choose rest over fatigue

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In today’s world, fatigue and overexertion have become a badge of honor. We have started harboring the false belief that the more we work, the better our standing in our personal and professional circles. If you’re someone who lives and works by this social mandate, it’s crucial that you change your approach and start minimizing your “hustle” before it gets too late.

Rest, not fatigue, is vital for optimum performance. Relaxation, not overexertion, is the key to productivity.

Nature has infused this intelligence into the functioning of our bodies. For instance, consider your heart — even though it works round the clock, it’s smart enough to know the importance of rest.

Your heart pumps enough blood through your body every twenty-four hours to fill a railway tank car (that would be around 30,000 gallons!). It exerts enough energy every day to shovel twenty tons of coal onto a platform three feet high. And keep in mind, it does this humongous amount of work for sixty, eighty, or maybe even a hundred years. How is it possible?

Dr. Walter B. Cannon from the Harvard Medical School, once explained the mechanics behind this remarkable feat of the humble heart. He said, “Most people have the idea that the heart is working all the time. As a matter of fact, there is a definite rest period before each contraction. When beating at a moderate rate of seventy pulses per minute, the heart is actually working only nine hours of the twenty-four. In the aggregate its rest periods total a full fifteen hours per day.”

I might further add that if you’re a regular practitioner of yoga asanas (body postures), pranayama (breathing exercises), and meditation, you reduce your heart rate even further, giving more rest to your heart, thus enhancing its functioning and longevity and adding more years to it. ‘

Fatigue is a silent poison for the body — a negative entity that accumulates at a mind-boggling, rapid rate. Not only does it produces anxiety and overwhelm, but it also lowers your immunity — both in terms of physical well-being and mental toughness — and degrades your emotional intelligence.

The best way to combat fatigue and any ensuing nervous or emotional state, as Dale Carnegie instructs in his book How to Stop Worry and Start Living, is complete relaxation.

Numerous studies have shown that relaxation is a potent method to improve holistic health. If you choose intermittent resting, you cannot fall victim to fear and worry, even in challenging circumstances. Hence, one of Carnegie’s rules to prevent fatigue and worry is: “Rest often. Rest before you get tired.”

So, as you go through your days, carve out some time for a few naps and/or meditation sessions, and try your best to have a proper good night’s sleep. Make rest a high priority, no matter how busy you get. Your performance and productive output will skyrocket and you won’t even fall prey to fatigue and exhaustion. Now that’s a double win!

FUN FACT

86% of people in France have never traveled by airplane.