Rest to Save Time
Resting isn't always a waste of time. On the contrary, listening to your body can save you the wasted time of an increased recovery period brought on by not taking care of yourself. Today we're going to talk about the importance of proper rest.
Sleep
I hear a lot of people bragging about how they stayed up so late, then got up so early. While there is merit to the mental tenacity of working late and getting up early to be responsible, it can easily be taken too far. This applies more and more heavily the older you get.
Like it or not, your mind and body are complex machines that require proper rest in order to function at peek capacity on a day to day basis. Occasionally running them longer than usual and resting them for less time is acceptable, but making a habit of it is always a bad idea.
When you deprive your body of sleep, the negative side effects start to add up. You start to lose the ability to focus. Your judgement becomes impaired. If you have a physically demanding job or hobby, this can put you and others at greater risk of injury. Your body not resting means that you will not be recovering fully from your workouts, so your muscle and strength gains will be impacted. You even start gaining weight easier. Yes, that's right. Not sleeping can make you fat, and make it harder to LOSE that fat even if you are serious about doing so.
Make time for eight hours of sleep, or you'll be spending more time in the hospital or home recovering from illness.
Injuries
Following on from one of the leading causes of them, we have injuries and their recovery time. If you are injured, don't pretend you're not. It's not tough, it's not cool, and it's not smart.
Forcing your body to operate while injured is one of the quickest ways to land yourself in (or back in) the hospital with a worse injury. Listen to your doctor, surgeon, and any other medical professional. Take the proper time to recover from any injuries, even if you "feel fine." You're not a doctor. And even if you are, it bears repeating that doctors really do make the worst patients. Listen to YOUR doctor, and recover fully so you're not wasting time turning a sprain into a break that has you out of commission for even longer.
Illness
Much like direct injuries, being sick is another time that you need to heed your body's signals. This doesn't mean not going to work or the gym just because you have the sniffles. You know what I'm talking about. When you are legitimately ill, you need to be at home in bed letting body recover.
You know when you're sick and when you're just a bit sore or under the weather. When you know you're sick or getting sick, be kind to yourself and considerate of others. Stay home and get better faster. Not doing so only leads to you being ill longer, not to mention risking exposing others to whatever is afflicting you.
Take a sick day when you need it, so you're not spending a whole week at sub par levels of performance.
Do You Even Rest, Bro?
As always, I want to hear from all of you. Tell us about a time when you did or didn't rest when you needed to, and what the results were.