You sleep well, you tick off your eight hours of sleep, but waking up remains difficult and the slightest meeting leaves you empty. This fatigue that sticks to the skin is disconcerting, especially when we are doing “everything well”. What if it’s not your willpower that’s lacking, but the right kind of rest? American doctor Saundra Dalton-Smith explains that sleep is just one form among others: according to her, our body, mind and emotions need seven different types of rest to regain energy.Making sure we get enough of each type of rest allows us to avoid feeling out of breath and, instead, live our lives to the fullest“explained doctor Alexa Davis to verywellmind. It remains to be seen which one you are missing today.
The 7 types of rest: understand before choosing
To no longer bet everything on the pillow, you still need to know what we are talking about. Saundra Dalton-Smith’s model distinguishes different energy reserves, all used in a busy day. The 7 types of rest she talks about are:
- Physical rest: sleep, nap, stretch;
- Mental rest: take breaks, meditate;
- Sensory rest: reduce noise, light, screens;
- Creative rest: nourish yourself with art and nature;
- Emotional rest : express your emotions, set limits;
- Social rest: isolate yourself or conversely, see supportive people;
- Spiritual rest: connect with something bigger than yourself.
We don’t lack everything at the same time: some people sleep well but are saturated with screens, others feel drained by emotions or relationships. The challenge is to identify where your main energy leak is: in the body, in the head, in the senses, in social connections, in emotions, in creativity or in the need for meaning.
How do you know what type of rest is best for you?
A simple guideline is to observe what exhausts you most often. If you wake up with aches or stiff shoulders, physical rest is probably first in line. If your brain is spinning even in bed and you ruminate on your to-do lists, the deficit is more likely to affect mental rest. When activities or people you love disappear from the agenda in favor of obligations, the lack often concerns emotional rest and social rest.
You can also observe yourself for a few days, notebook in hand. Draw seven columns with the words physical, mental, sensory, creative, emotional, social and spiritual, then, whenever you feel flat, write down what is happening: pain, brain fog, irritability at noise, need to pretend, no ideas coming, loneliness, loss of meaning. The most populated column(s) will indicate your current rest priorities.
Integrate the 7 types of rest for a balanced life
For many ambitious people, slowing down is scary, as if resting means giving up. Consultant Ruchika T. Malhotra, founder of Candour and author of Uncompeteon the contrary, defends a life where rest and success move forward together: a few minutes of stretching for physical rest, a slot without notifications for mental rest or a coffee with a person who makes you feel good for social rest are already enough to feel a difference.
Creative rest can slip into a walk looking at the city or nature, a sketchbook or simple coloring, while sensory rest benefits from being protected by regular moments of silence away from screens. For many, the great forgotten remains spiritual rest: Saundra Dalton-Smith describes it as “the ability to connect beyond the physical and mental and feel a deep sense of belonging, love, acceptance and meaning“.
If, despite adding these different types of rest to your daily routine, exhaustion persists or is accompanied by other symptoms, seeking the advice of a health professional will help verify that an illness is not hiding behind the fatigue.