With my first whiff of salty sea air, I begin to feel at peace. But not without a clear sense of excitement about the amazing kayaking and photography that lay ahead.
We have two weeks at a beautiful VRBO on 13 acres of forest property on Salt Spring Island - and the perma-grin on my face affirms my childlike anticipation. After a late-night arrival, we're greeted the next morning by our hosts, including 3 energetic, friendly dogs and a rooster I've named Alarmcluck (for obvious reasons). A relaxing morning of coffee on our sunny patio has me feeling even more peaceful. But it isn't until the first stroke of my paddle into the water that I'm truly in another world – literally and figuratively. Nothing beats the view of the open ocean with the gentle swells underneath me, and watching all the sea critters – crabs, starfish, seals – doing their sea thing.
For the next 2 weeks there will be few, if any, thoughts of work or other obligations. The immediate and complete change in pace from work to play is slightly bewildering at first, but within a couple of days, my brain has shifted focus and I'm gobbling up every sight, sound, scent and touch of everything around me. It's a totally different kind of overwhelm...one that ultimately settles quietly into a comfortable pace.
My husband and I have been doing these kayak vacations on the west coast every summer for the past 12 years. It wasn't until last year, though – the year we skipped our annual vacation (and also the year I hit burnout) that I realized how crucial they were to my wellbeing. It had been a very busy year up to July and despite a 2-week staycation, I remained in work mode. Without a proper re-set, the stress accumulated and this time I had a hard time shaking it off.
More Is Not Always Better
Many of us live in a culture where working 60-70 hours a week is considered impressive. It's either a rite of passage or a lifestyle choice, but being busy generates results, gets promotions and a six figure salary...whatever. Sure, those things are great, but at what cost? Sleep deprivation. A short fuse. Reduced attention span and memory. Chronic stress. A list of health issues a mile long...
Why Downtime Is So Essential For Brain Health
Everyone needs downtime - short breaks during the day as well as a full re-set once a year.
Break up your day, but do when it's appropriate. If you're in the middle of a task that requires your focus, it's best to stay in it until it's done rather than disrupting the flow, making it harder to get back into the zone afterward. Your brain will let you know when it's a good time to stop thinking for a bit, so take advantage and step away from your laptop, your phone, and even your desk to get the most benefit. Whatever you do, try to disengage from tasks that require your attention and do something completely mindless, like just staring out the window for a minute or two or doing a few stretches with some deep breaths. Numerous studies demonstrate that taking several short breaks is actually more productive than pushing through hour after hour. It increases creativity, boosts your mood and overall mental health, reduces stress, and improves physical health by giving your body a break from sitting. In fact, unwinding for a bit may even help in learning new skills.1 One of the things my riding coach often says is: "Now is a good time to stop and soak on this", and both me and my horse have benefited from this habit enormously.
Getting the mind into a completely different groove is also necessary for breaking out of patterned thinking. Have you ever noticed that when you stop thinking about a problem and go do something else for a while that the problem often 'solves itself' while you're not thinking about it? Thinking about a problem while doing some kind of intense physical exercise can also achieve the same effect. Whether it's a short 10-minute round of jumping jacks to oxygenate the blood, or a long, invigorating walk outside, a little exercise can be enormously beneficial. I used to do some of my best problem-solving while pushing myself to my limit on my bicycle for about an hour – outside, on a pathway - where I had to navigate as well as pump the pedals, using different areas of my brain. It may not seem like rest, but it is. Just as your body gets fatigued after doing the same physical movement for a long period, your brain succumbs to the same kind of fatigue. And when it's prolonged, it can take longer to recover. Makes sense, right?
Short breaks during the day is essential for both brain and physical health, but a good two-week vacation provides a more restorative and longer lasting effect, like when your laptop starts to get lethargic and finally needs a full reboot. I could go on with that analogy, but I'm pretty sure you get the point. Vacations give you the opportunity to play hard and sleep better (provided you don't bring your laptop to check emails or look at your phone every 6 minutes for new social media posts. Seriously, people!). Studies have shown that the benefits of more exercise and better sleep can last for weeks after returning from vacation.2 Other long lasting benefits of an annual vacation could result in increased work engagement and decreased burnout.3 Unfortunately, the positive effects of your vacation don't last forever and there is certainly a fade-out effect after several weeks or months, depending on how stressful your life is. So if you want even more bang for your vacation buck, practicing meditation during vacation can slow the decline of these positive effects.4 Continuing the practice once you get home is even better! During meditation, voluntary control over attention becomes heightened and the person is relaxed but maintains sharp awareness. Sounds better than caffeine, right?
Still not convinced that letting go and jumping off the hamster wheel will do you a world of good? Then keep reading.
