The art of rest

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Our life is cyclical, there is nothing continuous in it - everything appears, exists for a while, and then disappears. Something permanently, but something after a certain interval appears again …

It is like the process of breathing: inhalation occurs, followed by exhalation and inhalation again … Any phenomenon has its own rhythm, which is strictly observed or must be observed, otherwise the system gives very unpleasant failures. Periods of activity are necessarily followed by periods of rest and rest. Day always flows smoothly into night and fresh, renewed also smoothly returns. All our internal organs and systems function in accordance with their rhythms and therefore during the day there are periods of their greatest activity, when they are able to withstand heavy loads, and there are periods of rest, when loading them becomes very fraught with the preservation of their own health.

Table of peak activity of the work of internal organs and systems:

Often people, getting into any environment, tune in to its rhythms and completely forget about their own. Well, if this environment is harmonious, then it can even help straighten out your rhythmic disruptions. But what if it is destructive and its rhythms are insane, confused? Then a continuous running in a circle begins until exhaustion. You don't have time to finish one thing, you take on another or several … you decide, decide, decide … you feel that your strength is already running out, and there is no less work waiting for your participation. And therefore there is no time for rest and therefore there is no way to allow yourself to rest, because then the whole familiar world will collapse and then it will be oh so difficult to put it back together in its previous form. And the run goes on and on. Those who are stronger, at high speeds can run longer than those who are weaker, but in the end, both of them necessarily run to chronic fatigue, to life in the state of a squeezed lemon, to a state where white light becomes not nice. And I just want to forget myself in any way …

And all because you need to be able to "exhale". And do it regularly and on time.

It is completely unhealthy to wait for a weekend or vacation to allow yourself to "breathe out." Those. all year or all week you do only "inhale-inhale", somehow finalize the last days or months of holding your breath, because there is nowhere else to "inhale", and then in a few days you hope to release the accumulated, stale air from yourself? What happens to a room that is only ventilated once a year?

Constant systematic violations of the regime of work and rest often lead to various diseases. Sometimes it seems that they came suddenly. In fact, this is the result of a long wrong lifestyle, not falling into your own rhythm.

There are people who mistakenly believe that you can rest and improve your health only at a resort, and an expensive one. And therefore they will sigh heavily and lament that regular rest is an unaffordable luxury. But they will be surprised to learn that it is possible and necessary to rest at work, that effective work is done only in the period between two rests. And you can effectively rest only when you still have vitality.

So, how to work without getting tired and rest as much as you want?

• You need to rest before fatigue sets in.
• A positive attitude towards work helps you not get tired longer.
• The best rest is a change of activity.
• Aligning with natural rhythms is powerful support.

See also: How to sleep properly?

Fatigue biophysics

To correctly understand the body's need for rest, you need to understand what leads to fatigue and what fatigue itself is.

“During work, blood circulation is increased and the working organ or muscle receives more nutrients and oxygen from the blood. The disintegration of these substances and parts of the protoplasm of cells also occurs faster, i.e. the metabolism increases and the more, the more intense, the more intense the work itself. But with intensive and prolonged work, the blood flow does not have time to deliver an increased amount of nutrients and oxygen to the working organs. He also cannot quickly enough remove waste and unnecessary metabolic end products - deliver them to the excretory organs: kidneys, lungs, skin. As a result, more and more harmful substances accumulate in the working organ or muscle, which begin to inhibit the vital functions of tissues and the body as a whole.

True, the blood supply in the working organs also increases. But the decay products accumulate faster than the blood flow accelerates. Therefore, it takes some time to free the working organ from unnecessary metabolic products and supply it with nutrients and oxygen in the amount necessary to restore the expended energy and to extinguish the feeling of fatigue.

During natural body movements, such as walking, as well as during rhythmic work processes, individual muscles or individual muscle groups work with the correct alternation of contraction and relaxation. If the work of any organ or muscle is performed continuously, then fatigue sets in very quickly. Try, for example, to take a small weight in your hand and hold it in your outstretched hand. The arm muscles will get tired very soon. But if you start raising and lowering the same load, then the arm muscles will be able to perform such work for a longer time, because a rhythmic change in the work of individual muscle groups will take place.

Physiologists have found that nerve fiber and muscle fatigue much more slowly than nerve cells and nerve centers. While maintaining a load on an outstretched arm, the same groups of nerve cells in the brain are constantly excited. That is why they quickly get tired. With alternate contraction and relaxation of muscles, different groups of nerve cells are also alternately excited, which regulate the activity of individual muscle groups. Therefore, fatigue comes much later. It is clear that dynamic work, associated with alternating rhythmic contraction and relaxation of muscles, is less tiring than static work, which requires immobility of the muscles.

