The Importance of Rest

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We wish you hope this holiday season- hope that you will find answers to your questions and relief for your pain. Hope that the new year will bring you joy and peace.

With the holiday season in full swing, it is good to remember the importance of rest. In the busyness that seems to accompany everyday life, along with holidays thrown in, we forget that winter is a time for rest and renewal. If you live in the northern hemisphere, we recently had winter solstice- the shortest day and the longest night of the year. This marks the beginning of winter. Nature sets the example of rest during winter. Most plants take a break. Many animals hibernate. We need that too.

Rest includes physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual rest. All these aspects intertwine with each other and one being out of balance can affect the other. For example, when looking at physical demand on muscles versus mental, “it has been demonstrated that the same motor units are activated by mental stress as by physical demands…lack of rest and recovery seems even more important for health than the magnitude of stress and physical demands during work” (Lundberg, 2003). Rest is not a luxury. It is an essential aspect of health and well-being.

Happy Holidays!

Reference

Lundberg, U. (2003). Psychological stress and musculoskeletal disorders: psychobiological mechanisms. Lack of rest and recovery greater problem than workload. Lakartidningen100(21), 1892-1895. Retrieved from https://europepmc.org/article/med/12815874