Why rest and recovery are integral to you and your business

The benefits range from repairing muscle fibres and promoting growth to reducing stress accumulation and aiding decision making

We caught up with Nathan Penman, a Clinic Manager for Nuffield Health, to get his expert guidance on why rest and recovery is so important to those who work in the sport and physical activity sector.

Nathan, also a learning and development training associate and mental health first aid instructor, started out in the fitness industry in 2016 doing personal training and sports massage. In his current role, he incorporates physiological health screening and carrying out health assessments with organisations and their employees to identify how to best improve their lifestyle through diet, exercise, sleep, rest and recovery.

Without adequate rest and recovery you won’t heal

Nathan kicked off by outlining the main physical benefits of setting ample periods aside for rest and recovery.

“Firstly, it allows muscles, connective tissues and the nervous system to repair, adapt and grow stronger. That’s the easiest way to look at it.

So, you train, you get little micro tears in your muscle fibres and without adequate rest and recovery you won’t heal and therefore won’t develop.

“This is the case for our tendons, ligaments and nervous system, too.”

The only thing that we used to get worried about was lions chasing us

From there, Nathan moved on to talk through the various mental benefits people can expect to experience.

“Sufficient rest will reduce an individual’s cognitive load, reduce their emotional fatigue and reduce stress accumulation in the body.

“Modern society demands so much more of us and as such our stress response kicks in more frequently than previous generations. The only thing that we used to get worried about was lions chasing us, but now it’s ‘I’ve got to reply to that email’, ‘I’ve got a deadline to hit’, ‘I need to train’, ‘I need to grow my client base’.

“All that stress accumulates over the course of the day and if we’re not giving ourselves that rest and recovery, it could lead to burnout.”

Come back with better performance levels and more productivity

To aid with understanding, Nathan used the analogy of Formula 1 racing to explain how rest and recuperation will put an individual in a favourable position.

“Now they’ve got newer cars and they’re hybrid. It’s not about flat out engine-grilling performance anymore. It’s about harvesting and deploying the battery to give the best overall performance.

“A driver could be technically a little bit slower than somebody that they’re trying to overtake on certain sections of the track but amassing that energy means when the time comes and when it’s needed, they can outperform their competitors and make that overtake.

“That’s essentially what rest needs to be seen as. By taking that step back, you’re giving yourself an opportunity to recharge and then you can come back with better performance levels and more productivity.”

You’ll be at higher risk of injury and illnesses

Nathan went on to elaborate on the negative impact stress accumulation can have.

“It’s going to keep your body in that constant state of fight and flight, where your tissue repair is going a little bit slower, inflammation is increasing and muscles aren’t fully recovering.

“Therefore, your strength is going to plateau, endurance is going to drop, fatigue is going to accumulate, and you’ll be at higher risk of injury and illnesses.

“It’ll also have a negative impact on your ability to create training programmes effectively. If you’re developing a programme for somebody but you’re completely mentally and physically fatigued, you aren’t going to be able to pick up on cues from clients to say, ‘right, this is working’, ‘this isn’t working’.

“We need to give ourselves time to sit back, relax, unwind and reflect, that’s essential for motivation so we can keep our training going and drive consistency in decision making.”

I know a lot of people struggle to rest and switch off

Whilst rest and recovery requirements will vary from one person to the next dependent on factors such as their schedule and the intensity and type of activity they are partaking in, Nathan did offer broad recommendations in terms of when and how people should go about getting their rest and recovery.

“Most people should be aiming for at least two or three rest or active recovery days per week.

“I know a lot of people struggle to rest and switch off, especially if you are running your own business. I understand the motivation to keep working as you want to keep pushing, keep growing, drive up your client base and therefore your income.

“But actually, if we incorporate mindfulness, sleep, recuperation, space for creativity and creative growth, it actually increases productivity and the quality of the work we produce.

“Anything that just takes your brain away from thinking about the day-to-day stresses can help regulate your nervous system. For some that’s going for a walk or listening to a podcast, for others it could be playing a game with your children or practicing yoga.”

Factoring in higher intensity days with lower intensity or skill-focused days

Keeping the focus on strategies to aid individuals to rest and recover, Nathan touched on active recovery which incorporates lower intensity exercise, plus a more varied schedule.

“Low-to-moderate steady-state exercises and mobility work will aid recovery and offers a good alternative for those that don’t like to completely switch off.

“That could be a case of factoring in higher intensity days with lower intensity or skill-focused days in and around these. There may be some days where you have 12 hours of clients, but they need to be complimented by a day where maybe you have a couple of clients and dedicate some time to some personal or business growth and reflection time.

“Personally, I’ve found diarising your periods of rest and recovery can help significantly. I’ve really noticed the benefits of having that structure and setting that time aside.”

With good quality restorative sleep comes increased performance and a significantly higher quality of work

In conclusion, Nathan made it clear that sleep should be top of the priority list.

“You want to be aiming for that magic eight hours of sleep a night. It needs to be the priority. The trap that a lot of people will fall into is going to bed at 11, waking up at five and then having more hours in the day to work.

“Realistically, it’s not the most productive way to do it. With good quality restorative sleep comes increased performance and a significantly higher quality of work.”