The Body Needs Rest

The body is designed to heal itself, but it needs rest to do so.

If you want to be well, you must rest. There is no way around it. At night when we sleep our cells regenerate and our mind is able to download and properly store all that we have learned. We need at the very least 6 hours of rest each night.

Now, I will admit to you that in the past, I was one of those people who slept very little. I would brag about needing only four hours of sleep. I did well like this for many years, but then something happened; I no longer had the energy I was known for and by midday my thinking became dull and uninteresting. I was determined to find out what was happening and quickly learned that I needed more sleep. At first, I refused to believe this. I thought I worked best late hours and so I stayed up.

 I am among America's self-employed, the independent contractor; I work for myself and my boss demands that I stay on top of things. Sometimes, I want to quit, but she won't let me.  I often found myself working all hours of the day, wishing for more, but if we had more time in our day, we would use it to kill ourselves. I decided to try another tactic, I went to sleep early and got up early. After just a week of proper rest, I was much more energized.

Recent research shows that the increased use of all of our technology tools temporarily lowers the I.Q. The only thing that brings it back is proper rest.

 In the evening and sometimes in the day, we plug in our blackberries (and by the by, I don’t use one I AM my own black Berry) smart phones, pads and laptops to charge them for the next use. Just as you need to plug in your technology, you must plug OUT your Self.

Any body builder will tell you that they need a day of rest to build muscles. Nautilus, the maker of some of the world’s best exercise equipment now makes beds because they determined that even the best exercise technology would not work without proper rest.

On Sunday’s I remove my pedometer and make myself slow down. Not only do I now get a full 8 hours of rest each night, I take a day to do little work.

·         Turn off your devices or at least move them to the other side of your room.

·         Plug Out! Read a book, make your own music, paint a picture or walk through a gallery. Take time to do something that does not require electricity.

·         Talk to a neighbor.

·         Communicate with nature.

·         REST

AND ON THE SEVENTH DAY…

Bertice Berry, PhD

Get Well