Recovery is often something you associate with injury; what you need to do after a car accident or a sports injury. But recovery is required in other areas of your life too, and it is essential to keep you healthy and to perform your best in everyday life.
The world today is full of overworked people, stressed, tired, and people who never stop. Working full time, raising a family, keeping fit and healthy, people are always on the go, people are always connected, which means that often there is never a chance to switch off.
Your health is the most important thing you have and we have to look after it, if you don’t then we can’t look after anyone else but also you can’t perform at your best in your everyday lives. If you’re not looking after yourself, then you will become run down, fatigued, anxious, and you’ll become ill.
To be the best parent you can be, or the best boss, the best employee, the best friend, the best colleague or the best partner then you need to be healthy and well and one of the first and best ways to becoming well is to rest and to do it regularly. Rest and recovery are vital for your overall health and happiness.
Rest can take on many different forms, and it doesn’t just mean ‘doing nothing.’ Practicing rest is one of the basic fundamental needs of human beings; it doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. It doesn’t cost anything at all.
If you have suffered an injury, then it’s essential that you seek the right treatment as rest may not be enough. You may need to see a specialist, like a physiotherapist or an ICBC Chiropractor. But remember, even if you don’t have a specific injury, you still need to recover from the stresses and strains of everyday life to allow you to get back up and perform at your best. Resting and recovering is about allowing yourself the time and space to press pause in life for a few minutes every day and to unplug, switch off and to breathe. It is about changing something from your typical everyday life, switching things up and focusing on different parts of your mind and body. If you use the same part of our body or mind too much without switching it off or allowing it time to recover and repair, it becomes overwhelmed and overstretched, which in turn drives anxiety and stress.
Rest and recovery can take on different forms, so it’s essential to find something that works best for you, for your lifestyle, for your body, and your mind. If you begin to do this, you will notice an increase in your productivity and performance; you will have a reduced risk of disease and illness, less stress and anxiety, more clarity, focus, and concentration, and you will likely feel happier.
Your body is built to survive and thrive in a series of short sprints, where you go at high speeds for short periods and then pause or rest to allow the body to recover and repair so you can perform consistently and focus again and again. Still, the quality of rest and recovery is what determines the quality of your next sprint.
Therefore, it is vital that you start living your life in this way, going but then stopping, living life to the full but then pausing and resting, recovering, and reflecting.
One of the ways to reduce stress and increase rest in your life, is to give yourself a break, so how can you do this?
Meditation
There is no right or wrong way to meditate, but there are loads of apps to help you do it now. Calm and Headspace are two excellent apps to download and try out. Equally, there are plenty of videos on youtube which you can listen to. It doesn’t have to be for long; you can find ten-minute mediations or ones that last for longer. You can find some which are designed to be listened to before you go to sleep and others that will help to energize you and help you to get ready to face the day.
Practice Breathing
When your stressed or in a stressful situation, does anyone ever tell you to ‘just breathe’? There’s a reason for this. Breathing is so essential, yet is something we do without even thinking about it. However, if you do think about it and practice breathing, it can help you to feel relaxed when you didn’t even realize you needed to. Breathing exercises make your body feel like it does when you are already relaxed, and deep breathing is one of the best ways to lower stress in the body. Again, there are apps, podcasts, and books to help you to do this and to take your mind off everything else apart from your breathing.
Yoga
More than 90 percent of people practice yoga for flexibility, stress relief, health, and physical fitness. As well as this, though, yoga offers self-reflection, the practice of kindness and self-compassion, and continued growth and self-awareness. It is a time of escapism from your mind racing and can either help you wind down or prep you for the day ahead. Give it a try and see how revitalized you feel.
Sleep
This is the most important part of rest and recovery, sleep is something you do everyday and you should take it seriously and make sure that you get seven to nine hours of sleep each night. Don’t just wait until you feel sleepy and then go to bed, make a point of going to bed at the same time each night, switching your TV, phone, laptop or tablet off and truly relaxing. You need good quality sleep to truly recover and for your immune system to recover to be able to fight off sickness. If you struggle with sleeping then it’s important to see your doctor or try different sleep exercises to find what works for you.
Resting and recovering is about allowing yourself the time and space to press pause in life for a few minutes every day and to unplug, switch off and to breathe. It is about changing something from your typical everyday life, switching things up and focusing on different parts of your mind and body. If you use the same part of our body or mind too much without switching it off or allowing it time to recover and repair, it becomes overwhelmed and overstretched, which in turn drives anxiety and stress. If you get to this point, it might be worth having a look at Kava, and reaping the benefits that it provides to support stress and anxiety. Kava is a close relative of black pepper and can be used to help with calming, aid meditation, and relax the muscles.
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Awesome post, from someone with serious injuries and illness I totally agree
Thank you!
I agree with the breathing exercise. I do that and it calms me a lot. Yeah and with the assurance of His words too. 😁
That’s wonderful! 🙂👍🌸
Thanks for sharing this very helpful information.
Thank you+
Thank you so much!