If you prefer to listen, you can do that here on Spotify [10 min listen].

In recent months, I have sat with people from very different walks of life — clinicians, leaders, parents — in coaching spaces, supervision and everyday conversation.

Their bodies had gone on strike.

One person lost their voice. Not metaphorically — they literally lost their ability to speak. Another couldn't get out of bed. Another's gut had seized up so severely they had been referred for tests that came back clear, because there was nothing clinically wrong. The common thread in every single story? Chronic stress. And a complete absence of rest.

The body, is extraordinarily patient. It keeps going - until it won't. And when it stops, it stops loudly.

This is for anyone who recognises something in those stories and hasn't quite been able to shake it. Because rest is not a reward for getting everything done. It is what makes getting everything done possible.

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Rest Is Not Laziness. It Is Biology.

Rest has been quietly labelled as something you earn. This framing is not just unhelpful - it is physiologically wrong. ​

Your nervous system runs on two essential modes:

• Fight/flight (sympathetic): mobilised, alert, scanning for threat or demand.
• Rest/digest (parasympathetic): calm, restorative, focused on repair and integration.

Modern working life keeps most of us locked in low-level fight/flight state. Very little room for rest/digest. Over time, the body notices.​

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When You Don't Rest, You Don't Digest

Physically, the rest/digest branch of the nervous system - governed in part by the vagus nerve, regulates gut motility, stomach acid, immune function and repair. When we are chronically stressed, this system is suppressed. The result? Digestive symptoms — bloating, pain, altered bowel habits, reflux — that come back clear on every test. Many people reach for medication. Yet growing evidence shows that rest, breathing, stress regulation can significantly reduce the underlying load. It goes well beyond food and nutrition. It starts with your nervous system.

Emotionally and cognitively, rest is how we process. When we don't give our minds space to digest thoughts, feelings and experiences, they don't disappear. Brain Fog. Emotions that arrive at the wrong moment and with too much force. Decisions that should be simple but aren't.

A 2026 study found that feeling rested predicted cognitive performance more reliably than sleep duration alone - which tells you something about the quality of rest, not just the hours.

There is also the weight of what we witness. The news. The conversations we carry home. When we don't rest, those don't get processed either. They sit somewhere — tension, fog, a low hum that's hard to name.

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The Evidence Is Clear: Rest Is a Modifiable Health Behaviour

Long-term research shows that people who maintain lifestyle patterns supporting rest and recovery have significantly better cardiac vagal tone over 10 years; a marker of physiological resilience. Studies on slow-paced breathing interventions demonstrate improved sleep quality and increased vagal tone in as little as 30 days.

The psychological piece matters as much. Genuinely switching off from work - mentally, not just physically - predicts better mental health and lower emotional exhaustion. Two separate research teams found this. Its not soft advice.

In high-demand roles, this psychological boundary is often the last thing to be protected, and it is frequently the most important.

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Rest and Boundaries: The Practical Link

Without boundaries, your nervous system receives a constant drip of micro-demands — the ping, the thought, the sense that you should be checking something — all of which keep you closer to fight/flight than rest/digest.​

Boundaries are about being recoverable:

• Define off-grid time. Even 20 minutes counts. Communicate it and protect it.​
• Leave your phone behind during breaks. Your brain is still 'on alert' if it knows the phone is there.​
• Schedule do-not-disturb slots. Social rest — time away from being needed by others — is a real and undervalued form of recovery.​
• Separate your rest space from your work tools. Physical environment signals to the nervous system whether it is safe to soften.

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Micro-Rest: Small Pauses, Profound Impact

Small pauses, repeated across the day, shift your nervous system. The more you rest during the day, the less your brain has to process overnight — and the better you sleep.​

The M&Ms of Rest

Try one "M" per break. Different things recharge different people:

• Mindfulness – 1–3 minutes paying attention to your breath or senses
• Meditation – a simple app like Insight Timer, even 5 minutes
• Music – one song you love, doing nothing else alongside it
• Movement – stretch, walk, shake out your limbs, dance with full commitment
• Mwah ha ha – watch or remember something genuinely funny and let yourself laugh​

Create your own "menu of rest options" — a short personalised list you can reach for when you notice your system is running hot.

Other Micro-Rest Practices

• Flow snacks: something absorbing; a page of a novel, a puzzle, sketching, that gives your mind a mini "trance" state.
• Screen saver: 1 minute per hour with eyes closed or gazing at something distant. Protect your sensory system from the cumulative drain of screens, Zoom calls and background noise.​
• Breathing reset: 4–5 breaths, slow exhale longer than inhale. This directly stimulates the vagus nerve and begins shifting your state within seconds.​

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Rest Is a Leadership Practice

For those in senior, caring or high-visibility roles, rest is not just personal health maintenance — it is professional responsibility.

A depleted leader is making decisions from deficit. Their team feels it, even when no-one says anything.

The person who lost their voice was a senior leader. Their body enforced the rest their diary would not allow.

MORE? Book a call...

I recorded this podcast with Rachel Morris on REST during in 2020, before I learnt even more lessons recovering from severe concussion after a cycling accident.

Sheela Hobden

www.bluegreencoaching.com

March 2026

I'm Sheela Hobden, I share musings and monthly updates from my experience and research into coaching, resilience, and wellbeing. If you’re looking for coaching, a coach, or just curious — I’d love for you to follow along, and of course get in touch if you would like a conversation.

Image appreciation to:

​Nadine E on Unsplash​

​Nick Abrams on Unsplash​

​Morgane Le Breton on Unsplash​

​Gaelle Marcel on Unsplash​

Further Reading:

• Rested cognition: Gyurkovics, M., et al. (2026). Feeling rested improves cognitive performance among university students. Brain Sciences, 16(2), 123. doi: 10.3390/brainsci1600123​​
• Psychological detachment and wellbeing: Blake, H., et al. (2025). Psychological detachment from work predicts mental wellbeing. PLOS ONE, 20(1), e0312673. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0312673​
• Detachment and emotional exhaustion: Wu, Q., et al. (2023). Psychological detachment from work and depressive symptoms. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 1245678. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1245678​
• Sleep and cognition: Lo, J. C., et al. (2016). Self-reported sleep duration and cognitive performance in older adults. Sleep Medicine, 17, 87–98. doi: 10.1016/j.sleep.2015.08.021​​

Quick FAQ

Is rest just about sleep?​
No. Waking rest and psychological detachment from work both strongly influence wellbeing, digestion and cognitive performance.

Can rest really help my digestion?​
Rest/digest states support gut function. Lifestyle patterns that enhance vagal tone and reduce chronic stress are associated with better cardiometabolic profiles and can ease stress-related digestive symptoms.

Won't stepping back from work damage my performance?​
Detaching from work and feeling rested are associated with better cognitive functioning, higher life satisfaction and lower emotional exhaustion. The research is consistent on this.

Contact Sheela Hobden at www.bluegreencoaching.com.