The Science of Rest
The reason behind resting one day a week.

I recently joined several different organizations. Each one of them has kept me both busy and exhausted. One day, after oversleeping nearly to noon, I realized a change was needed to be made. The following is my research of how we can resolve this issue of being mentally and physically worn, for once and for all.
Undivided Exhaustion

We so very often find ourselves trudging through life feeling zombish. People are stuck in a position, where each and every waking hour is absolutely grueling.
This path in life is far too frequently taken, yet it robs those of us who take it, of the sentimental value in existing. It leaves just enough room for a nihilistic, depressing perspective on life, but occupies the part of us that yearns for happiness.
Some say the preponderance to this phenomenon is a lack of sleep, and for some, that is the case. Others however, even after a long night’s rest, are still mentally worn.
At this point, we feel the need for aids such as coffee to bring about alertness, and medicines to grasp the hand of Mr. Sandman. In fact, we spend billions of dollars every year on coffee alone, and even more on sleeping remedies. This is a huge obstacle for Americans, and an even larger hurdle for the rest of humanity.
However, after looking further into this epidemic, it’s no surprise why we find ourselves struggling to find passionate, energetic enjoyment in life. More importantly, there’s a simple solution that can resolve this, acting as a beacon of light in our ever darkening lifestyles. We can use this trick to revitalize our depleted energy, and resurrect our motivation.
Lack of Sleep
Surprisingly, one of the most crucial elements to our success is sleep. In fact, we spend roughly ⅓ of our life doing it.
“If the average night’s sleep is eight hours (ie one third of a day), one sleeps for one third of one’s life. If you live, say, 75 years, that’s 25 years asleep…” ~The Guardian
We spend so much of our lives sleeping, so it only makes sense that it would play a direct role in coherent mental, and physical function. Well, it turns out, to an extraordinary degree, the very basis of human function is entirely dependent on our sleep. According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
“Sleep plays a vital role in good health and well-being throughout your life. Getting enough quality sleep at the right times can help protect your mental health, physical health, quality of life, and safety.” ~NIH
The institute proceeded to provide a detailed list of benefits one will obtain from proper sleep. The following are a few of positives one will experience through sleeping properly.
- Enhances one’s ability to learn.
- Greater levels of creativity have been directly linked to proper sleep.
- Heals and repairs blood vessels.
- Prevents heart disease.
- Prevents strokes.
- Prevents obesity.
- Prevents high blood pressure.
With these health benefits, both mental and physical in which they influence us, you’d think we’d all shoot for proper sleep. In reality, 40% of Americans don’t get the recommended amount, according to a 2013 Gallup poll.
So simply put, we can’t expect our lives to improve without taking action to do so. In this circumstance, man has found itself alienated from it’s most desirable, and yet most important state.
If we wish to exist within a state where life is more than something to be lived, we must act in ordinance to what we need to be acting upon. In other words, we must do something about our sleeplessness.
Not only would our lives would surge with energy if we did so, we’d also be far happier than currently imaginable. Please, take it as an obligation to sleep properly, you owe it to yourself.
Supersonic Lives

With the turn of the 21st century, a new, incredibly useful tool exploded into our lives. That being technology, more specifically, personalized computers and smartphones.
This will be remembered as a huge accomplishment millennia from now, and the generations of our time will be called pioneers of the new age. But with this new age, comes an entire new beast.
That being the speed in which we’re expected to operate. Our messages went from taking weeks to reach one another with mail, to the reach-ability duration being reduced to a second or two with the quickness of a text.
Nourishment was once a struggle, and man spent most of its time trying to find food. Now, we face the opposite with our obesity epidemic. These are just two examples of our lives being changed, where the speed has become increasingly more difficult to keep pace with. This new supersonic life, brings an increase of decisions to be made. In fact, we make nearly 35,000 a day according to Dr. Joel Hoomans.
“…that an adult makes about 35,000 remotely conscious decisions each day…”
This may seem absurd, but according to the Cornell University, we make over 200 decisions daily on food alone. We also have a large list of topics, that many expect us to make choices on.
Here are a few that occur within the average American’s life.
- what to eat
- what to wear
- what to purchase
- what we believe
- what jobs and career choices we will pursue
- how we vote
- who to spend our time with
- who we will date and marry
- what we say and how we say it
- whether or not we would like to have children
- what we will name our children
- who our children spend their time with
- what they will eat, etc.
Taken that we’re buried in a pile of activities, sleep isn’t the only solution. This isn’t to say sleep won’t play an important role when facing a volley of tough choices, but sleep can’t resolve this problem alone.
The average American worker feels stressed according to the Atlantic.com, and it isn’t surprising why this is the case. So it is for these reasons, why I suggest people participate in the Sabbath.
Despite one’s religious affiliations, it is for the best that all people take one day out of the week to do as little as possible. Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, atheists and agnostics all should take this as a practice, and here’s why.
With one day where we don’t have to confront life in the same way as we’re usually expected to, we have time to recover. It acts as a small holiday, but it takes place weekly.

