Exploring Active Rest

I love to take naps and I'm not afraid to admit it.

And I'm a big proponent of these delicious midday sleep breaks during a busy week.

However, lately I found that rather than waking up refreshed, I

often feel more groggy and tired.

I've tried many things.

I tried modifying the length of the nap with little success.

I even tried taking a nap.

Chino, if you don't know what that is, that is where you have a coffee.

Right before you lay down.

Then I discovered this idea of active rest as an alternative to napping.

In this episode, I'm going to share with you some thoughts on what active

rest is, how to do it and why it will supercharge your Workday productivity.

I'm Amin, Ahmed, and welcome to be.

Well, do.

For most busy people, their energy comes from one of two things.

I'm sure you can guess what that is.

Sugar or caffeine.

And sometimes a combination of both.

So if you are one of these, I think active rest is going to really help you a lot.

the challenge with using these two energy sources, sugar and caffeine

is that they're short lived and they often make us feel even worse.

Afterwards, taking a break during your Workday is a much more effective

way of regaining some of this energy.

I'm not going to say that taking naps during your Workday is not an effective

way of regaining some of your energy.

And there's some companies that have even taken this further by installing nap pods

and their employees can go into a room and sleep inside these nap pods and get

some shuteye when they're feeling tired.

Like I said in the intro, I'm a big proponent of taking naps, but they're

not always practical or needed.

Instead, I want you to think about active rest as an alternative to naps.

The idea behind active rest is that you do some kind of light activity,

preferably in nature or outdoors, and naturally rejuvenate your energy active

rest could be something like taking a short walk outside after lunch, or even

just some light stretching at your desk.

The important thing is that you're moving and you're not connected to a

screen or other mind stimulating devices.

So what I mean by that is no Twitter, no Facebook, no Instagram

that is not considered active rest.

Now, one caveat to this is that if you're going to go outside for a walk,

if you're going to be in nature, plugging into an audiobook is totally fine.

Ideally, it's something different than your line of work.

I find biographies really inspiring and I love using them.

When I go for a walk, it's a perfect compliment to active rest techniques.

The benefit of nature and movement includes of course, increased

energy, lowered stress as well as burning fat and stronger muscles.

Now that is ideal.

And rather than lying down, taking a nap who doesn't want

less fat and more muscles.

one thing to keep in mind is that though throughout our day, our energy levels

oscillate for some of you, your peak focus might occur first thing in the morning.

And for others, it might be later in the evening, maybe even after your work hours.

you've probably heard the term morning, Lark or night O.

Now this refers to your chronotype.

If you're not with familiar, what a chronotype is, it's similar to your

circadian rhythm, where your circadian rhythm dictates, what time you wake up

and what time you go to sleep every day.

And it usually is pretty close to the same day after day.

Your chronotype is a little bit different in that it refers to your

energy fluctuations throughout a day.

So if you wake up at, let's say 7:00 AM in the morning and you go to sleep at

10 or 11 o'clock at night, your energy's going to peak and then it's going to drop.

And then it's gonna come up back again.

So that's your chronotype?

There's three, generally three different kinds of prototypes.

There is the morning Lark, which I mentioned the night owl and

in between what we refer to as.

Dove or sometimes refer to as the third bird.

each of these have very different energy levels, energy spikes,

and dips throughout the day.

Now, if you're not sure which one you are, you can take the

quiz@ourwebsiteatbewelldowell.fm slash daily planner.

Now, the reason the link says daily planner, which is also going to be in the

show notes below, is that we developed a planner specifically around chronotypes.

Chronotypes are a fundamental pillar for how you get your work

done during your day efficiently.

And when you know your chronotype, when you understand your peaks and your

troughs and your energy levels, you will literally supercharge your productivity.

Now I'm curious, do you spend time engaging in active rest?

I'd love to hear from you.

Send me a message and let me know what you.

that's all for today.

Join me tomorrow where I'll be talking about why every entrepreneur needs to

be writing their vivid vision daily.

I look forward to seeing you tomorrow.