I’ve written over the last several weeks about how the quality and consistency of your fitness is key to being successful. Well, that concept can be extended to so many things in our lives that we want become a priority, and for this series we’re going to apply to rest. Moving our bodies well and with purpose keeps us in the best possible physical condition for the longest amount of time during our years here on earth, and helps us mentally process stress and increase creativity. If this concept was a coin, one side would be movement, the other would be rest.
Eight hours of sleep sounds adequate for most people, but if you are tossing and turning, waking and then again trying to fall back asleep, your mind and body are not getting most of those hours of rest it needs for the next day no matter how many hours your affording yourself. Quality rest will always be just as important, maybe more, then the amount of hours you put into it each night. And just like quality, consistency is important in rest as well. One quality night of sleep is not going to make for 6 nights of poor sleep. Again, quality and consistency is key.
Let me give you four reasons why quality sleep matters and why you should be consistent in obtaining it…
- Recover
rest allows your muscles, nerves, bones and connective tissue time to rebuild
While moving your body purposefully will maintain and grow your body’s strength and flexibility, rest allows for your muscles, nerves, bones and connective tissue to rebuild after using them and breaking them down during your day. It’s as equally important to maintaining and growing in your health and wellness as your fitness is during your waking hours.
- Boost
It gives you a boost, literally. Both your memory and immune system are boosted when we get quality rest. Think about all the time you’ll save, or even just swap, if you aren’t constantly struggling to remember things or recovering from the things you forgot. And the time you’ll save from not being sick or recovering from illness. At the end of the day your spending time no matter what…your choice is whether you want to spend it resting in bed or spend it on the fall out from sickness or memory loss (sounds harsh, but if you’ve ever stood in a room wondering why you came in there, it’s honestly the best term to use).
- Create
Do you want to be creative? Do you wish you were my creative in your family life, job(s), activities and other commitments? Get more and better rest! Quality rest stimulates the creative part of the brain. Better ideas, better plans, better intentions, better goals…they don’t just come from pinterest, they come from quality rest.
- Commanded
We are commanded to rest. God knew, as He always does, that we would struggle with rest. He knew that he needed to command it, like loving Him and others, because we would fill our time with ALL THE THINGS. Important things. Giving things. Idle things. Commitment things. Fun things. Mind-numbing things. All the things. There are lots of verses that discuss rest, but here are a few of my favorites. Just like with everything God commands, He does it because it’s what is BEST for us.
Matthew 11:28-30 Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
Psalm 4:8 In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, LORD, make me dwell in safety.
Psalm 127:2 In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat— for he grants sleep to those he loves.
Mark 2:27 Then he said to them, The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.
Hebrews 4:9-11 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.
Now go forth and recover, boost, create and be obedient to God’s command with quality and consistent rest!
Church is out, Erin
GoodWord Health and Fitness 