Five ways to make sure you get rest your body demands

How much rest is exactly “enough”?

Science is clear about the amount: it’s 42 percent, CE Report quotes Kosova Press.

This is the percentage of time your body and brain need you to spend resting. That’s roughly 10 hours out of every 24. It doesn’t have to be every day; it can average out over a week, a month, or longer. But yes. That’s enough.
“This is ridiculous! I don’t have that kind of time!” you might protest — and we predicted that you might feel that way.

Five lifestyle hacks to help with your anxiety. The post continues below.
We’re not saying you have to take 42 percent of your time to rest; we’re saying that if you don’t take 42 percent, that 42 percent will take you. It will catch you by the face, push you to the ground, plant a foot on your chest, and declare itself the winner.

Have you ever caught a terrible cold right after finishing a big project? Did you sleep 12 or 14 hours a day during the first three days of vacation? Did you, like Amelia, end up in the hospital after a prolonged period of extreme stress?

So far we’ve established that stress is a physiological phenomenon affecting every system and function in our body, including immune function, digestion, and hormones. To keep all these systems operating at full capacity, our biology requires that we spend 42 percent of our lives maintaining the organism that is our physical existence.

Here’s what your 42 percent might look like:

• Eight hours of potential sleep, give or take an hour.

• 20 to 30 minutes of a “stress-relief conversation” with a partner, family member, or trusted friend.

• 30 minutes of physical activity. Physical activity counts as “rest” partly because it improves sleep quality and partly because it completes the stress-response cycle, moving the body from a stressed state to a state of rest.

• 30 minutes devoted to mindful eating. “30 minutes?” you ask. Don’t worry. This includes all meals, grocery shopping, cooking, and eating, and it doesn’t have to happen all at once. It can be with others or alone, but it cannot be during work, driving, watching TV, or even listening to a podcast. Paying attention to your food for half an hour counts as rest partly because it provides necessary nourishment and partly because it’s active rest — a change of pace, away from other areas of life. Think of it as meditation.

• A 30-minute “wild card,” depending on your needs. For some people, this might be extra physical activity because they need that much to feel good. For others, it might be preparation for sleep, because they know their brain needs time to shift from the noisy state of wakefulness to the calm that allows it to sleep. For others, it could be social playtime. And for some, it’s just free time for travel, changing clothes, and other prep-rest periods (because: reality) during which you engage your default-mode network — letting your mind wander.