-By Andrew W. Scott, CMA (AAMA), CPT (NASM)
“I won’t get burned out. Not me. I’m built different.”
How has it become that one of our favorite things to do is also one of the things we fear the most? Everybody knows that wonderful feeling of crawling into bed after a long day, snuggling under the covers, and letting go of the stressors and pressures of the day. And none of us get to choose whether we rest or not; it is a compulsory part of the Human Experience.
So why do we feel so guilty when our bodies are screaming at us for rest?
In one of my previous blogs, I talked about the broken link in the Human Condition that suggests MORE = BETTER. We often see the consequences of this broken logic in addiction. From an ancient Chinese philosophical perspective, mankind fears empty spaces. We focus on the light and fear the dark. We focus on the wave and fear the trough. The Western mindset often struggles to value both sides of the coin equally. So when it comes to fitness and wellness, we tend to view active pursuits—going to the gym, restricting calories, and pushing ourselves to the brink—as positive things while treating rest as a negative or unproductive state.
From a physiological and biochemical standpoint, however, the body is a rhythmic and cyclical machine. There is no such thing as being “on” all the time without occasionally turning “off.” In fact, it is precisely the combination of stress and recovery that drives adaptation. The challenge of exercise followed by the restoration of sleep is what allows the body to grow, repair, and progress.
I recently underwent a sleep study after years of my wife complaining about my snoring. Don’t get me wrong—she was absolutely right to complain, and it was rather selfish of me to wait so long to investigate the problem. What surprised me was learning that I was frequently stopping breathing while asleep.
Following the sleep study, I was diagnosed with severe sleep apnea and prescribed a CPAP machine. I’m currently in my third week of using it, and it has been a huge thorn in my side. However, I’ve also been tracking my sleep with a fitness tracker and my phone, and the improvements have been remarkable. My blood oxygen saturation levels have increased dramatically, and I am beginning to feel more rested now that I’m adapting to sleeping with the machine.
What I know for certain is that better sleep creates better conditions for recovery. Whether we’re talking about hormonal regulation, protein synthesis, cognitive function, or overall health, quality rest matters.
So perhaps what we should concern ourselves with is not simply the quantity of our sleep, but the quality of our rest. There is tremendous value in allowing the body to do its work.
I like to think of it this way: when we go to the gym, it’s like bringing a demolition crew onto a job site and letting them swing sledgehammers through the walls. It’s a satisfying process and an important first step in creating something new. But eventually, the demolition crew has to go home. Raw materials need to be delivered. Architects and engineers need to draw up plans. Skilled tradespeople need to arrive and begin building.
If you try to do all of that while people are still swinging sledgehammers, someone is going to get hurt—and nothing beautiful is going to be built.
It’s always funny until someone gets hurt.
—Drew, The Weapon
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