Beyond the Nap: The Neuroscience of Rest for Stressed-Out Students
Are exams taking over your life? Ellie Hardcastle proves just how important it is to prioritise rest while studying.
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Why am I tired all the time? If you have ever turned to Google in desperate search of answers, you are not alone. This appears to be a frequently asked question, reaching its most Googled point in the history of Google Trends in September 2023. I believe I can speak on behalf of uni students everywhere when I say we feel the undeniable weight of this reality, especially during term time.
As stressed-out students, when fatigue sets in, it is easy to focus solely on lack of sleep as the root cause of this issue, especially when a quick Google search confirms this as the most common culprit. However, research suggests that rest comes in many forms and, spoiler alert, it is not just about getting more sleep.
Why just getting your 8 hours is not enough
Physician Dr Saundra Dalton-Smith draws attention to the fact that 8 hours of sleep alone is not enough for true rejuvenation. She explains that genuine rest extends beyond simply physical recovery, introducing the concept of the seven types of rest: physical, mental, sensory, creative, emotional, social and spiritual.
Dr Dalton-Smith describes rest as a restorative practice, transcending beyond simply recovering from physical exhaustion through sleep. She emphasises that when our mind and body are consistently overloaded with the stresses life brings, these can negatively impact our health in ways sleep alone is unable to heal. Her concept of the seven types of rest complements what science is telling us. The default mode network (DMN) is a group of brain regions which are most active when we are resting. Its roles relate to memory, emotion, and personality- all vital aspects of our functioning. Therefore, when we rest, the brain can engage in this essential activity.
Why students need rest beyond sleep to beat stress
I’m confident students will relate when I say it is common to feel guilty for taking study breaks at uni. During exam season or the run-up to deadlines, for example, it is not unusual to find the library bustling late into the night, and sleep often begins to quickly tumble down our list of priorities. Sleep, therefore, does not even seem to be a priority, so why should we bother caring about other methods of rest?
“As a culture, it’s not just sleep that we struggle to prioritise: It’s rest.”
Put simply, rest contributes to decreasing our cortisol levels. Cortisol, often referred to as the “stress hormone”, is released by the body when we experience stress or danger. Having high cortisol levels can cause a number of health issues, including sleep problems. Therefore, the significance of rest, beyond just sleep, is often underestimated despite its particular importance for students facing high levels of academic stress.
Matt Walker, a professor of neuroscience and psychology, presents compelling neuroscientific evidence emphasising the crucial role of sleep as an essential form of rest both before and after learning in his TED talk, Sleep is Your Superpower. Prior to learning, he underscores that sleep prepares the brain to effectively absorb new information. Meanwhile, after learning, it allows the brain to “hit the save button” on those newly acquired memories, thus ensuring you retain them. Therefore, without sleep, “the brain’s memory circuits become waterlogged”, hindering our ability to form and retain new memories.
Beyond just sleep, the other six of the seven types of rest addressed by Dr Dalton-Smith can each contribute to reducing stress in many ways. Mental rest, by simply stepping away from your work for a period of time, for example, can help you prevent overthinking. Taking a break from constant stimuli, like your laptop screen, can have greater benefits for students than we realise, contributing to sensory rest.
Creative rest is likely the type of rest I would argue we are most familiar with. Engaging in a hobby you genuinely enjoy can be a great way to unwind and take your mind off work. Yet, we are often quick to put this on the back burner at uni, especially when we have constant deadlines and responsibilities.
“The idea of rest is inescapably unproductive.”
Ultimately, at uni, we are often enveloped in a culture glorifying constant productivity, leaving us with a sense of guilt when we are not working. While sleep is undoubtedly a crucial element of rest, science shows proper rest and rejuvenation extend beyond sleep alone. Sleep should be our first priority as it is the thing fuelling us day to day. However, it is equally important to recognise that rest is holistic and comprised of so much more. As students, and stressed-out students at that, I hope this has helped to broaden our perspective of rest. In the New Year, forget self-improvement challenges. Instead, I encourage you to explore and nurture the other various aspects of rest in order to achieve a deeper sense of rejuvenation.
Words By Ellie Hardcastle
