Rest and Rejuvenate

 Rest and Rejuvenate

There are organizations that manage their employees down to the second in order to maximize organizational performance and individual productivity. However, this is a misconception. Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz introduce their research in "The Power of Full Engagement," emphasizing the importance of regularly disengaging from immersion to allow for rest. They argue that without sufficient recovery, constantly expending energy without respite leads to the cessation of the mental and emotional rhythms of life. In the case of exercise, muscles are microscopically torn immediately after exercise, and it takes 24 to 48 hours for muscles to recover and become stronger. I remember a friend of mine, who had an excellent physique, emphasizing the importance of adequate rest and repetition while imagining muscles growing slowly, rather than focusing on the number of push-ups.

The first person to write a training manual for athletes that appropriately balanced activity and rest was Flavius Philostratus of Greece in AD 170. After Russian sports scientists applied this concept to Olympic athletes in the 1960s, formal research on the need for rest began.

In a broad sense, the pattern of activity and rest follows a daily cycle of roughly 24 hours. Therefore, athletes also need to rest the day after a competition to maintain optimal condition. Psychologist Dan Kripke's research on sleep patterns over six years found that the lowest mortality rates were among those who slept an average of 7-8 hours per night. Both too much and too little recovery time can increase mortality rates. Workers who alternate between day and night shifts are twice as likely to develop arteriosclerosis and heart failure. Most industrial accidents over the past 20 years, such as Chernobyl, Exxon Valdez, Bhopal, and Three Mile Island, occurred in work environments where sleep was lacking. It was found that taking a short nap for 30-40 minutes was the most suitable for relieving fatigue. It was found that longer naps made people feel even more tired.

In the early 1950s, Eugene Aserinsky and Nathan Kleitman discovered that human sleep cycles occur in 90-120 minute intervals, which were later defined as ultradian rhythms in the 1970s. The peak condition occurs with the onset of the ultradian rhythm, where heart rate, hormone levels, muscle elasticity, and brain wave activity all increase. Even during work, taking breaks every 90-120 minutes is necessary for immersion. If this rhythm is disrupted, toxins accumulate in the body, leading to hypersensitivity, aggression, impatience, impulsiveness, self-absorption, and indifference to others. Some people are trapped in a vicious cycle by trying to solve this physical resistance with stimulants like cocaine and amphetamines.

“We believe that the busier we are, the more important we are, and the more others will think so too... This is the prototype of successful people in our time.” - Wayne Muller, 'Sabbath' -

In addition to effectively utilizing the rhythm of activity and rest, it is also necessary to know how to increase energy capacity. This is because surpassing excessive energy consumption and recovering it leads to development in all dimensions. According to ergonomics, physically healthy individuals showed significantly higher mental performance. Physically healthy workers had a defect rate of around 27% lower than those who were not in tasks requiring concentration and memory. I recall the words of the CEO of a medium-sized company I know: "The health status of a company's top executive and its sales are directly proportional."