The 7 Types of Rest
For when your bones hurt, your brain’s on fire, and you’ve shouted at a kettle.
I heard from a girlfriend this morning. She told me she’s been working 6am to midnight for about a week. Her eyes are turning into saucers, she’s eating bread out the packet like a feral badger, and her damn bones hurt.
She’s just told her boss she’s done working her allotted hours this month and she’s now going to go hide under her bed for five days (that’s boundary-setting, folks. Even if a bit late).
Life happens, work needs to get done, the kids get sick, the deadline looms… sometimes way more effort is required of you than normal. So we dig deep and crack on.
But what happens next? How do we recuperate? Should my friend actually hide under the bed for five days?
No. Mainly because spiders.
My overworked friend, you, me, your over-enthusiastic entrepreneur mate and that fella down the pub…
…need to learn how to actually rest.
And no, resting isn’t just about falling asleep on the sofa covered in crumbs with your hand in the bread packet. Thanks to the work of Dr Dalton-Smith and her book Sacred Rest, we know there’s more than one way to stop feeling like a broken iPhone on 2% battery.
Let’s dive in.
The 7 Types of Rest:
Physical rest
This is the first one we think of: sleep, naps, any kind of shut-eye. But that’s the passive form of this type of rest. We can also rest physically in a more active way via things like restorative yoga, any kind of gentle movement, or yoga nidra.
This is what most people think of when we say ‘rest’. And they’re not wrong. But there’s way more slices to this rest-based pie.
Mental rest
Worked so long you can’t remember your own name? I feel you. If you’ve been mentally exerting yourself, you need a brain-break. This is where we get to close some of those 57 open tabs you’ve got open.
This can look like journalling (or a less structured brain-dump) - on paper, using an app, on a Tesco receipt you found in your pocket. Meditation is also a great way to mentally rest, especially an easy-going guided session that reminds you it’s okay for you brain to wander off (like the one included in this article).
Sensory rest
I’ve started to schedule in a screen-free Saturday. Sure, it’s not all day—I work for myself, so sometimes my weekend boundaries are a little… relaxed. But even just a few hours, or the afternoon completely free of screens has become a total sanctuary for me. I read, play music, write, cook… This is sensory rest.
If you’ve ever wanted to throw your phone in a pond, this one’s for you. It can look similar to my screen-free time, or it can be about finding quiet or calm after a lot of overstimulation.
This is about intentional silence, intentional offline activities, intentional darkness. These things soothe your senses in bigger ways than you know.
Creative rest
Decision-fatigue is a thing. If your work or life requires a lot of problem-solving or decision-making, you can get properly burned out by this constant output. You know this is you if, when someone asks what you want for dinner, your mind turns into a swamp.
This kind of rest involves time outside in nature (walks in the woods are one of my favourite things here), making art, getting into ‘play’ mode.
This is real joyful stuff. Whatever creative, flow-state thing lights you up, go do more of that.
Emotional rest
If you’ve been doing the holding-space-for-others thing, if you’re all “I’m fine” while silently screaming… this is needed. Supporting others through emotional turmoil, or even just in a more day-to-day working environment, is a brilliant thing. But it comes with its own resting requirements.
To do emotional rest right, turn to expressing yourself with words; written, spoken, with a therapist, with your bestie—it doesn’t matter. This isn’t about fixing anything, but about having that space you’ve held for others be held in return for you.
Social rest
This is a big one for us introverts. Yes, we have to attend the thing, yes, we have to spend time with strangers, yes, we have to do the small talk. And it can be fucking exhausting.
So to rest from this kind of stuff, learn to find intentional time alone. Or maybe spend time with one or two people who absolutely and categorically fill your cup. You know who they are. This is about nourishing interactions. It’s a bigger deal than you think.
Spiritual rest
On a grander scale, you need to feel like you’re doing something worthwhile with your time or you’ll feel disconnected, or unanchored. This is a big part of company missions; helping people feel compelled by the good their work is doing helps them feel more aligned and connected to it.
But, we can’t help but have work and effort in our lives that perhaps doesn’t do this. This is where spiritual rest comes in. Learn to incorporate something into your time that has bigger meaning, or community, or ritual.
For me, I knew a long time ago that joy—making the world a more joyful place for both myself and for you—was the core of my very bones; I don’t think there’s any greater work for me to be doing. So this comes easy for me (and it might for you). But if you’re not privileged enough to be doing what you love, figure out what that is and weave it in somehow. (My podcast episode on life missions might be a good one to dive into.)
This is a map, not a checklist
As you read through these, notice which one is calling your name the most. For my overworked friend, she needs some mental and sensory rest. For me, most of the time, I need social, emotional, and creative rest often. And for all of us, we need physical rest way more often.
In case you hadn’t already gathered, this is also a guide to the best ways to regulate your nervous system. Whether you’re taking a long nap or spending time with people who fill your cup, this is essentially about shifting your state back into ventral vagal or rest-and-digest—the place we should be most of the time, and the place where every physiological process in our bodies functions at a higher level.
Your mission: choose one of the seven, and see how you can incorporate it into your next week in a meaningful way. And let me know how you get on!
And if your body is crying out for some real physical rest, I’ve dropped a class of mine below that’ll help you actually get it.
This class is from The Yoga Revolution library, something all paid subscribers to Joyful have full access to. Discover more about upgrading your subscription here, and come join us inside for easy, practical, down-to-earth ways to get your nervous system on your side in just a few days.