What is Effective Rest?
Effective Rest Strategy
Effective rest in practice…
As I write this the sun is shining. I am looking out at the Atlantic Ocean, watching big waves batter the reef outside. It’s over 20 degrees and it’s just gone 8 am.
No, I’m not at home. I’m in Fuerteventrua, on a short break.
The purpose of the break is two-fold. In October I’m running a fitness retreat at Azul Fit, so I’m scouting the area out and familiarising myself with the geography. I’m also enjoying some effective rest – I haven’t taken real time off work since a week I had in Spain last May (9 months ago). Even Christmas was only a 2-3 day break.
I’ve earned this rest!
I came here wanting to get the most out of this break. I wanted to make sure I was fully rested ahead of coming home because there’s a lot on this year. With the podcast, the personal training business, a couple of other projects and the retreat in October, 2016 is shaping up to be very busy.
I had a plan too, because I believe there’s a difference between effective rest and idleness.
I want this break to be about effective rest. I don’t want to do the typical ‘Brit abroad’ thing, where your day starts with a fry up and a pint and ends with vomit and a fight.
Not my idea of a holiday night out…
I want to enjoy good food, a slow pace of life and a full recharging of my batteries.
Effective Rest
A lot of people think of rest as a chance to slob about on the sofa, eating junk food and not moving for hours at a time.
I’ve never thought of that as rest. On one hand, not moving much will allow tissues a break, fair enough. On the other, filling your face with junk food merely adds to your body’s to-do list; it now has to deal with all of the crap you’ve put into the system, as well as helping you repair everything else.
I think of rest as restoration – restoring energy levels, restoring tissue health, restoring digestive health through eating well and restoring energy levels by sleeping well. That’s effective rest to me.
I suppose there’s a few levels of effective rest…
- Day to day resting. No exercise, in bed a little earlier, maybe a warm bath with Epsom salts or something. Some stretching or foam rolling.
- Massage, high-quality vitamins and minerals, plenty of water and a longer sleep.
- A break. Time in the sunshine, healthy foods, lots of water, gentle exercise, deep sleep. Massage, meditation and time in nature.
This break is level 3 effective rest!
Every day we’ve sat in the sun, spent 2 hours stand up paddle boarding or surfing and going for a gentle, hour-long bike rides in the sunshine.
We’ve slept well, not woken through the night to attend to children. In the mornings we are woken by the rising sun and the sound of the waves. I haven’t heard my alarm for 3 days.
Breakfast has been fruit, lunch has been a variety of salads and the evening meals have been a mixture of grilled meats and vegetables. We’ve kept ourselves well hydrated and even enjoyed a few wines and beers!
I haven’t done any meditation (I don’t know how, to be honest), but there’s a deep relaxation to be had from listening to the hypnotic sounds of waves crashing on a reef. People buy CD’s with that sound on. Here it’s provided courtesy of nature.
It’s 3 days in and already I’m feeling refreshed like I haven’t in a long time.
Sometimes we need to just get away and enjoy some deep, effective rest. This holiday has been perfect because I wanted to be active (we hired bicycles and have ridden 30 miles touring the island), but at the same time catch up on sleep, make a little Vitamin D, read some books, eat good food and enjoy some nice times with friends.
We’ve explored on foot, walking an average of 2 hours per day – it means we’ve gotten to see parts of the island you just can’t when in the car. It really allows you to be a tourist.
Now I’m not saying all of this because I want to sound like an advert, I just want to point out that a few days break is the most effective rest you can take.
Getting out of your usual environment, eating new food, sleeping more, taking some gentle exercise and stretching thoroughly is a fantastic way to recharge your batteries.
If you haven’t thought about it, maybe look around at affordable breaks. There are plenty of them out around – you don’t need a long time, nor do you need luxury. You just need a place to get away in the sun and fresh air to wander in.
Gentle exercise, nourishing food, deep sleep and if you can, a little bit of sun. That’s the perfect recipe for effective rest and recovery.
As I mentioned, I’ll be running a retreat to the location I’ve stayed at this week. If you want more information, just subscribe to my mailing list and it will be coming soon!
Finally, as ever I’m giving away a FREE eBook ‘101 Health and Fitness Tips’ to everyone who subscribes to my VIP email list. By joining the list you’ll have access to exclusive content, discounts, offers and products from both me and selected partners. Click here to download!
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