The 7 Types of Rest (and Why Sleep Isn’t Always the Answer)
We talk about exhaustion like it has one solution: sleep more.
While sleep absolutely matters, it turns out it’s often not the kind of rest we’re actually missing.
When I first learned there are seven distinct types of rest, it stopped me in my tracks. It explained so much about why so many of us feel bone tired, even when we’re technically “doing everything right” and getting 8 hours of sleep per night.
Turns out, more sleep isn’t always the answer.
More intentional rest usually is.
Why We’re So Bad at Treating Exhaustion
As I went down the research rabbit hole, something became painfully clear:
Most advice for managing exhaustion is… wildly off.
“Self-care” advice aimed at women often boils down to massages, pedicures, and bubble baths. Men are told to stretch after lifting and maybe eat a vegetable. Not once did I see an article mention that there are multiple types of rest and that the wrong kind of rest won’t help you feel rested at all.
Speaking from experience, massages and pedicures do absolutely nothing for my exhaustion. Sometimes they make it worse, because now I’m still tired and annoyed that I spent a bunch of money trying to fix something that didn’t work.
That spiral usually ends with guilt and self-doubt:
Why didn’t that help? What’s wrong with me?
Turns out: nothing.
I just wasn’t tired in the way those things address.
Rest vs. Self-Care (They’re Not the Same)
Rest can be a form of self-care…but not all self-care is rest.
At its most basic, self-care is everything that supports health and functioning: eating, hygiene, boundaries, relationships. Eating vegetables and flossing are self-care. They are not rest.
Rest is about reducing load on specific systems in the body and nervous system. If you’re exhausted, choosing the wrong type of “self-care” won’t restore you, no matter how aesthetic it looks on social media.
The 7 Types of Rest
The seven types of rest are:
Physical
Mental
Emotional
Spiritual
Creative
Sensory
Social
Most of us are depleted in several at once.
Here’s a practical breakdown.
Physical Rest
This is the one we usually think of first: sleep, naps, stretching, gentle movement.
For active folks and athletes, one of the clearest signs you need physical rest is persistent soreness or declining performance. You cannot fix that by training harder. You fix it by resting.
The sweet spot is a combination of:
Passive rest (sleep, naps, days off)
Active rest (Pilates, yoga, stretch therapy)
That pairing can completely change how your body recovers.
Mental Rest
Mental rest means giving your brain a break from constant stimulation and expectation.
This can look like:
Meditation
Social media breaks
Time outside
Better time boundaries and fewer “always on” demands
When the brain never gets a pause, we see mental fog, irritability, poor sleep, and feeling overwhelmed by normal daily tasks. Your brain was never designed to fire at 100% all the time. Turns out our moms were right. Boredom is good for your brain and our constant state of mental stimulation through our phones, laptops and devices is draining us.
Emotional Rest
Emotional rest is the ability to be honest about how you’re actually doing and to feel your feelings without performing, fixing, or people-pleasing.
It often requires:
Stronger boundaries
Saying no
Stepping back from emotionally draining situations
Being truthful instead of “fine”
If you’re navigating chronic stress—caregiving, health issues, financial strain, relationship challenges—emotional rest can feel impossible. But it often starts very small:
Taking a break from news or social media
Saying “I’m not okay today”
Declining a request you don’t have capacity for
Acknowledging that you’re tired, sad, or overwhelmed
Small honesty creates space. Space creates rest.
Spiritual Rest
Spiritual rest isn’t just religious practice. It’s about connection and meaning.
If you’re feeling disconnected, ungrounded, or purposeless, spiritual rest can come from:
Community
Service
Nature
Practices that remind you you’re part of something bigger
Creative Rest
Creative rest is reconnecting with wonder and inspiration.
It can be hiking, painting, watching a bee pollinate a flower, or sitting in an audience instead of producing something. It’s about receiving, not output.
One thing worth naming here: hustle culture has convinced us that every hobby should be monetized. The moment a hobby becomes income, it stops being restorative. It becomes work.
Creative rest requires permission to:
Be messy
Be bad at something
Create without outcomes
Scribble. Play. Make something pointless. Go outside. Get messy.
Sensory Rest
Sensory overload happens when the brain takes in more stimulation than it can process: screens, noise, lights, notifications, constant input.
When this happens, the nervous system shifts into fight, flight, or freeze.
Sensory rest is the antidote:
Screen breaks
Quiet walks
Driving without music
Soft lighting
Stillness
Fun side note: boredom is a powerful creativity trigger. Your brain needs low stimulation to reset.
Social Rest
Social rest isn’t isolation. It’s spending time with people who don’t require performance.
Too much social rest leads to loneliness. Too little leads to exhaustion. The goal is connection without curation.
In a world of highlight reels, being fully seen, all of our messy bits included, is deeply restorative.
Why the 7 Types of Rest Matter at Pilates Native
Pilates Native is built on three pillars: Rest, Recover, Restore. Rest comes first for a reason.
