Give yourself the gift of rest and recovery

This December, we invite Healthy UBC readers to take time for rest and recovery – not just because it is the giving time of year, but because relaxation is proven to be a powerful force in our lives.

Fatigue is common these days; many of us are just not getting the rest and sleep we need to feel refreshed. Sleep is a natural function, not an enemy to be slayed and overcome. Sleep allows the mind and body to repair, and it is not the reason you are behind on your favourite shows/books/hobbies.

It is important to think about rest as more than just your eight hours of shut-eye each night – rest is about intentionally incorporating relaxation practices into daily life. These include being in nature, minimizing screen time and digital distractions, taking planned breaks in the workday, napping and not over-committing yourself. Relaxation practices offer significant benefits including improved memory, resilience to illness, and healthy weight (to name a few)[1]. 

But first, we need to acknowledge the pace of modern life, and the demands of the attendant stressors that make giving ourselves permission to rest challenging. One concept that has been resonating with us, given the challenges of finding rest in a modern world, is the idea of Rest as Resistance.

Fighting for rest

This is a compelling concept rooted in Black liberation and holds significant importance for IBPOC and equity-seeking groups. This perspective upholds the importance of rest as a form of resistance to oppression, namely, capitalism and white supremacy.

Rest as Resistance calls out the pressure to be constantly productive and rejects hustle-and-grind culture. Tricia Hersey, author of Rest is Resistance A Manifesto and founder of the Nap Ministry, shares this message from the Nap Ministry blog: “Rest pushes back and disrupts a system that views human bodies as a tool for production and labor. It is a counter-narrative. We know that we are not machines.”

To fully explore Rest as Resistance is to take a deep and critical dive, we are just treading on the surface here. It encourages calling out social messaging that we need to be busy, we need to do more, or that we aren’t doing enough, and to instead honour our very real and human need for rest. Tricia Hersey has this profound message on approaching rest: “Go slow. Learn history. Learn your own history. View your body as its own unique technology. Listen.”

Resources at UBC

Embedding rest into your own life is a journey that only you can take on. That said, here are some resources to help you create more rest in your life. And more rest is not about becoming completely passive; we still have things to do – we work and teach in a highly-competitive academic environment!

• Hear from a UBC Pharmacists about the power of rest and sleep
  • This is a recorded webinar from last year’s Travelling Health Fair. You may need to enroll in the course, here.
• Getting a good night's sleep (LifeWorks article)
  • This article is from our Employee and Family Assistance Program, LifeWorks. If you need help accessing this service (which is an employer-paid benefit for UBC faculty and staff and their dependents, you can find out more here).
• Mindful Mondays with Aisha
  • You might be surprised by how restful a 20-minute guided meditation can be.

We wish you a restful and joyous season.

And if you are interested in learning more about Rest as Resistance, we recommend you take a look at Tricia Hersey: Rest & Collective Care as Tools for Liberation.

Amanda Swoboda, Workplace Health and Wellbeing Human Resources