On the importance of rest

I did something very un-Brian-like yesterday. I went to bed on time. At 11:00.

And what a difference it made! I woke up at 8:30 (on a Saturday!), and was immediately struck with the feeling that something was wrong. Various possibilities flashed through my head: Had I slept through class? Had I missed church? Was it 3:30 in the afternoon, and I was reading my watch backwards? No, in fact, it occurred to me that what was different was that I was well-rested. I had gone to bed on time, and woken up at a decent hour. What a concept!

But reflecting on what it did for my day astounded me. Right from the beginning, I was motivated to be productive. I went for a run down at Point Isabel Regional Park, on the bay — and made it the full twenty minutes. It was a beautiful day, which made me feel even more excited, reminding me that a good attitude is the best way to energize oneself. I was also more self-confident and had more self-control, able to easily resist the temptation to have a nice leisurely breakfast at some restaurant rather than a bowl of cereal at home, as well as the temptation to goof off with my new Macbook. In fact, right after breakfast I got straight to studying. So I took a nap in the middle, but what the hey, it was a relaxing Saturday. And rest is good.

In all sorts of ways, it seems rest/relaxation/recreation is good for both body and soul. The body runs on a large and diverse group of chemicals, which can easily be used up. This disrupts the “fuel/oxygen mix,” so to speak — the body is not running in optimum conditions. So naturally your performance suffers. Stamina, muscle control, mental acuity, judgement… all start to go downhill once your body is put into stress mode. (It’s actually kind of fun to observe the distinct drop in muscle control when I am drastically under-rested. I can barely walk! And washing dishes is flat-out dangerous.) Additionally, your attitude suffers when you’re fatigued. This may be physiological (chemical), but it is also the body’s natural and useful response to a condition that bothers it. Hopefully, by making you feel generally crappy, your lower brain (the part controlling emotions) will convince your higher brain (the part that thinks it’s smarter than the lower brain) to go and get some rest. Unfortunately for me, my judgement is usually off vacationing somewhere in Maui by that point, which is why things like spending three hours on the Internet looking at pictures of complete strangers surfing on Maui seems like a good idea.

And soon this puts you into a vicious circle of sleeplessness, because (a) you’re too tired to function or to reason, which means (b) you work slowly and don’t go to bed on time, leading to (a) being too tired to function or reason.

Sooooo . . . what about the brilliant idea of going to bed early one or two nights, to give yourself the chance to recharge? I’m sure your body — and mind — will appreciate it.