Injury prevention starts with rest
Overuse injuries come from overexertion. Chronic fatigue leads to compensations, poor muscle recruitment, and burnout…which leads directly to injury.(Yes, this is literally our specialty.)
Your nervous system drives everything
If your nervous system is overstimulated, your training will suffer. A fried brain can’t coordinate efficient movement.Movement is medicine
The body is designed to move. Pilates and stretch therapy support circulation, joint health, breath, and nervous system regulation, without adding more stress.
Yes, I Spreadsheeted This
While mapping the seven rest types, I noticed a lot of overlap, so obviously, I made a spreadsheet.
The most efficient rest practices across multiple categories.
Taking breaks from social media
Going outside
Taking intentional breaks throughout the day
During this experiment, my phone died for five days. No warning. No backup. Just… gone.
While running a business. With my spouse out of town. During back-to-school chaos.
And somehow?
I slept better. I felt calmer. I had more actual downtime.
Since then, I’ve been far more intentional with screen limits, which does mean I’m sometimes slower to respond.
If you want to explore this more deeply, I’ve created a super basic and non-fancy downloadable 11×14 PDF mapping all seven types of rest and how to access them.
And I’d love to know:
Which type of rest do you need most right now?
See you soon,
– R
Rest and Play in a time of Stress and Chaos
Posted on November 5, 2020 by pilatesnative
Y’all, this has been the CRAZIEST year. We have literally pivoted and pivoted and pivoted again as this year has changed how we work, school, commute, shop, socialize and exist. It has been bananas.
I started out writing a super long email about the benefits of a forced rest and how bodies are presenting so much differently on the stretch table the last few weeks, but Mailchimp deleted everything and in recovery mode, I realized I most wanted to share with you an inspiring story about play instead.
A few days ago, my brother gave my kiddo a jump rope. It’s nothing special, just a cast-off old jump rope that my brother just didn’t want to take with him on his recent move. Rio treated that thing like gold and for the entire day, he carried it around in his pocket like a special treasure, finding pockets of space large enough for him and his jump rope.
At first, he was terrible. Just awful. This kid couldn’t get a single jump before he’d trip, fall over, whip himself in the head, or whack his jump rope on a wall, car, tree, other other random item he’d set up too close to.
But he kept trying.
He even brought his jump rope with us on our daily walk, stopping to jump every few steps. On our walk, he said “Mama, watch me jump 10 times!”
He jumped twice. Tripped. Laughed, yelled “I got two!”
Jumped four times. Tangled. “Ok, that’s four!” He said.
Jumped another four times. “Did you see me jump 10 times?!?! Oh ya, I did it!” And he continued to celebrate his way out of a jump rope tangle.
Watching him celebrate, I realized he was setting SMART goals and celebrating his wins like a champ.
His goal was totally specific. 10 jumps.
It was measurable.
It was attainable.
It was realistic.
And it was timed.
He didn’t add in any extra qualifiers or quantifiers to his 10 jump goal. He didn’t say, I’m going to jump 10 times without stopping, or 10 times with my eyes closed, or 10 times every day for 10 times a day. Nope.
He wisely chose to jump 10 times in any fashion and celebrate the win.
Watching him celebrate, I realized just how often we, as grownups, gatekeep ourselves and set ourselves up for failure. We add so many extra qualifiers and quantifiers to our goals that the things we enjoy become work. We gatekeep ourselves out of enjoyable activities and communities by adding extra requirements that don’t need to be there.
Worst of all, we burn ourselves out by never celebrating our wins.
Here’s the thing. By instinctively setting a SMART goal and celebrating his little win, Rio kept himself motivated and kept his chosen activity, jump roping, fun. He spent the entire afternoon on the driveway jump roping, setting goals, giving himself positive pep talks, counting, celebrating.
He created an entire celebration dance.
He cheered himself on with shouts of “Oh yeah, oh yeah, check me out!”.
The next afternoon, he was still jump roping.
But he wasn’t tripping. He wasn’t tangling. He wasn’t whacking himself or anything else with this jump rope.
He was jumping up to 30 reps in a go, attempting tricks like single leg or eyes closed, skipping while jumping, and scheming for how he could scooter and jump rope at the same time.
His celebrations kept him motivated. His motivation gave him momentum. His momentum gave him excitement and inspiration. The inspiration kept things fun. And when things are fun, we want to keep doing them.
Without realizing it, this kiddo taught his Mama 2 HUGE lessons.
1) It’s so much easier to get better at something when it’s fun and we want to keep “playing”.
and
2) He showed me just how necessary celebrating the little wins really is for our long term motivation, momentum and inspiration.
This week, I challenge you to join me in celebrating one teeny tiny little win in a big way. No matter what the little win is, go crazy. Create your celebration dance. Jump up and down. Yell “oh yeah I did it, I did it oh yeah”. Shout “Oh yeah!! Check me out!”.
Signing off with wishes for a day filled with pockets of rest and play. And as always, Pilates Native is here to provide you with a safe space to rest, play and celebrate the little wins with Pilates and Stretch Therapy.
Take care and see you soon,
Rubecca