What Are The Seven Types of Rests? A Clinical Psychology Podcast Episode.

The majority of people think that if they’re exhausted then the best way to fix their exhaustion is to get physical rest through sleep. Whilst this is important, it is not the only type of rest a person needs to combat fatigue and exhaustion. In fact, a lot of therapists and professionals, like Saundra Dalton-Smith, explain that rest is the most underused safe and effective alternative therapy that we have available to us. Therefore, in this clinical psychology podcast episode, you’re going to learn about the seven types of rest that our body as well as mind need so we can combat exhaustion and fatigue. By the end of this episode, you’ll understand why physical, mental and creative rest are important for our mental health amongst four others. If you enjoy learning about mental health, self-care and rest then this will be a brilliant episode for you.

Today’s psychology podcast episode has been sponsored by Introduction To Psychotherapies: A Clinical Psychology Introduction To Types of Different Psychological Therapies. Available from all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore and local library, if you request it. Also available as an AI-narrated audiobook from selected audiobook platforms and library systems. For example, Kobo, Spotify, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor and Bibliotheca.

Why Sleep Is Not Enough Rest to Fix Exhaustion?

Whilst there will be times that clients simply need to improve their sleep to be able to improve their mental health and feel less exhausted. It’s important to know and acknowledge that there will be a lot of times when only focusing on sleep might increase our burnout because we are ignoring the other areas of our life that we need to manage. For example, the other week when I was burnt out, I wasn’t so much physically exhausted but I was mentally and socially exhausted too.

This is why it’s important to learn about the seven types of rest.

As aspiring and qualified psychologists, we need to be aware of the seven types so we can practise self-care. Whether it is a lot of coursework, a lot of exam stress or a hectic workload in the mental health service that we work in, there will be times when we are burnt out. Yet being aware of these seven types of rest allows us to be mindful and practise self-care so we can better manage our energy levels and prevent burnout.

Equally, it’s important for us to be aware of the seven types so we can help our clients, share this knowledge with them and understand why they still feel exhausted even if we’ve worked with them to improve their sleep hygiene.

What Is Mental Rest?

Personally, needing mental rest is a big one for me because I do so much work, so much writing and other business-related things in addition to my university work. When I am burnt out, I often find it is because I am mentally exhausted, not physically. Even though for me, the effects often feel the same.

As a result, when it comes to mental rest, this highlights that we all know that sleep is restorative but it can never feel like enough. As well as relying on coffee to get you through the day isn’t healthy and in the long term, it can increase and maintain your racing thoughts, mental processes and worries. This only increases your mental exhaustion too.

To combat mental exhaustion, author and MD Dalton-Smith recommends that people take short breaks throughout the workday or they should journal before bedtime. This helps clients to quieten down their “mental chatter” and they can practise “thought diffusion” as well. This is where clients simply let their thoughts flow in and out of their minds and allow the thoughts to pass without placing any pressure on the thoughts to go faster or slower.

Personally, I am getting better over time at embracing mental rest because I cannot keep doing hundreds of things a week consistently because that only leads to burnout. To combat this, I make sure that I take breaks throughout the day, I keep my work varied so I can still be interested and excited about it and always around 6 til 8 in the evening I have an extended break where I have dinner. And I allow myself to watch mindless TV, like the Big Bang Theory because I don’t need to focus on it and my mind can just relax.

Also, if I am starting to feel overwhelmed and like I am approaching mental exhaustion, I readdress and redo my To Do List to strip it back and to help it stop draining my mental energy.

What is Social Rest?

I know the idea of social rest is common in society but often, I feel like we overlook our personal needs when it comes to social rest. There is such a focus in our social worlds to always be going out with our friends, our work peers and never saying no to these social activities. Sometimes this is out of a fear of missing out, other times this is because we don’t want our friends or the people from work thinking that we’re anti-social or we don’t like them. And we all know that we can only say no so many times before our friends and other people stop asking us.

However, if you constantly go out with your friends, family members and the people from work then you will get burnt out and feel socially exhausted. This is why it’s important to understand whether you get your energy from other people (an extrovert) or whether you get your social energy from being alone (introvert).

