Why Rest Is Productive: The Science of Slowing Down

We tend to treat rest as what’s left over once the productive part of life is done. The research suggests something closer to the opposite: some of the most important work your brain does only happens when you stop asking it to do anything.

Your brain doesn’t switch off. It switches modes.

The brain makes up only about 2% of body weight but consumes nearly 20% of the oxygen we breathe. [1] When neuroscientist Marcus Raichle’s team looked at people resting quietly, they found a coordinated network that is active by default and suspended during goal-directed behaviour. Later work suggests this “default mode” is involved in internally focused processing, such as recalling personal memories, imagining the future and feeling social emotions. [2] In other words, when you appear to be doing nothing, your brain is busy making sense of everything else. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov +2

Ten minutes that change what you remember

In one study, adults aged 61 to 87 heard short stories and were then either asked to rest quietly with their eyes closed in a darkened room for ten minutes, or played a spot-the-difference game. [3] They remembered much more of the story after resting, and the benefit was still there a week later. One summary put the figures at around 60% of story details without rest and over 75% with it. The detail that stands out is that only three of the 33 participants said they thought about the story during the rest, which suggests the process was automatic rather than effortful. It was a small study in older adults, but it points to something simple: new information may need a few quiet minutes to settle. sciencedaily.com +3

The best break isn’t the emptiest one

Here is where the research gets more interesting than “just rest.” In a creativity experiment, people tackled the Unusual Uses Task, then took a 12-minute break before trying again. Those who spent the break on an undemanding task that allowed their minds to wander improved substantially, compared with those who did a demanding task, sat and rested, or took no break. [4] Their scores were about 41% better on problems they’d already seen, with no improvement on new ones. The researchers suggested a “sweet spot” of task demand. If your mind is stuck, a slow, absorbing, mildly pleasurable activity may do more than staring at a wall. They offered a walk in the park or a quiet drive as examples, though the experiment itself used simple computer tasks. Title | Inspired by Distraction Mind Wandering Facilitates Creative Incubation | +3

Switching off isn’t slacking

The same pattern shows up outside the lab. In a widely cited review, organisational psychologist Sabine Sonnentag found that employees who mentally disconnected from work in their off-hours were more satisfied with their lives and showed fewer symptoms of strain, without being less engaged at work, and detachment was positively linked with job performance. [5] The benefits lasted into the next morning: the more people detached in the evening, the less tired and irritable they felt the following day. Slowing down at the end of the day is part of how you show up the day after. uni-mannheim theglasshammer

The maths of more

If rest is where recovery and consolidation happen, then cutting it should cost something. A Stanford economist, John Pencavel, analysed First World War munitions workers and found output rose in proportion to hours up to about 49 hours a week, then at a decreasing rate, with output at 70 hours differing little from output at 56. [6] He found the absence of a day of rest was particularly damaging, with six eight-hour days producing slightly more than 70 hours over seven. These were factory workers a century ago, and Pencavel himself notes the threshold may be higher for other workers, but the shape of the finding is hard to ignore: the extra hours buy less than they appear to. www.govexec.com +2

Rest you look forward to

Here is where we’d add something of our own. If rest is where so much of the work gets done, the practical question is how to make it stick, and in our clinical trials for Was It All a Dream?, REM sleep rose by 21%* - this is the part of sleep responsible for our emotional processing, acting as an active emotional digestion system that replays challenging or stressful memories while shutting down the brain's stress signaling calibrating emotional reactivity. [7]

Discover Was It All A Dream?

References

Raichle ME, MacLeod AM, Snyder AZ, Powers WJ, Gusnard DA, Shulman GL. A default mode of brain function. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2001;98(2):676-682. doi:10.1073/pnas.98.2.676
Immordino-Yang MH, Christodoulou JA, Singh V. Rest is not idleness: implications of the brain’s default mode for human development and education. Perspect Psychol Sci. 2012;7(4):352-364. doi:10.1177/1745691612447308
Dewar M, Alber J, Butler C, Cowan N, Della Sala S. Brief wakeful resting boosts new memories over the long term. Psychol Sci. 2012;23(9):955-960. doi:10.1177/0956797612441220
Baird B, Smallwood J, Mrazek MD, Kam JWY, Franklin MS, Schooler JW. Inspired by distraction: mind wandering facilitates creative incubation. Psychol Sci. 2012;23(10):1117-1122. doi:10.1177/0956797612446024
Sonnentag S. Psychological detachment from work during leisure time: the benefits of mentally disengaging from work. Curr Dir Psychol Sci. 2012;21(2):114-118. doi:10.1177/0963721411434979
Pencavel J. The productivity of working hours. Econ J. 2015;125(589):2052-2076.
https://www.simplypsychology.com/articles/rem-sleep-mental-health