Natural Remedies – The Benefits of a Rest Day
Mama’s taking a rest day today!
My body is super sore and shot. As it’s mid of December, it’s an extremely busy day. If I’m honest, an exhausting, time of year, as a mother of 3 littles. I entered this week tired and not feeling too great after eating something that didn’t agree with me at a restaurant on Sunday. I felt compelled to try to ‘sweat it out’ on Monday, despite feeling a bit drained and went for a run, which did help. But then, on Tuesday I took a sculpting class and yesterday, Wednesday, I took a super intense barre class and now my body is asking for a break.
The Next Morning…
I woke up today feeling like death with a lovely visit from Aunt Flo. My muscles feel tender and sore, it feels like someone is clenching my ass for me. I feel like I could literally lay in bed and watch RHONY all day if someone would let me. Sadly, as a mom of 3, that will never happen, especially during the middle of freaking holiday hell, oops, I mean, madness. Sigh…
But, just because I’m not able to lay in bed all day watching RHONY (so sad 🙁 ), doesn’t mean I can’t honor my body’s needs and nourish it with the rest and other support it’s asking for. In fact, not only does supporting my body with rest and appropriate self-care feel good, it’s actually extremely critical and beneficial for my health, especially during menstruation. Here’s why:
When to Rest & Why
During menstruation
Our periods, particularly the first couple of days, time of cleansing and rebalancing, for our bodies and systems. Historically, this has been a time for women to be introspective, reflect and release what is not serving us.
Our hormones are at the lowest point they’ll be throughout our cycle. So, you may feel lethargic, weak and crave alone time. But, everyone is different and some people do feel a surge of energy when they get their periods. I’ve been in both camps during different times in my life.
Regardless of whether you feel the surge of energy or more lethargic at the onset of your period. Resting and containing your energy at the start of your period, will serve you better throughout the rest of the month. In today’s society, rest is looked at as a weakness, but in fact, it is a necessity for the human body for rebuilding and growth. It’s recommended to engage in gentle movements, such as yoga or walking, during this time of rebalancing.
Following strenuous workouts
Resting is just as important as working out because it’s an equal part of the total process required to build strength, endurance, and muscle.
“Working out, especially resistance training, breaks your body tissues down. In fact, resistance training breaks down muscles causing microscopic tears,” Wynter said. Rest days allow your muscles, nerves, bones, and connective tissue time to rebuild.” Katie Rosenbrock, The Active Times
Getting adequate sleep of 7-8 hours, balanced nutrition and 64 ounces of water are also necessary for your body to recover completely.
Natural Remedies – When your body just needs a god damn break
Raised with the phrase “life is not a dress rehearsal”, I was taught to never “waste” a minute, to never miss a party and to live each day like it’s our last. I literally was bred to constantly go, go, go with the belief that stopping to take a beat was being lazy.
Only after experiencing significant effects on my health, again and again, and again, followed by one rude awakening after another, I learned that the go, go, go mentality is not sustainable.
The fast and intense pace of our modern lifestyles, the constant chatter in our minds, the constant pounding of the pavement, whether well-intentioned or not, is stress to our bodies.
When our body encompasses a stressful situation, it goes into “fight or flight” as a survival mechanism to react quickly to danger. But, this response is meant to be a survival mechanism on these rare occasions, not to be leveraged all day every day.
When we are in a chronically stressed state, our body doesn’t revert back to its rest and digest, calm state, which severely impacts our health.
The chronic stress leads to a ton of issues ranging from anxiety and depression to psoriasis, to high blood pressure to get in my case, shutting down your metabolism – (yep, went from burning like 3000 calories a day to 1100 a day, even while breastfeeding!) and insulin resistance (coming from someone who has always been super healthy, exercised and never exceeding 100 pounds), to name only a few.
Guys, it blows and you never think you’ll be the person that will get it until you do. You can read my story here. But, trust the woman who’s been there and learned the hard way, stress is a BITCH and it really does make you, fat, sick and nearly dead.
Signs that your body is stressed and needs rest
- Poor sleep quality
- Low energy levels
- Weakened immunity
- Feeling a case of the blues
- Not seeing results from your workouts
If you’re experiencing any or all of these symptoms, your body is feeling taxed and asking you to please slow the F down and give it a breather. Use these natural remedies, you don’t have to lay in bed all day, but go do a steam sesh, take an epsom salt bath and B R E A T H E. Drop the kiddos off at a friend and have a leisurely cup of tea in peace and give yourself a little mental space. Do a light yoga session with a girlfriend or take your baby for a walk in the stroller. It doesn’t have to mean you do nothing (although that is AOK too!), but slow down and let yourself breathe.
After using such natural remedies, your body will thank you. You will see an improvement in your sleep, you’ll rebuild your energy reserves. Your mood will improve, your workouts will be more efficient and show better results and most of all. You will reset your system, allowing your body to recalibrate back to a calm state, improving your overall health.
Are you giving your body the rest it’s asking for and honoring your body’s needs? Please let me know in the comments below!
XO
Misha
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