Understanding these two basic concepts helps you to understand your own unique social battery and how you need to recharge it. This is an important conversation to have with your partner, friends and other loved ones because people have different thresholds of sociability. One person in your relationship might love partying for three hours and that’s a firm limit, but you, you might only be getting started after three hours.

Personally, whilst I am an introvert and I find hours upon hours of social activities and interacting with other people day after day to be exhausting. My social battery isn’t that limited because I can easily manage hours of talking and interacting with people. Yet at the last Open Day at my university I had had to be social for 6 hours straight but I had already been doing long days of interacting with other people and giving talks to students. I got home that afternoon and I was so exhausted that I couldn’t move for hours. Whereas my housemate has literally just returned from manning a stall at Canterbury Pride and they were saying that after manning the stall for three hours they are completely socially exhausted.

Different people have different social batteries and that’s okay.

Think about your own social battery and make sure you incorporate social rest into your life.

What Is Emotional Rest?

None of us can suppress our emotions forever and I always strongly recommend that you don’t hide your emotions, and always allow yourself to process them without judgment. I know from personal experience that you should always process your emotions because if you don’t deal with your emotions then they will continue to eat away at you and make you feel worse in the long run. A common example of this is when we’re upset and someone asks us How are you and we simply say we’re “fine”. That is a total lie and it doesn’t help us because it is a suppression of our emotions and this adds internal pressure to us.

Therefore, emotional rest allows us to live authentically and when we express our emotions, like our hesitations, concerns and we stop pretending to be fine when we aren’t. This allows our emotional system to feel more relaxed and rested, as well as emotional rest means we need to surround ourselves with other people who help provide emotional peace.

I know whenever I hold back emotions and annoyances, like when friends or housemates have annoyed me or they’re showing toxic behaviours. I always feel better after standing up for myself and releasing my thoughts, feelings and emotions. It means things get dealt with and I immediately feel lighter. And this means I don’t feel exhausted and my mental health doesn’t suffer.

What Is Sensory Rest?

Even if you’re not autistic like I am, sensory rest is a very important concept to be aware of. We are constantly stimulated because of our screens, lights, pets, children, friends, social media, To Do lists and conversations. There is always more we could do, more things we could be exposed to and it feels impossible to get away from the constant sensory experiences and stimulation. This can make us feel exhausted after a while because we are always being stimulated and our brain is always registering new inputs, new experiences and new information.

It can simply get too much at times.

Therefore, when it comes to sensory rest, it’s important to take part in intentional moments of sensory deprivation to help us recharge from being overstimulated. This is another reason why mindfulness and grounding techniques are so effective at improving our mental health because they force us to be in the present moment and focus on particular things so we aren’t overstimulated.

In my experience, after living in on-campus accommodation back in 2019 where there was always noise, people running up and down the corridor and some of my flatmates wouldn’t come home until 2 am in the morning. I do actively have “quiet appreciation time” where I just enjoy and focus on the quiet. I was without quiet for over 6 months. I am so going to enjoy it now. As well as there are times when I practise mindfulness and focus on my surroundings and this is even more true in nature because I want to slow down for a moment and appreciate the understimulating world around me.

What Is Spiritual Rest?

Because I’m not religious or a spiritual person, I wasn’t sure this type of rest could be useful to me but our bodies and minds want spiritual rest and this relates to connecting with something on a deeper level that is greater than ourselves. For some people, this might mean God or whatever you believe in, but for other people like me, this means connecting to your local community and finding a sense of purpose that way.

For me, this might mean volunteering and working for organisations and groups that offer you a sense of community through intention and acceptance.

This is one of the reasons why I flat out love my Outreach work through my university. I get to meet, interact and support amazing students whilst doing a wide range of different activities. I get to work with children and young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to show them that no matter where they come from and their past history, university is an option for them if they want it. It was only two days ago that a kid who I’ve worked with for months almost cried as he said goodbye to me because I’ve had such a massive impact on his life.

That makes me feel great, connected and like I am making a meaningful impact in the world.

What is Creative Rest?

If you work in a creative field like me, then creative rest is really important. Since a lot of creatives often struggle with “writer’s block”, creative fatigue or they just get burned out from problem-solving and brainstorming new ideas. This is why creative rest is important and you can do this by surrounding yourself with inspiration and take the pressure off yourself that you “have to do” something with the inspiration.

