

In the 1920’s, Dr. Edmund Jacobson, Director of the laboratory for Clinical Physiology at the University of Chicago, found that patients who came to him didn’t know how to relax. Their muscles were more tense than was necessary for what they were doing, like sitting with clenched fists without knowing it, or digging fingernails into the skin; so he started what is now known today as progressive relaxation therapy.

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Progressive muscle relaxation is a non-pharmacological method of deep muscle relaxation, based on the premise that muscle tension is the body’s psychological response to anxiety-provoking thoughts and that muscle relaxation blocks anxiety. More here: Wikipedia  

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Benefits from progressive muscle relaxation therapy:

• A decrease of anxiety
• Decrease of anxiety related to phobias
• Reduction in panic attacks
• Improved concentration
• An increased sense of control over moods
• Increased self-esteem
• Increased spontaneity and creativity

 

REST FROM EXERCISE

It’s not just your muscles that need a rest day from the gym. It is also the energy systems that fuel your muscles that needs a break.

The nervous system which fuels training, needs a rest day as well. Even if it’s arm day on Monday and not arm day again until next Monday, (giving your arms more than enough “rest”) your nervous system is constantly working to train all muscle groups, therefore needing that total day or two off.

I am one of those that “never” skips the gym. Sometimes though, I miss a day for no good reason, or – it feels like it’s no good reason. I actually missed two days in a row a week ago, and then felt like a horrible person for not going. But I was so tired. And I didn’t even go to bed that late!

When I did finally go back to the gym, I was amazed at how good my workout was. I felt stronger, upped my lifting weight by a significant amount on several of my sets! And I was so excited!

I posted about this on instagram and someone (hey Phil!) commented: “The fact that the first day back after some rest is so good, should tell us something!”

When we talked later on about it, he said, “. . . I hate not working out, but rest and recovery are super beneficial!” I am sure Phil and I aren’t the only ones who don’t like skipping a gym day. But knowing that a day off is beneficial and actually taking a day off, are two separate things for those of us who cannot miss gym time.

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“It is no different in life.  We are a society that thinks to succeed you have to work all the time.  That’s not living . . . ”   ~ Phil Del Rocco

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Time off from the gym is a balancing act. A couple purposeful days off (or even a couple accidental days off) are completely fine and even beneficial. But more than that can be detrimental to our psyche. So just be mindful and aware of your body and actually give yourself permission for a short break.

FAST FROM FOOD

I missed lunch one day and I ended up eating later than usual. The next day something similar happened. I don’t usually eat dinner, it makes me feel sluggish the next day, and just overall, “fat”. It puts more “weight” on my tummy and I am not down with that. So I had to force myself out of that bad habit – which happened so fast! Ugh – after about a week ’cause I could feel that “bloating” thing happening and I knew exactly why I was “swelling up” and feeling “yucky”.

After the habit of eating at night is broken, the next few mornings feels amazing! Like – you feel like you can walk around in a bikini proudly and proclaim to the world that you’re a sexy human.

Most people freak out when they don’t feed their faces constantly, afraid they’re going to put on weight. (SRSLY – think that one through *mind blown emoji here*).

One common thing I hear, especially in the fitness world is: “You need to keep your metabolism going to burn calories and the only way you do that is by eating 6 small meals a day.”  (I’ll go into this more another time, but I will just say right now that, unless you’re a very young, very active person with a body type that does’t put on fat easily, this in not a true statement).

Another common tale is that you will go into starvation mode and lose lean muscle mass.

We can address this strange (yet common)  idea in more detail later as well, but just real quick . . .

“A lot of times people think they’re going into starvation mode when they skip a meal or fast for a day, and that’s truly not the case. Unless someone has a prolonged, dire lack of access to food or an eating disorder like anorexia, it’s very hard to go into complete clinical starvation mode.” Dr. Joy Dubost RD, CSSD Registered Dietitian, Board Certified in Sports Nutrition, Food Scientist

“Fasting is an excellent way to treat disease. A day or two of fasting each week would do most people more good than any amount of medical advice or treatment.” – Agatha M. Thrash, M.D. Preventive Medicine (Full article here)

Fasting allows the body’s enzyme system to focus on detoxifying.  If you’re constantly eating, you’re not giving your body the proper time it needs to do eliminate toxins, and therefore your body is more susceptible to disease.

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SPIRITUAL AND MENTAL REST

If you are a believer in a higher power, or if you are not, doesn’t really change the fact that we all need a mental and spiritual reprieve.

Take your focus away from yourself. Place your focus on the Creator, or something somewhere out there in “the universe”. This is important for spiritual and mental health. Even just focusing on your breathing can be a mental break from the things rushing through your mind.

This sort of quiet takes “me” out of the equation and reminds us that we are but a tiny, tiny spec on this planet; that the world does not revolve around just me. When we give ourselves permission to stop and be still and remember that we are here to give back, bless, and be grateful for what has been given to us, we allow peace to take the place of our anxiety and drama.

“You know I used to think that rest from anything i.e. the gym, writing a lesson or sermon or anything I have interest in, equalled laziness,” said Phil. “Then a friend was talking to me after a (meeting), and I was saying how much I love to be busy teaching etc.. He said, ‘how about the time you spend with God?’  I said, ‘I do spend time with Him while I’m working.’  He asked, ‘is that really spending time with Him?’  It was a revelation, because I suddenly saw that I cannot find rest in Him if I am busy working.”

This is what I loved. And again, if you’re not a believer in God, still think about this statement. If you can’t stop and still your mind and focus on a higher power, or something outside of your self, how do you ever have mental peace?

You cannot multitask while attempting to achieve mental clarity. This is a time when you must stop and be still. To be healthy in your mind, you need to be quiet. Give your mind a break from the lists, from work, people, TV, external entertainment and stimuli.

 

SLEEP

Symptoms of depression, high blood pressure, migraines, and other health issues and diseases, worsen, when our sleep cycle is interrupted. Even one night of missed sleep can create a prediabetic state in an otherwise healthy person.

Getting good quality sleep is important, and I have actually written about this in an earlier article. 8 Steps to Improve Your Quality of Sleep goes into a lot more detail on how to improve your sleep!

Everything from our muscles to our brain function, our nervous system, and our overall attitudes really suffer when we don’t get enough sleep.

In conclusion, rest is important, but most of us not only have a difficult time sleeping, but we also don’t think about other ways our bodies need rest and relaxation.

I hope you got something from this and can find some real rest and relaxation in your life. I’d enjoy hearing about what you do to find The Rest in Your Story. I am on Facebook, Instagram, E-mail, Twitter, Pinterest and balance8life.

Definitely hit me up or email me and let’s chat!