how to take productive rest days

not just in exercise, but in life

Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash

Rest.

In a society that glamorizes, prioritizes, and lauds a constant hustle, rest is often forgotten, yet it’s one of the most critical keys to success.

We know physical rest days are important for recovering from your workouts (or if you’re a competitive athlete, from tough practices). But it’s important to take mental rest days as well.

Many times, we think of rest days as lounging around in your PJs doing absolutely nothing.

Maybe that’s your ideal rest day, and that’s 100% ok.

But there are ways to make your rest days valuable — in other words, to make them productive, but not in the way you’d think.

Here’s one scenario:

You’re burnt out and taking a rest day to mindlessly scroll on social media for hours, only to realize you haven’t eaten anything. Then you order in takeout, ignore the chores piling up in your house, and lay back in bed. You don’t shower or really move all day, and you feel kind of crappy at the end of the day.

You feel crappy because you haven’t done anything really nourishing for your mind, body, or soul.