What Happens To Your Brain When You Don't Get Enough Rest?
An over-stimulated nervous system is trying to process too much sensory input at once. If the feeling of overwhelm persists for an extended period of time, the situation becomes chronic. This is often referred to as a dysregulated nervous system. Common causes include excessive social media input, ongoing high levels of mental engagement, trying to focus on several competing activities at once (multi-tasking), tension with co-workers leading to overthinking, an overly busy home life including caring for small children or ageing parents. Any or all of these situations can lead to difficulty focusing, mental fatigue (brain fog), restlessness and irritability, heightened sensitivity to loud noises or bright lights. The nervous system is great at filtering out irrelevant sensory input, but when there is too much input, the nervous system obviously can't keep up. Stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline are over-produced, which can lead to further over-stimulation of the brain as it goes into fight-or-flight mode. Oxygenated glucose is heavily used when the brain is asked to continuously shift attention, and this is the same precious energy required by the areas of the brain responsible for sustained focus. At this point it becomes necessary to regulate the system and this is where doing something truly restorative becomes important before stress, anxiety and/or burnout take over.
How Does Your Brain Rest?
You don't need to be asleep for your brain to rest productively. In fact, you're resting your brain when you briefly stop focusing on something to let your mind wander. While this might make you feel like you're just being lazy, it's actually very productive (when done in moderation of course). Even changing tasks for a short time allows your brain to 'shake itself out' before returning to focus. You're probably not even aware that you're looking up from your laptop and mindlessly drifting to the view out your window. Perfect. That's normal and also good for you. However, if you're like me, planning to do this every 30 or 60 minutes can be tough because I tend to get into a zone where I'm ultra-focused for up to 2 hours. This is fine though, so long as you take a longer break from that intense focus (up to an hour) before getting back to it again. But let's talk about what your brain does all by itself, without any conscious motivation from you, and how your brain has evolved to rest while being awake. During focus, the frontal cortex is doing the heavy lifting – thinking, planning, calculating. But when you're not focused, there are other areas of your brain that take over while your frontal cortex unwinds for a bit. These other brain areas form a large network, called the default mode network, which becomes active during the 'mindless' stuff you do like reminiscing, pondering the future, self-reflection, and even just day-dreaming. When you resume focus, the default mode network is less active. Your entire brain is never truly at rest, because neurons are continuously firing, even during sleep, but certain regions are more active when others are not, allowing these regions to rest. It's like working opposing muscles when you're weight-training. This isn't nearly at the level of the split brain described in dolphins, in which an entire hemisphere can sleep while the other hemisphere monitors the environment. Regardless, your brain is built to balance alertness and rest, whether you're actively trying to rest or not. And you should be resting your brain periodically. Our (North American) culture has sadly become one that defines itself by what we do and how much we do.
How You Can Help Your Brain Unwind
Whether you begin a practice of giving your brain short rests during the day and/or committing to taking an annual vacation away from your daily habits, the benefits are undeniable. However, making sure you take care of your brain between vacations is also important.
A Final NoteVacations aren't just for giving yourself the breather you need. They're also for creating memories to get you through hectic times to come. Remembering the feel of the ocean breeze on your face or the sand between your toes can instantly transport you that that place in your mind, allowing you to briefly re-live the experience. This is a very effective way to quickly decompress during the day. I find that journaling and photographing make it much easier to relive all my fun later on!
Here are some helpful tips:
1. In addition to short, mindless breaks during the day, unplug and relax for at least a couple of hours at the end of the day, if possible, particularly before going to bed.
2. Get enough quality sleep that makes you feel rejuvenated in the morning (everyone is different, so the number of hours of sleep needed varies from person to person). Take naps if it helps you, but don't rely on them to make up for the unmet need of enough nighttime sleep.
3. Rest your brain by moving your body. Go outside for a walk, get your blood pumping, and pay attention to your surroundings rather than ruminating about work.
4. Eat for your brain. Get enough HDL (the good fat, like olive oil) and glucose (not refined sugar, but a banana) to support all the work your brain does. (By the way, your brain doesn't need Doritos. I've tried this and can say with complete certainty that they actually make me dumber.)
5. Try some meditation or forest bathing whenever you can. Quieting your mind helps you to stop focusing on multiple tasks....here are some ideas: https://www.webmd.com/balance/ss/slideshow-how-to-quiet-mind
6. If you really want to embrace the concept of resting, here are some more great tips: https://mindfulhealthsolutions.com/embrace-these-7-types-of-rest/#:~:text=Understanding%20the%20seven%20types%20can,creative%2C%20social%2C%20and%20spiritual
References
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