Uncategorized

What Counts as Restful? The Rest Test’s Findings on Reading, Nature, Solitude and Doing Nothing

Posté le par Just Relax Store

Rest is not the same as sleep, and it means different things to different people. In 2016 a large public survey called the Rest Test set out to find out what people actually do to rest, how much they think they get and how that relates to how they feel. It was run by Hubbub, an interdisciplinary group based at Wellcome Collection and led by Durham University, together with BBC Radio 4. This guide summarises what the organisers reported, what the results do and do not show, and how the findings connect to simple habits. It is general wellbeing information and not medical advice.

What the Rest Test was

According to Wellcome, more than 18,000 people from 134 countries took part in an online survey about their resting habits and attitudes to relaxation and busyness. The survey took 30 to 40 minutes and had two parts. In the first, people answered questions about how much rest they think they get, how much they would like and which activities they find most restful; over 18,000 completed this part. The second part used established questionnaires on personality, well-being and mind wandering, and over 11,000 people completed it. Results were announced on 26 September 2016 ahead of a BBC Radio 4 programme, The Anatomy of Rest.

The headline numbers

The organisers reported that 68% of respondents would like more rest, that nearly a third (32%) said they need more rest than the average person and that 10% think they need less. The press release notes that rest is a much broader category than sleep, with physical, mental and spiritual components, and that much less is known about the restorative benefits of rest, partly because it means different things to different people.

The five activities people chose as most restful

Respondents chose from a list of activities the ones they found most restful. The top five were:

  • reading (58%);
  • being in the natural environment (53.1%);
  • being on their own (52.1%);
  • listening to music (40.6%); and
  • doing nothing in particular (40%).

Dr Felicity Callard, the principal investigator, noted that these top activities are frequently done alone. She suggested it may not only be the total hours of resting or working that matter, but the rhythms of work, rest and time with and without others.

Rest and well-being

People who felt they needed more rest scored lower on well-being. Those who said they get more rest than average, or do not feel they need more, had well-being scores twice as high as those who wanted more rest. The organisers concluded that the perception of rest matters as well as the reality. Dr Callard said the survey shows that people’s ability to take rest and their levels of well-being are related, and that the findings combat a common, moralising connection between rest and laziness.

Who reported less rest

Respondents were asked how many hours of rest they had had in the previous 24 hours. On average, being younger and having a higher household income were associated with fewer hours of rest, and so were having caring responsibilities and working shifts that include nights. The average time spent resting by UK respondents the previous day was 3 hours and 8 minutes.

How to read these results

The Rest Test reports associations from a self-reported online survey. The press release presents well-being scores that were higher among people who felt adequately rested, but it does not show that more rest causes higher well-being, and people who chose to complete a long survey about rest may not represent everyone. The organisers said full analysis would be published in the following year, and the release describes the figures above as the results of part one of the survey. The percentages show what participants found restful, not what has been proved to lower stress, so they are best used as ideas to try, not as guarantees.

Turning the findings into habits

Each of the top five has a practical route on this site:

Frequently asked questions

Is rest the same as sleep? No. The organisers say rest is a much broader category than sleep, with physical, mental and spiritual components.

Does the survey prove rest improves well-being? No. It found that perceived rest and well-being were related; it does not show cause and effect.

Do I need to rest alone? Not necessarily. The top activities were often done alone, but the researchers raised the question of the rhythm of time with and without others rather than a rule.

The bottom line

The Rest Test found that most respondents wanted more rest, that reading, nature, solitude, music and doing nothing topped the list of restful activities, and that feeling rested went along with higher well-being scores. It is an observational survey, so its best use is as a menu of low-cost ideas to try.

Sources

Just Relax Store