How to Proper Rest

Proper rest is essenttal

Rest is one of the most basic healers known to mankind. When you become sick, what is the first thing you do? You lie down in bed most of every day, as well as all the night, until you recover, because the restorative power of rest is the key to health. Every bodily power requires rest after exertion. Even your heart - the hardest working muscle in your body - rests after each beat. You rest at the end of each breath.

Your muscles require relaxation after every contraction. During the sleeping hours the body is busy repairing itself. Our bodies are a lot like a battery; They run down during the day and need to be recharged at night. The most energetic people I know are quite consistent in getting their rest.

One of the purposes of sleep is to repair losses and damage caused by work. When awake, we eat as well as work: that is, we both consume and replenish our stores of energy. But the food we take in is not available as energy until it has become a part of the living cell. Food in the stomach, in the blood and body fluids does not add to our store of energy until it becomes a part of the body. After it is digested, it must be assimilated; this work is largely done during sleep. This has been observed with the microscope. When the cell is fully rested, it is well filled with minute energy granules. A tired cell shows the granules greatly reduced in number.

Since the inception of television, millions of people do not get enough sleep. They go to bed late, get up early to go to work, and in the middle of the afternoon they have to force themselves to keep going. The importance of sleep cannot be over emphasized for it is during the restful hours of sleep that the body rebuilds its tissue. One reason so many people have nervous breakdowns is that they try to surpass their limitations. They are always on the go without adequate rest, until the body machinery breaks under the load. Take time to refocus your life; take time to rest. Go outside and sit in a chair and do nothing. 

If the very thought of that sounds ominous to you, then you are the very one who needs to change your attitude toward adequate rest. One does not always have to sleep in order to rest. A change of pace, doing something different, will bring rest to your mind and body. If your daily job is to sit behind a desk all day, rest for you might be to go out and work in the garden in the evening. Whereas a farmer who works all day would get his rest by sitting down in the evening chair and reading

a good book.

Rest for tension or fatigue

Tension increases as the day goes on until it is at a high point in the late afternoon. If this point is reached day after day, week after week, the results may become unbearable. But if the person takes a break at noon with a short nap, the tension drops and he awakens for the afternoon's work with much improved nerves. The same rule applies to young mothers attempting to raise children, run a house and maintain an active social life. My advice to these mothers is to take naps with their children, for this will greatly reduce their tension and fatigue.

Rest for the eyes and ears

To protect your eyes, be careful to have the light coming over your shoulder on your reading or your work, and not into your eyes. Be sure you have plenty of light. Don't try to read in dimly lit rooms.

Fluorescent lights ruin the eyes as they blink on and off 60 times a second. Whenever possible use outside light for reading and working. If you have to spend many hours of reading, occasionally give your eyes a rest by looking out the window, closing them, or doing some eye exercises.

Various forms of noise present in our modern age is one of the greatest enemies of rest. Noise acts as a constant irritant to the entire nervous system of the body, whether we are asleep at night, or during the day when we are awake. Eighty decibels represent the level at which continuous or prolonged exposure to noise can result in hearing loss. Noise has been shown to increase the stress level of those continually exposed to it. Those who work 20 years or more around noisy equipment have a life span 5 years shorter than those working in quieter areas of the same firm. Television almost consistently raises the stress hormone level in the blood regardless of the programming. Rock music has also been shown to affect the body's stress level adversely.

Recreation is a from of rest

Recreation is a vitalized form of rest. A change of activity is needed from time to time. We need variety in our lives; that is why it's good to get away from the normal routine occasionally, such as a weekend trip to the mountains, or sea shore camping with the family. Eating good natural food cooked over a campfire, sleeping in the great out of doors, getting plenty of fresh air, being away from all the traffic noises such as sirens, relaxing and enjoying the birds singing, soaking up the sun, or going for a swim in the ocean or lake are various ways to rest and relax.

The great out of doors was created for us to enjoy; the only problem is that we don't take advantage of it often enough. It is sad to say but many people never take time off from their busy schedules to enjoy the finer things in life. Our American society is too materialistic; they want to acquire more and more, and then have to spend most of their time maintaining and taking care of all their belongings which have entrapped them. I now live in Central America and the people have very little in regards to material possessions. 

The average wage of a common worker living in Nicaragua is $2.00 a day. But I have noticed something unusual: most of the Nicaraguan people are happy. I have since come to the conclusion that the more you have, the unhappier you are; and the less you have, the happier you are. Maybe we here in America have our priorities turned around. After all, if many material things don't make you happy, then why have so many?