You can Boost Your Productivity by resting more

Rest day is when the real growth happens. Rest is an essential component of working well and working smart. Rest helps us to think, innovate, and increase our productivity, and what we can do to rest more effectively. Even in our brain’s resting state, when we are not directly focused on a task, it’s still active, engaging its “default network” to plug away at problems, examine and toss out possible answers, and look for new information. We may not be able to control these processes completely; but by learning to rest better, we can support them, let them work, and take notice when they uncover something that deserves our attention. You can enjoy rest more profoundly and be more refreshed and restored if you simply work at it a bit more.

Here are some of the ways rest can be beneficial to your thinking and creativity.

1. Starting an early morning routine

While some writers and artists burn the midnight or wait for inspiration to strike before getting down to business. You can take a different approach to it and start work earlier, sometimes before dawn, and concentrate on their most challenging work first when their creative energy is bound to be at its peak.

2. Walking

Walking can be a simple way to facilitate creative thinking. Not only is it a form of exercise, it can also help our brains engage in a light kind of focus, which encourages more mind-wandering and aids later creativity. Walking may not be as beneficial for focused, analytical thinking; but there’s good reason to believe that it stimulates creativity and may aid you in solving problems encountered on the job, particularly if you walk when problems are still fresh in your mind.

3. Napping

If you do imaginative, creative work over long hours or in a demanding environment, afternoon naps can have restorative power for you. Sleep scientists have found that even a short nap can be effective in recharging your mental batteries. The most obvious benefit of napping is that it increases alertness and decreases fatigue. Even a short nap of around 20 minutes boosts your ability to concentrate by giving your brain a chance to restore depleted energy.

4. Stopping at the right time

While many of us may feel that pushing ourselves to work long, unbroken hours is the best way to be productive, science suggests otherwise. In fact, working longer may lead to stress, burnout, disengagement from work, and poorer performance on the job. It can also kill creativity and innovation. Stopping when you have a little energy left makes it easier to get started the next day.

5. Sleeping

Sleeping is of course, the ultimate form of rest and an important part of a creative and productive life. Getting an optimal amount of sleep does not just boost your mood and infuse your body with extra energy. During the day, our bodies are mainly occupied with the business of living, spending energy on motor activity and cognitive functions. When we fall asleep, our bodies shift into maintenance mode and devote themselves to storing energy, fixing or replacing damaged cells while our brains clean out toxins, process the day’s experiences, and sometimes work on problems that have been occupying our waking minds.