{"id":1677,"date":"2026-09-24T07:48:33","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T07:48:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/justrelaxstore.com\/what-counts-as-restful-the-rest-tests-findings-on-reading-nature-solitude-and-doing-nothing\/"},"modified":"2026-09-24T07:48:33","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T07:48:33","slug":"what-counts-as-restful-the-rest-tests-findings-on-reading-nature-solitude-and-doing-nothing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/justrelaxstore.com\/fr\/what-counts-as-restful-the-rest-tests-findings-on-reading-nature-solitude-and-doing-nothing\/","title":{"rendered":"What Counts as Restful? The Rest Test’s Findings on Reading, Nature, Solitude and Doing Nothing"},"content":{"rendered":"

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.<\/p>\n

What the Rest Test was<\/h2>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The headline numbers<\/h2>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The five activities people chose as most restful<\/h2>\n

Respondents chose from a list of activities the ones they found most restful. The top five were:<\/p>\n