The Science Of Rest: Why High-Achieving Women Need More Downtime

When you think of success, “rest” and “high-achieving” are rarely part of the conversation – but they should be.

Rest is an essential element of success, as your brain must have downtime to perform well. Overstimulating any part of your body for too long is grounds for a disaster sooner or later.

Her Agenda researched and spoke with a few experts to gain more insight into the science of rest and why it’s an integral part of high-achieving women’s daily regimen.

Just as machines like phones and computers have to reset, so does your brain and body. You have to allot time to shut down so that you can start again fresh and new.

“Rest is a time in when the female body recovers from the stressors of the day,” said Amy Beckley, hormone scientist and owner and CEO of Proov. “It is when the majority of the toxins and hormones are metabolized and rid from the body. It is also when the majority of cortisol, the hormone that controls the stress response, is produced. This is why rest is so essential.”

“High-achieving women carry a heavier mental load, balancing careers and personal responsibilities,” said Dr. Chelsie Rohrscheib, neuroscientist and sleep expert at Wesper.

Most high-achieving women are responsible for many people, such as children, parents, staff, and more. This may drive them to work harder, but it can also create a massive amount of stress knowing that so many people are depending on them.

“This places these women at high risk for chronic stress, which not only impacts their psychological well-being but can also have measurable effects on brain function and overall health,” Chelsie said. “Physiologically, this stress activates the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system (fight or flight system). Chronic activation can lead to long-term health consequences.”

You hear it in music, see it in film, and feel it when you don’t think you’re doing enough. Rest often equates to laziness, a lack of ambition, and ultimately, a poor work ethic.

“It might be perceived as a weakness, like you aren’t working hard enough or long enough, but it is not the hours you put in, but rather the quality of work you do,” Amy said. “Four hours of high-quality work is almost always better than 8-10 hours of ‘normal’ work. Don’t work harder, work smarter.”

“Not very long at all. Even a week of chronic sympathetic activation and poor sleep will have a negative impact on your health,” Amy said. “Typically, the first signs we see are reduced cognition, such as poor attention and memory. We then tend to see an impact on mood and overall well-being.” 

Amy said a lack of rest elevates risk for accidents and early death.

“Being chronically overworked, overstressed, and sleep-deprived leads to an elevated risk for various diseases such as weight gain and obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, neurodegenerative disease, depression and anxiety, and poor immune function.”

According to LinkedIn, these are the best practices when it comes to optimizing rest.

• Prioritize rest by making it a non-negotiable, like you’re committed to your career; do the same for your rest, which equates to your health.
• Schedule rest just as you schedule meetings, dates, and other things that are important to you.
• Limit screen time on computers, TVs, and other technologies that don’t allow time to completely decompress at the end of the day.
• Engage in stress-reducing activities like yoga, meditation, napping, massages, and saunas. These activities will aid in your relaxation and calm your nervous system. Engaging in such activities allows your body to experience rest in a different form, as well as re-energize.