My Daily Dozen: The Habit of Rest

In keeping with my idea to post about the habits that undergird my life right now, I submit the first: the habit of rest!  I'd like to focus on three components of rest: sleep, rest and relaxation, and Sabbath. 

Sleep is what most of us think of when we think of rest.  For years I shortchanged myself in the sleep department, and I continue to struggle with this.  I remember surviving on 5-6 hours of sleep per night in law school; it's no wonder I barely remember some of those cases I read.  I was too tired to process them! I finally realized a couple of years ago that I need 8-9 hours of sleep per night to feel really good.  That's a lot of sleep!  (Not everyone needs that much, but when I don't use an alarm clock, I naturally wake up 8-9 hours after I go to bed.) I used to resent it, but the truth is, sleep is essential to good health. 

The body repairs itself during sleep.  I believe our brains can work out problems during sleep (have you ever had a dream that helped you solve an issue that was aggravating you during your waking hours?).  Sleep helps with learning, weight loss, staying cheerful, and immune function. I have decided that I can live with the limitation of needing 8-9 hours of sleep per night, because the health and psychological benefits of getting sufficient sleep outweigh the time I forfeit by going to bed early or sleeping a little later. 

Rest (or relaxation) during the day is helpful; it's the pause that refreshes.  My husband has always been a champion napper; I've frowned upon this as being a waste of time.  But over the past couple of years, I have come to value a well-placed nap!  (I think having a second baby is what did it for me!) For me the perfect nap is one that lasts about 30-45 minutes and is followed by a nice cup of PG tips tea.  It's so refreshing and it re-energizes me for the last part of the day. I recently read that people who take regular naps have a much lower incidence of cardiovascular disease than non-nappers.  See! Napping is healthy!

I don't nap most days, but I do try to rest every day.  Rest is more nebulous, but for me "rest" entails sitting down, preferably with my feet elevated, drinking tea and/or eating a piece of dark chocolate, and reading a book or toying with my journal.  No one has time to rest--we are all too busy to take fifteen minutes or half an hour to stop and relax.  But I agree with Richard Swenson, who wrote "we do not rest because our work is done; we rest because God commanded it and created us to have a need for it."

I recently read a thought-provoking book on longevity.  One thing I noticed as a theme throughout the book was how universal rest is as an idea in cultures where people live healthy, long lives.  Hard work followed by a siesta of sorts, and then more work later in the day, seems to be a reasonable rhythm for many people around the world.  As Americans, our rhythm seems to be get up, work hard, work harder, work really hard, and collapse into bed for five or six hours of sleep.  This is not a recipe for great health!  Having an afternoon rest is good for the body and the mind, and if you don't do it, I encourage you to begin with only 10-15 minutes.  It's worth every second.

Sabbath rest almost seems unheard-of in our culture.  Case in point: yesterday my husband walked into the house with a package from Amazon.  It was delivered on Sunday.  I was floored! Of course, I'm not sure why I'm so surprised; everything is open on Sundays these days, and I know kids on sporting teams who have to play sports on Sundays as well.  My husband and I side with Eric Liddell on this, though: Liddell was the famous Olympian who refused to run on Sunday.  My husband doesn't run on Sunday, either. (He's a serious runner--he doesn't "go for a jog"--it's WORK every time he's out there!)  I do go to the gym or otherwise exercise most Sundays because I find exercise refreshing, so we don't have a hard line on this point.  We just think that it's important to have a Sabbath rest--and for my husband, that means a rest from work and running.  For me, that means a rest from cleaning house and homeschooling. 

But God clearly created a day of rest in the Bible, and he created in us a need for rest.  I have learned so much from my traditional Mennonite (Beachy Amish) neighbors.  They do Sabbath right!  On Saturday they prepare for Sunday by cooking--there's always a potluck meal after church--and ironing their Sunday clothes.  One Saturday night I was at my neighbor's house and someone was ironing, and I said "oh, going somewhere?" And she said "yes, just ironing for church tomorrow!" And I had a flashback to all those Sunday mornings when I ran to the laundry room to hastily iron a shirt 20 minutes before leaving for church.....sigh.  

I have written before about our Sabbath and how I prepare for it.  I haven't done a great job at this lately, so I'm inspired to begin again with Saturday prep work. 

I believe the most important thing about a Sabbath rest isn't about obeying "rules" surrounding the Sabbath, but instead to take it seriously as a day to rest, relax, unwind, nap, putter around, take a hike.  

Finally, how I incorporate a habit of rest into my daily life: 

I aim to get to bed by 11 and up around 7.  Truly my ideal would be bed by 10 and up between 6-7, but I have a 10-year-old who doesn't always settle to sleep very quickly, and tends to use those later hours to ask Big Questions about life, God, and all sorts of other things that really do need my time and attention!  It's very important to me to be available to him when he needs to talk; these days are precious and these years go so quickly. 

I try to either nap or rest with my feet up for a little while each day. Some days I do take a real, full-blown nap: I get in bed, read for a few minutes, then SLEEP for half an hour or 45 minutes or so. If I'm not that tired, I'll just read, drink tea, and relax.

And finally: we try to rest and simply enjoy our Sundays.

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Rest is truly the cornerstone of a healthy life; we spend at least a third or so of our lives in a state of rest, so it's important to prioritize it and make rest a solid habit.  

I hope that this will encourage you to rest without feeling any guilt about it!