You’re Exhausted. But Are You Actually Resting?

Your body has plans for those hours you keep stealing from it.

You finally get everyone settled.

The house is quiet. Nobody needs anything from you.

So naturally, instead of going to sleep, you pick up your phone.

Just ten minutes.

Suddenly it’s 11:47 p.m. and you’re watching a woman organize a refrigerator you don’t own.

I get it.

Sometimes nighttime feels like the only part of the day that belongs completely to us. The problem is that our bodies have plans for that time, too.

Sleep isn’t simply the part of the day when you stop doing things.

According to the National Institutes of Health, sleep supports important processes involving learning and memory, metabolism and immune function.

In other words:

Rest is productive.

That can be difficult to remember in a world that treats exhaustion like proof that you’re working hard enough.

Please don’t turn better sleep into another impossible wellness routine, either.

Start simple.

Give yourself time to wind down. Dim the lights. Put the phone away earlier. Pay attention to late-day caffeine. Hydrate throughout the day rather than trying to catch up right before bed. NIH sleep guidance also recommends maintaining a consistent sleep schedule and using the time before bed for quiet activities while avoiding bright artificial light.

And if sleep is consistently difficult, talk with an appropriate healthcare professional instead of deciding exhaustion is your new personality.

Sometimes taking care of yourself means doing more.

Sometimes it means stopping.

The laundry will survive.

Instagram will survive.

Go to bed.

— Rashelle Black, Board Certified Naturopath

CARE FOR THE BODY YOU LIVE IN
Part 3 of a five-part LivingMajik series.

Research & Further Reading

National Institutes of Health — Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Sleep Information

National Institutes of Health — National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
Healthy Sleep Habits