Faithful Approaches to Rest, Recovery, and Renewal
Ever feel like all the things your favorite influencer tells you to do to relax just makes you more stressed, adding a whole lot more to your to-do list after a long day?
Same, friend, same.
It’s no wonder after all the feats of a busy day we collapse on the couch and doom scroll while the dishes sit. We’re longing for a break and avoiding more chores. And the next day, we do it all over again.
Destressing, recuperating, resting, preparing to do those things shouldn’t be yet another set of tasks on a never-ending list. A lot of the ‘advice’ out there requires a variety of bath products, more apps to put on your phone, supplements, and classes. It can be a whole lot easier to decide to simply distract yourself after reviewing some of those tips.
Taking time to relax isn’t a luxury. It’s actually a pivotal part of following and obeying God. Our Creator designed us to require times we unplug, rest, let go. And that means that rest should be about restoration: mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
“in peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety”
Psalm 4:8
1. 🙌 Practice Deep Breathing Prayer
When you intentionally slow your breathing, which in turn slows your heart rate, it’s a signal to your body that it is safe to relax. You can also incorporate prayer as part of your slowed breathing practice. This combines two powerful elements and can significantly reduce your stress hormone levels. 1 Take five minutes, twice a day, to breathe through a simple prayer:
Inhale: “You are my peace…”
Exhale: “…and I trust in You.”
“Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him.”
Psalm 37:7
2. 🌳 Take a Walk in Nature
In Japanese culture, it’s known as forest bathing. Taking a walk outside through the trees, in a park, it’s a free, simple way to create rest in your body and soul. Getting out into nature has been shown to lower cortisol (the stress hormone), reduce blood pressure, and relieve depression. 2 And while you might be tempted to listen to an audiobook or music while you’re walking in nature, resist the urge for a bit and simply listen to the birds, the wind on the trees, the sound of the water on the shore.
From a spiritual perspective, Jesus often modeled retreating into the wilderness and natural spaces to pray and to rest.
3. 👩🏼🤝👨🏾 Do a 10-Minute Stretch
You carry far more tension in your body than you would think, and by the end of the day, your shoulders, back, jaw, and neck may feel particularly tight. In the evening, a short stretching session can help your muscles relax and can help process stored tension. (You can find several evening stretching routines online, like this one or this one.) Stretching and gentle movement has been shown to reduce muscle stiffness, release endorphins (feel-good hormones), and improve your sleep quality. 3
For an added layer of peacefulness, put on instrumental worship music in the background as you stretch. As you release the tension in your muscles, you can reflect, breathe, and pray.
4. 🔌 Unplug and Create a Rest Ritual
If you’re a parent, you likely have a bedtime routine for your kids. Guess what? You’ll likely rest better, too, if you create one for yourself. It can be tough, going straight from work duties to getting dinner on the table to helping kids with homework and finishing errands to somehow magically be ready for a night of restorative rest. Instead of racing until bedtime (or watching a high-octane murder mystery on television), follow a rest ritual for yourself that can help you make the transition from all the duties of the day. Again, this doesn’t have to be a complicated or long effort. It can be a simple ten-minute routine in which you prepare for bed while listening to worship music while enjoying a chamomile tea. You could light a candle and pray for a few minutes. Whatever you choose, make it something that is simple to follow, that signals to your mind that you are preparing for sleep, and reconnect with God.
Rituals are a powerful way to signal the brain that you are shifting gears, getting into sleep time mode. When you bounce too quickly from duty to duty, your nervous system can still be revving on high. 4 Creating a soothing routine for yourself can help make the transition more easily, which can then result in better rest and restoration overnight.
5. ☕ Limit Evening Caffeine, Sugar, and Screens
The stuff that keeps you going through the day, the trifecta of coffee, cookies, and your phone, well, it could be the very stuff that’s also messing with your rest. At the end of a stressful day, it’s no wonder you might want to ‘treat’ yourself with something surgery and spend time zoning out in the blue light of your devices. But caffeine and sugar hijack sleep patterns and can also leave you feeling more anxious. 5 The blue light (and content, let’s be honest) from your phone can suppress melatonin, a hormone you naturally produce to help you sleep. 6
You arrive at your alarm the next morning feeling tired and jittery and groggy. Rinse, repeat, rinse, repeat, it’s no wonder you’re worn out as you head into the weekend.
It takes discipline to cut off the coffee before noon and limit your sugar and screens before bedtime, but it is doable. And the payoffs are significant. Try it for a week and see how you feel. Instead of the cookie an hour before bed, try a small protein-rich snack. Challenge yourself to not look at your phone or other screens in the hour before you want to go to sleep. There are lots of foods and technologies that aim to interrupt the God-given rhythms of rest that we need.
Fight back against the machine, the coffee machine, the vending machine, the digital device machine…literally…and see how you feel.
6. 🛌 A Little Scripture, a Little Thank You, a Little Prayer, and Good Night
Read a quick verse, journal a thank you, say your prayers, and turn off the light. When you end your day with a simple gratitude practice, focused on God’s word and presence, it allows your mind to reset. Multiple studies show the connection of prayer and the reduction of stress and anxiety, including several cited by the National Library of Medicine. Before you hit the light, jot down something from the day that you are grateful for. Studies show that people who keep a gratitude journal have better sleep, higher levels of satisfaction with their life, and fewer symptoms of depression. 7
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
Matthew 11:28
Rest Is Part of God’s Rhythm
We live in a hustle culture, one that often elevates the grind over gratitude, and hurry over holiness. However, taking time to relax is a profound act of faith, a reminder that your body and mind were designed to experience rest. Don’t make taking a break so complicated that you feel you can’t do it; all of the ideas above are free of charge and take ten minutes or less. Make these small investments in giving yourself a break and see what happens. Rest is part of the rhythm of life, a gift to be embraced.
1 Perciavalle, V., et al. (2017). The role of deep breathing on stress. Journal of Biological Regulators & Homeostatic Agents, 31(3), 593–600.
2 https://health.clevelandclinic.org/why-forest-therapy-can-be-good-for-your-body-and-mind /
3 https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2017-019635
4 https://doi.org/10.1037/a0031772
5 Cheung, J. M. Y., et al. (2019). The effects of caffeine on sleep quality: A meta-analysis. Sleep Medicine Reviews, 48, 101213. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smrv.2019.07.004
6 Cain, N., & Gradisar, M. (2010). Electronic media use and sleep in school-aged children and adolescents: A review. Sleep Medicine, 11(8), 735–742. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleep.2010.02.006
7 Emmons, R. A., & McCullough, M. E. (2003). Counting blessings versus burdens: An experimental investigation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(2), 377–389. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.84.2.377