Thus, fatigue after prolonged work is the result of changes that occur in the central nervous system [1].

Any properly planned work consists of tension and relaxation, i.e. from a period of activity and a period of rest, single or systematically alternating. This is how all life should be built. Then there will be no questions about the long-awaited rest at all.

Rest before fatigue sets in

Why is it advised to get up from the table slightly hungry? Because the feeling of fullness comes imperceptibly a little later. And overeating, when our body receives much more food than it is able to digest and what it essentially needs for normal functioning, is fraught with the need for additional resources that have to be withdrawn from other processes. Have you noticed that after a hearty lunch or dinner, you always feel sleepy? It's just that all free energy is directed to digest food and is not enough for anything else. Blood from the head and limbs rushes to the stomach. And if you eat right before bedtime, sleep will be disturbing, and awakening difficult, because instead of resting, the internal organs will work hard all night. Those.if we did not just satisfy the feeling of hunger in order to continue and continue doing some business, but over-satiated our body with food, then we can no longer easily return to normal activities, a longer recovery period is needed. And this is very irrational.

The same goes for the ability to rest on time without being overwhelmed by work fatigue. If you start resting before you become very tired, and not after, then you can achieve the most effective work. In other words, at the first signs of fatigue (25-30% of total fatigue), you need to take a break and make an "exhale".

Remember: slight fatigue is removed quickly, and accumulated fatigue takes a long time. It is much easier and cheaper to prevent fatigue than to clean up its consequences.

There are many ways to relieve minor fatigue using the 4 elements.

Water. You can quickly relax by simply wiping your face with cool water. Or by taking a shower. Or swimming in the river. Or just drinking a glass of cool water. Or, closing your eyes, imagine that the water washes your whole body: maybe you are standing under a waterfall or swimming in the sea or running in the rain …

Fire. Watching the flame of a candle or campfire can also quickly relieve emotional or physical fatigue and fill with sparks of enthusiasm or fire of vivacity. If this practice is done mentally, then the whole body can be exposed to the fire, and your fatigue can be burned from the inside and outside.

Land. Stand with your bare feet on the ground. Walk on the soft grass. Burrowing in warm sand or lying on the ground, staring at the endless sky …

Air. Substitute the body with a refreshing breeze. Watching birds, teaming up with them in their flight. Imagine yourself as a kite, sailboat, butterfly, a leaf that fell from a tree … Or, closing your eyes for several minutes, breathe deeply and evenly, trying not to think about anything, but just feel how the air enters the body, fills it with lightness and positiveness and leaves from it, taking with them fatigue and all unnecessary. Deep breaths saturate the blood with oxygen, and this in turn enables the brain to work more efficiently.

Positive attitude towards work

The work in which you see the meaning, in itself fills with energy, brings a lot of positive emotions and makes you forget about fatigue. And that work, which is perceived as a forced, but unpleasant duty, will very quickly deprive you of vitality, no matter how long you rest. It should be borne in mind that fatigue is of two types: physical - natural fatigue of the body, and psychological - fatigue of the mind. Recovering the body from physical activity is much easier than clearing the mind of negative thoughts.

Researchers argue that many people themselves drag themselves into a pit of constant fatigue and unhappiness just because the very thought of work makes them sigh heavily and strain from unwillingness to do it, and rest is free time in which you can do what you like and Interestingly. But in essence, the understanding of "work" and "rest" depends on our perception. And "work" itself can be "rest", i.e. what a person loves to do and therefore does it with pleasure.

If your work is the work of your whole life, then for what and what you live for, where you always hurry with joy and enthusiasm, then you are a happy person, and your fatigue is blissful. Otherwise, when already in the middle of the working day, you feel deadly fatigue and dreams about the upcoming weekend wake up, you need to change your attitude to work, you need to change your behavior at work or change your job. Otherwise, chronic fatigue and inability to relax very quickly will make you internally grow old, turn into a callous, sad and grumpy old man.

How to change attitudes towards work?

First, you need to understand whether your work corresponds to your inner orientation, whether you are doing what you have a predisposition to. If the inner voice declares a clear and categorical "no", then you should not torture yourself and look for an excuse for this torment. It is better to define your interests and see in which area these interests are displayed the most, and look for a new job there. After all, it is there that you will feel in your place, having ceased to generate within yourself the volumes of psychological fatigue - learn to make full-fledged "exhalations".

