What Is Rest Anyways?

Examining the 7 types of rest and how to achieve them.

In honor of completing Tricia Hersey’s Rest Is Resistance and in follow-up to my post introducing the PLEASE skill, I figured I would focus my next entry on what it means to rest. This post is late because I chose to prioritize rest after a busy weekend. As physician and author Saundra Dalton-Smith explains in, Sacred Rest: Recover Your Life, Renew Your Energy, Restore Your Sanity, sleep and rest are not synonymous. This week, our focus is rest.

Dr. Dalton-Smith’s book and TED Talk introduce the idea that there are seven types of rest:

• Mental: This type of rest relates to the ability to quiet inner chatter and focus on what is important. It’s about finding moments of peace from chronic overthinking and processing through mindfulness meditation, implementing boundaries around electronic devices, and engaging in activities that foster joy and relaxation.

• Spiritual: Spiritual rest is about connecting with a higher power, nature, or meaningful practices. Spiritual rest can provide a sense of purpose, hope, and inner peace, even during difficult times. I struggle with organized religion, but Dr. Dalton-Smith recommends engaging in prayer, spending time volunteering, and finding a supportive community to achieve spiritual rest.

• Emotional: Emotional rest includes identifying, acknowledging, and expressing our authentic feelings so that we can meet our individual needs and release our emotions in a healthy way. It is about reducing people-pleasing behaviors and instead focusing our energy inwards through self-awareness and seeking assistance from friends, family, or mental health practitioners as needed.

• Social: We give ourselves the gift of social rest when we nurture healthy relationships and authentic connection by distinguishing and investing in relationships that revive our energy stores as opposed to relationships that exhaust and deplete us. Social rest can improve our self-confidence, decrease our stress, and create a sense of belonging. It’s important to prioritize time for socialization, but also to set boundaries as needed when we find ourselves depleted.

• Sensory: We experience sensory rest when we intentionally limit exposure to external stimuli like noise, fragrances, television, and smart devices. You can achieve sensory rest by using a mask and ear plugs when you sleep, reducing screen time, and creating a quiet, clutter-free space for relaxation.

• Creative: This type of rest allows beauty to inspire awe and liberate wonder. More on this one below.

• Physical: This type of rest gives the body time and space to recuperate through 7-9 hours of sleep, intentional periods of relaxation (think stretching, soaking in a bath, or napping), and active restorative practices like walks or massages. Physical rest decreases muscle tension, reduces headaches, increases cognitive and immune function, and promotes higher quality sleep.

Each rest type is an important antidote to hustle or grind culture. When we talk “rest is resistance”, what we are really saying is that it is important to compliment our professional lives by caring for ourselves holistically. It is difficult to achieve wellness when we are deficient in our mental health, spiritual health, emotional health, social wellbeing, physical health, if we are experiencing a sensory overload or deficit, or if we lack a creative outlet.

So, how do we know the type of rest that needs our attention? Dr. Dalton-Smith developed an assessment tool to help us uncover where we may be experiencing a rest deficit. This tool is helpful for identifying where to replenish our energy so we can restore our reserves and feel rested on a regular basis.

I picked up Sacred Rest at the start of 2024. I was on vacation in Hawaii with my father and was ready to spend the new year with an emphasis on rest. Little did I know, life had other plans. I took Dr. Dalton-Smith’s quiz in hopes of pinpointing areas where I could focus on resting. Looking back at my results, I took her quiz 5 days before my daughter’s suicide attempt.

The quiz assigns a score for each rest category on a scale of 0-35+. She recommends that we focus on the rest type with the higher score because it is the primary type of rest you are missing in your life. The rest scales are as follows:

• 0-15: You are getting adequate rest in this category.

• 16-25: You are experiencing rest in this category, but could benefit from more.

• 26-35: You are deficient in this category of rest and it is time for a change.

• >35: Your life is negatively affected by your lack of rest.

In early January 2024, my scores were:

Physical Rest Score: 29
Mental Rest Score: 28
Emotional Rest Score: 32
Spiritual Rest Score: 13
Social Rest Score: 14
Sensory Rest Score: 21
Creative Rest Score: 29

It may come as little surprise that my scores have changed over the year. Now, they are:

Physical Rest Score: 23
Mental Rest Score: 32
Emotional Rest Score: 43
Spiritual Rest Score: 22
Social Rest Score: 20
Sensory Rest Score: 21
Creative Rest Score: 30

Clearly, I have work to do. Since I have been prioritizing my PLEASE skills, I have moved exercise, sleep, and nutrition to the top of my priority list. Fortunately, I have seen improvement in the physical rest category. My mental and emotional rest scores also are unsurprising given that I have been battling depression and anxiety following a very difficult year. Meanwhile, my social score has declined as I have been weeding my garden and spending more time alone. Maybe it’s time for me to invest in building my new community.

The most surprising change of all is the increase in my creative rest score. We engage in creative rest when we perform activities that spark joy and inspire us to tap into our imagination. Before retaking this quiz, I would have told you that this blog and my artist dates have been that creative outlet. I have been spending considerable time at play through artistic collage (see this week’s photo), cooking, and baking. Apparently, there’s opportunity to invest even more energy towards experiencing beauty and fun to balance out my mental and emotional overwhelm.

The benefits to creative rest include innovation, stress reduction, and an increase in overall wellbeing. I can only imagine that the more time I spend marveling in the beauty and wonder of life, the lower my emotional and mental scores also will be in the future. Dr. Dalton-Smith recommends achieving creative rest by:

• Enjoying the outdoors

• Pursuing a hobby

• Allowing unstructured time for playful activities

• Embracing a curious mindset

• Reading a book

• Visiting an art gallery

I’m looking forward to getting more intentional and enjoying even more play. I’ve signed up for ballet classes again and am even considering throwing jazz into the mix. While my previous second home, the Kennedy Center, may no longer be a place of refuge, I live in an area where there are a variety of new theaters and stages where I can take in dance performances, plays, and concerts. I’m excited to see what I can uncover.

In case if you missed them, here are resources I linked this week:

• Rest Is Resistance by Tricia Hersey

• PLEASE Skills Handout (Northern Arizona University)

• Sacred Rest: Recover Your Life, Renew Your Energy, Restore Your Sanity by Saundra Dalton-Smith

• Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith’s TED Talk

• Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith’s Rest Quiz