Last week I shared how strongly I feel about nurses and breaks. I want to follow up with a post about breaks to show that taking a break, not only in the work environment, is actually a very good thing.

You know, Living Sublime Wellness is all about health and wellness goals. It is about moving from where you are at now to where you envision your life to be in your ideal world. So of course I am an advocate for eating healthy, rest, meditation, exercise, etc. But I am also a huge proponent of balance. And constantly doing any of these things without a break from them is also over-doing it.

So today, I just want to highlight this in one arena to give you an analogy that you can apply to your work setting as well: the exercise world.

One of the easiest ways to make your exercise actually work harder for you: do nothing. “What??? Coach Scala is telling us to do nothing!? This cannot be so!” It is. And I am. I also have some resources to back me up!

Days when you rest from exercise will increase your fitness, improve muscle tone, prevent burnout and aid your motivation. (Prevent burnout… sound familiar?? Remember, I wanted to share this with you so that you could apply this to your work as a nurse as well!).

“We need rest days,” says exercise physiologist Ben Nowlan (instituteforhealthyliving.com.au). “When we rest we allow the body to refuel muscle energy, create important proteins that repair the muscles, and increase hormones, such as human growth hormone, which helps reduce body fat by normalizing glucose (sugar) levels.”

Rest days actually are necessary because they allow the body to recuperate from all of the hard work that exercise and physical training has done to them. Exercising every single day can actually hurt your fitness goals as you open up to more opportunity for injury.

• Nurses… another key point here: daily exercise can actually create more room for injury. Just as working too hard for too long with no breaks can open up more chances for burn out and fatigue.

And check out what trainer Jerome Boadu from Living Well Health Club (livingwell.com.au) had to say about rest and recovery being needed for mental wellbeing: “No-one would want to work for seven days straight as it’s mentally and physically draining. Exercising is the same.”

See!? He said it too. No one would want to work that many days straight. It is draining!!

Those of you who lift weights out there might know about the next fact. Weight lifting should be done only every other day, about three days a week. That’s because strength training breaks down muscle, and the day off between workouts allows time for the muscle to rebuild. We need that day of rest to rebuild and replenish. The federal guidelines from the American College of Sports Medicine state when you plan your workout routine for the week it should be 30 minutes of moderate activity five days a week plus your strength training. (Two days off for BREAKS!).

Taking a break is a necessary thing. For exercise, for work, for anything. I want you to realize how crucial breaks and down time is to your overall well-being. You will be a much more productive, happy, and healthy nurse when you allow yourself to take a break!

So what are going to do to ensure your break times? How can you make this happen? Or how have you seen rest periods help you in your life?