When "Just Rest" Isn't Enough
We've all been told, "just get some rest," when life starts to feel overwhelming. But what happens when rest stops working? You sleep eight hours, yet wake up feeling foggy, unmotivated, and strangely tired. That's because stress doesn't always leave when you close your eyes—it seeps into your focus, mood, and motivation, quietly draining your energy from within.
Rest isn't just about sleep; it's about recovery, and sometimes, what you truly need isn't more hours in bed, but the right kind of rest—one that helps your mind, body, and emotions find balance again.
The Many Rooms Where Stress Lives
Stress doesn't just settle in your muscles or heartbeat—it seeps into your sense of meaning. While fleeting moments of stress can push you into motion, chronic stress slowly rewires the mind, body and soul. It tightens your shoulders, clouds your thoughts, and pulls you away from yourself, leaving you emotionally drained, disinterested, and disconnected from your own rhythm.
And that's when the usual idea of "rest" stops helping, because sleep alone can't heal what stress has scattered across every layer of your being.
This is where Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith, a physician and researcher, brings a refreshing lens. Through her work on why people often feel exhausted despite sleeping well, she reminds us that rest isn't one-dimensional. It's not merely the body that needs a pause—it's the whole self.
She identifies seven distinct types of rest—physical, mental, emotional, creative, social, sensory, and spiritual—each designed to restore a different part of us that stress quietly wears down.
7 Ways to Refuel What Stress Drains
If stress lives in many rooms, then rest is the map that guides us home. Each form of rest restores a different part of the energy that stress quietly drains. Below are the seven types of rest, each offering a way to refill what's been running low.
1. Physical Rest: When Your Body Asks You to Slow Down
You need physical rest when even small tasks start to feel heavy, your shoulders ache, your eyes sting, and your body feels like it's carrying invisible weight. This kind of tiredness doesn't always go away with one night of sleep.
How to restore: Try passive rest like sleeping or lying down, and active rest like stretching, gentle yoga, or mindful breathing. Give your body permission to pause, not because you've earned it, but because it needs it.
2. Mental Rest: When Your Thoughts Won't Stop Spiralling
Mental fatigue shows up as overthinking, forgetfulness, or zoning out during conversations. You might feel like your brain is full but nothing's really sinking in.
How to restore: Take short breaks between tasks, go for a walk without your phone, or journal your thoughts out of your head and onto paper. Practice quiet moments—they help your mind catch its breath.
3. Emotional Rest: When You're Tired of Feeling Everything
You might need emotional rest when you're caught in a swirl of feelings, shifting from one emotion to another until you're left drained and unsure of what you truly feel. Sometimes, it's because one emotion has been sitting with you for too long, or too many have arrived all at once.
How to restore: Give yourself permission to express honestly—cry, vent, or speak your truth to someone safe. Emotional rest comes from being seen without performing.
4. Creative Rest: When Inspiration Feels Out of Reach
Creative rest becomes important when you've been thinking or creating without pause, especially after long work hours or constant problem-solving. You may start to feel stuck, or disconnected from things that once inspired you.
How to restore: Step away from screens and social media. Spend time in nature, listen to music, look at art, or simply sit in silence. Give your mind the quiet it needs to feel curious again.
5. Social Rest: When You're Surrounded Yet Disconnected
You might need social rest when being around people, even those you love, starts to feel like work. You crave solitude or authentic connection instead of small talk.
How to restore: Spend time with people who feel safe and effortless, or simply be alone without guilt. Social rest isn't isolation; it's choosing who and what nourishes your energy.
6. Sensory Rest: When the World Feels Too Loud
Constant exposure to screens, notifications, and noise can overwhelm your senses. You feel overstimulated, restless, or irritated without knowing why.
How to restore: Turn off unnecessary sounds, dim the lights, and give your eyes a break from blue light. Step outside, feel the wind, or sit quietly—let stillness re-tune your senses.
7. Spiritual Rest: When You Feel Disconnected from Meaning
You might need spiritual rest when life starts to feel like a checklist and you lose sight of why you're doing what you do. It's a quiet kind of emptiness that no amount of productivity can fill.
How to restore: Reflect, practice mindfulness, or engage in activities that help you feel connected to something larger—like acts of kindness, time in nature, or moments of gratitude. Spiritual rest is the gentle return to what truly grounds you.
Coming Home to Yourself
Stress makes us believe we need to do more, when often, we just need to rest better. Rest isn't an escape—it's what keeps your mind clear and your motivation alive. The next time you feel drained, pause and ask what kind of rest you really need. Sometimes, you don't need to push harder—just rest differently.
If you've been wondering what kind of rest your mind and body need, therapy can be a gentle space to explore your stress, patterns, and ways to find balance again.
"Rest isn't an escape—it's what keeps your mind clear and your motivation alive."