Just enjoy it.

Whenever I read a book, I just focus on the story and enjoying the ride. I enjoy learning about the characters, plot and the world. I don’t know if a particular technique, scene or phrasing will pop up in my own fiction and that’s okay. I fill my creative well by reading and experiencing the world with no judgment and determination that I “have” to use it.

Another way to get creative rest is to simply step away from a project or problem for some time and allow your brain to recharge without pressure. This I have done a good few times because sometimes creative projects are massive and overwhelming.

I always feel better after taking a break.

What Is Physical Rest?

I left “physical rest” until last because it is the most well-known and I wanted to focus on the other types first of all. Therefore, physical rest is a break from physical activities that exhaust us so we can use sleep, napping and relaxation to rest physically. As well as there is something called “active” physical rest and this refers to light, restorative activities. For instance, this is why people say they find yoga, massages and stretching relaxing.

Personally, this is one of the reasons why I attempt to maintain a good sleep schedule because this is important for combating physical exhaustion. This helps me to maintain a good sleeping pattern so I get enough sleep. Of course, this does not mean I am always good at it and there are nights when I am extremely bad at going to sleep at consistent times. As well as I make sure there are times in the day when I am not doing anything physically demanding.

If you want to learn more about improving your sleep then please check out a backlist podcast episode called. “How Does A Consistent Sleep Schedule Improve Mental Health?”.

Clinical Psychology Conclusion

In this psychology podcast episode, we’ve learnt a lot of different ways how you can combat exhaustion and I know that the idea of incorporating seven types of rest into your life seems impossible. Yet I would suggest you simply take a step or two at a time. Try incorporating a very small version of each type of rest into your day one week at a time. You could start by fixing your sleep schedule for physical rest, you could try taking your full lunch break for mental rest and so on.

It is all about taking small steps today so you can benefit tomorrow. And over time, all these small steps add up into something amazing and easy to achieve.

Since I learnt and became more aware of the different types of rest, I’ve been better able to manage my time and my energy levels. I don’t always get it right but I am so much better than I used to be so it’s rare for me to feel exhausted.

You can get there too.

Here are some questions to get you thinking at the end of this psychology podcast episode:

·       How could you incorporate physical rest into your life?

·       What about mental rest?

·       Creative rest?

·       Sensory rest?

·       Social rest?

·       Spiritual rest?

·       How could you incorporate emotional rest into your life?

I really hope you enjoyed today’s clinical psychology podcast episode.

If you want to learn more, please check out:

FREE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET

Introduction To Psychotherapies: A Clinical Psychology Introduction To Types of Different Psychological Therapies. Available from all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore and local library, if you request it. Also available as an AI-narrated audiobook from selected audiobook platforms and library systems. For example, Kobo, Spotify, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor and Bibliotheca.

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Have a great day.

Clinical Psychology References and Further Reading

Alonzo, R., Hussain, J., Stranges, S., & Anderson, K. K. (2021). Interplay between social media use, sleep quality, and mental health in youth: A systematic review. Sleep medicine reviews, 56,

101414.

Caviedes, G. (2021). The importance of psychological rest: Relationships between demands, mental rest, depressive symptoms, and well-being in collegiate student-athletes. The Florida State University.

Dalton-Smith, S. (2017). Sacred Rest: Recover your life, renew your energy, restore your sanity. FaithWords.

Helvig, A., Wade, S., & Hunter‐Eades, L. (2016). Rest and the associated benefits in restorative sleep: a concept analysis. Journal of advanced nursing, 72(1), 62-72.

Michishita, R., Jiang, Y., Ariyoshi, D., Yoshida, M., Moriyama, H., & Yamato, H. (2017). The practice of active rest by workplace units improves personal relationships, mental health, and physical activity among workers. Journal of occupational health, 59(2), 122-130.

Wickramaratne, P. J., Yangchen, T., Lepow, L., Patra, B. G., Glicksburg, B., Talati, A., ... & Weissman, M. M. (2022). Social connectedness as a determinant of mental health: A scoping review. PloS one, 17(10), e0275004.

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