Physical rest

Most people equate rest with sleep, then wonder why a full night still leaves them flat. Physical rest has two halves. Passive physical rest is sleep and napping. Active physical rest is stretching, walking, warmth, unclenching — the things that release what a day of sitting or standing has stored in your body.

Signs you are short on it: shoulders up around your ears, jaw tight by mid-morning, waking unrefreshed, catching every cold going around. The body has been mobilised for hours and never fully stood down.

The most useful move is usually not more sleep but better transitions. Ten minutes of gentle movement in daylight often does more for the afternoon than an extra half hour in bed.

Today: find one place where your body is holding tension right now. Loosen it deliberately, and note what time of day the tension arrives.