Second, think about who you benefit from your work. The feeling that your activity is not just a set of meaningless actions, but that it provides someone with real help, support, and increases the amount of warmth in the world is priceless. At the very least, you benefit your family by earning money and having the opportunity to feed your family with delicious and healthy lunches and dinners.

Thirdly, work is not only a way to earn a living, it is also life itself, because you have to work 6-8-12 hours a day. And life is always development, which can be slow, painfully undesirable or fast, joyful, exciting. Therefore, it is reasonable to perceive work as a springboard for self-improvement, as a way to learn something new, develop useful qualities and overcome useless ones.

The best rest is a change of activity

If you get tired of something, then you need to change this activity to the exact opposite. We sat - get up, stood - lie down. Have been with the child all day - find a way to be an hour or two without him. Have you worked at your computer all day? Go dancing or playing sports in the evening.

It is possible and necessary to rest not only when the body is in a horizontal position and does nothing. Scientists have proven and explained why and how various activities, such as walking, outdoor games, light physical labor, can create a relaxing effect.

It was also IM Sechenov who established that active rest has a more beneficial effect on the body and is much more useful than passive rest, that is, being in complete rest [2].

How did Sechenov come to this conclusion?

He made experiments by lifting a load with his finger. Once, when the extremely tired right arm was resting, was at rest, I. M. Sechenov began to raise and lower the load with his tireless left hand. He was surprised to notice that the fatigue of the right hand disappeared noticeably faster than with complete rest of both hands. Then he suggested that if a tired organ temporarily stops working and remains at rest, while another, tireless organ is working, then the nervous system experiences excitement useful for the body from the stream of stimuli going to the brain from the working organ. According to Sechenov, these impulses "energize the nerve centers" of a previously working organ, relieve them of fatigue and even prevent fatigue itself.

Continuing experiments in this direction, Sechenov established that in order to restore the working capacity of a tired right hand, it is not at all necessary to work with the left hand. Any form of activity of other tireless organs, for example, the legs, also accelerates the restoration of the working capacity of the tired right hand.

A tired organ, of course, needs rest with complete rest, but for a faster recovery of strength, the body as a whole must be in an active state.

Active rest is sometimes able to recuperate faster and more fully than passive rest

Thus, it is advisable for healthy people to go on tourist trips. This makes it possible not only to get acquainted with the rich nature and the most beautiful places of our homeland, but also to receive a powerful physical and ideological recharge. Tourist vacations are very diverse and exciting, these are one-day excursion tours, and hiking, horse trails, river rafting, rock climbing, and much more - everyone can choose for themselves a more suitable type of positive activity. A change in environment, a variety of new impressions have a beneficial effect on the nervous system, and physical activity strengthens the body as a whole. Overcoming the various foreseen and unforeseen obstacles and difficulties faced by tourists develops courage, resourcefulness, ingenuity, strength and dexterity, trains the nervous system.

Therefore, it is absolutely necessary to leave society from time to time in order to stay in the bosom of nature, remember yourself and return to your origins.

In rhythm with nature

Once upon a time, nature "wound up" the biological clock so that all living things move and develop in accordance with its inherent cyclicality. Biological rhythms can be observed at all levels of organization of living matter - from intracellular processes to cosmic ones. There is reason to believe that every molecule of the human body, including DNA, which stores hereditary material, is subject to the influence of biorhythms. An imbalance between the body's vital functions and biological rhythms leads to a breakdown in basic vital functions and, ultimately, to the loss of health.

The study of the rhythms of activity and passivity, occurring in all living things, has recently been engaged in a special science - biorhythmology. (Scientific works on biorhythmology appeared only at the beginning of the 19th century. In 1801, the German physician Autenrit, who observed the heart rate for several days, revealed its regular changes in the dynamics of the day. After a while, similar phenomena were noted in the dynamics of gas exchange during breathing, body temperature, etc.).

Synchronizing your life with the rhythms of Nature means being harmoniously woven into the fabric of the universe, living a fulfilled, healthy and happy life. It's like flowing along with the course of a river, knowing that it skips around all obstacles and swiftly reaches the ocean, instead of inventing your own experimentally dubious route …

Vacation is not a luxury to be earned. This is art. The art of hearing oneself and the environment, living in the same rhythm with Nature, feeling at home everywhere … This is the ability to "exhale" in time.