Nearly 200 credit hours, 40 hours a week in clinic, late nights and early mornings in lab, hundreds of written and clinical exams, national licensure and boards exams - all of this while trying to maintain relationships, exercise, eat three meals a day, have a social life, and get the recommended hours of sleep.
But this is not going to be a post complaining about the life of a dental student. We chose this, and it's a great decision, despite any thoughts of doubt we might have after a rough day in clinic or a poor exam grade. What this post IS going to be about is rest. Because being a dental student does not always lend itself easily feasible to being fully rested, but there are ways to work on that.
September was ASDA Wellness Month, and it’s no secret that rest is a crucial aspect in achieving overall wellness. Being rested leads to feeling our best and being able to fully show up for ourselves, our patients, and our loved ones. On the other hand, lack of rest can lead to irritable moods, inattentive mistakes, burnout, and much more. Many of us think of rest as getting enough sleep at night, but it’s much more than that.
Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith, an internal medicine physician and researcher, developed a theory on rest that she explains in the book, Sacred Rest: Recover Your Life, Renew Your Life, Renew Your Energy, Restore Your Sanity. This theory outlines the seven types of rest everyone needs to feel fully alive and fully ourselves.
Have you ever slept in late and still felt tired? Left a conversation feeling like you needed a nap? Scrolled on your phone or computer for too long and felt fatigued? Or how about, have you ever spent an afternoon volunteering and felt rejuvenated? Spent 30 minutes doing yoga and felt refreshed? Crossed something off your to-do list and felt a little more energized? The reason for this may be better explained by this theory of seven types of rest. So let’s get into it.
The Seven Types of Rest
Physical Rest
This focuses on taking care of our physical bodies. Physical rest can be broken down into both active and passive. Passive physical rest would be activities such as sleeping, naps, and simply sitting down after a long day. Active physical rest would be activities such as stretching, massage, yoga, foam rolling, and deep breathing. Having good ergonomics at work also plays an important role in physical rest.
Mental Rest
This focuses on calming our minds. Someone who is experiencing a mental rest deficit may be physically exhausted at the end of the day, but struggles to fall asleep because their mind is still active. Some activities that allow for mental rest would be: scheduled breaks throughout the day, journaling, writing to-do lists, watching mindless TV, keeping a notepad by the bed to jot down late night thoughts, and utilizing positive affirmations.
Spiritual Rest
This focuses on feeling a sense of purpose or meaning in our lives. Going about life feeling a lack of purpose can be exhausting. But days where we feel that we made a difference in someone’s life or feel important, can leave us feeling more fulfilled and full of life. Leaning into spiritual rest includes activities such as: volunteering, community involvement, meditation, and prayer.
Emotional Rest
This type of rest focuses on being able to comfortably express ourselves freely, and not feel as though we’re carrying emotional baggage on a daily basis. An example of someone who may experience an emotional rest deficit is someone who works in a hospital and deals with life and death all day, but needs to put on a smile for their family when they get home. Another example could be someone who is constantly saying “yes” to everything, and never feels appreciated or feels comfortable saying no. Ways to work on emotional rest include: limiting people-pleasing, learning how to say no, seeing a therapist, setting boundaries in your life, venting to a trusted friend or in a journal, and asking for help when you need it.
Social Rest
This focuses on having relationships with supportive people, and knowing when to disconnect from situations that pull from our social energy. It includes balancing time alone and time with others. After a day in clinic, our social energy may feel drained because we are utilizing that energy into being fully present with every patient. Ways to recharge and work on social rest include: spending time with people who uplift you, making plans with loved ones, scheduling a time during the week for time alone, and staying home when your social battery feels low.
Sensory Rest
This focuses on preventing sensory overload. Ways to incorporate sensory rest include: turning off notifications, utilizing “do not disturb”, closing your eyes for a couple minutes, lowering volumes and dimming lights, clearing out clutter around the house, sitting in silence and allowing quiet time for yourself.
Creative Rest
This focuses on enjoying the beauty of life and using it to inspire us. Ways to incorporate creative rest include: going for a walk, enjoying nature, making your workspace feel personal (pictures of people you love, places you enjoy, artwork, etc), taking a dance class, vacations, listening to music, drawing, or going to a museum. The key here is to take part in activities that do not require YOU to be creative. Instead, it should inspire you in order to recharge your creative energy.
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If any of this resonates, I encourage taking the free assessment at https://www.restquiz.com/quiz/rest-quiz-test/, to see for yourself how ~rested~ you are. From there, you can assess where your strengths and weaknesses may be, and start integrating changes how you see fit. It’s important to start small, and to start in whichever area that needs the most care for. Sometimes even the smallest change can have the biggest impact on our wellbeing.
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