Vitality through Rest

My last topic on sleep evoked few cocky responses from some bright brains in the corporate world. They wrote saying that they didn’t need much of sleep or rest as they relaxed by partying hard or hitting a pub every evening after work. Their maxim in life is, “Work hard, and party harder”. Here’s my reply to them.

Rest, which includes sleep, is nature’s great restorative process just as activity and excitement represent her great exhaustive process. Activity is indeed necessary for the expression of organic life – but it must be alternated with periods of rest or else the organism will wear out. Real complete health does not refer to a plan of simply eating well or exercising vigorously.

To maintain good health every facet of life is important as the other and this includes rest. Rest is therefore not a cessation of activities per se; it is a cessation of certain form of activity. When one consumes alcohol, uses party drugs, or even in the state of sedation, narcosis, and drug induced hypnosis and anesthesia, our physical and mental activities are almost suspended. Anabolic activities are also nearly suspended. This does not allow the body to refresh and renew itself. These induced states leave the body depressed, languid and unfit for any further activity. Normal rest and sleep however lead to vigor and freshness.

There are 4 kinds of rest:

Physical rest that comes from discontinuing physical activity, going to bed, relaxing, etc.
Method: Sleep, yoga, massage, etc.

Sensory rest that comes from being quiet, refraining from using the eyes much, etc.
Method: Maintaining silence, prayers, playing some musical instrument, listening to music, journaling, yoga, etc

Mental rest that is the result of mental equilibrium, ceasing to fret or worry.
Method: Practice of yoga, playing some mind games, puzzles, quizzes, sudoku, etc

Physiological rest that follows from reducing physiological activities.
Method: Yoga, eating easy to digest food, etc.

All four kinds of rest are needed in therapy and recuperation and have been used with positive results in natural alternative forms of therapy. In fact, you will notice that yoga is the only method to attain rest on all the 4 levels. Just goes to prove the tremendous efficacy of yoga in relaxation and sleep. So how about hitting a yoga studio after work than a pub!

Namaste,

Vikram

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Many thanks to you Vikram, for raising such a topic. It's alarming to see young office mates hitting the pub after work for the sole purpose of chilling out! As you rightly stated,there are many other forms to chill out.