Where's your restorative place?

The other week Aimee published an article on the importance of rest.

Many people we talk to are tired, lack energy, and are just generally burnt out. We can't give you an extra two hours a day or take away your stresses but we can help you feel like you have a greater capacity to deal with everything life throws at us and using our rest for effectively will help considerably.

I was listening to a podcast recently and the conversation was about a ‘restorative environment'. This caught my attention and got me thinking, where's my restorative place?

A restorative place is somewhere you have time to yourself, somewhere to de-stress, and allow both your body and mind to recover.

Rest is one of the most important aspects of looking after our wellbeing. If we never rested, our bodies would simply stop working.

My restorative place is my bedroom. I only associate it with reading and sleeping; two highly restorative activities for me.

However, It wasn't always like this...

When I was younger my bedroom used to be a place of socialising with friends, watching TV, working or studying and endlessly scrolling through my phone.

My mind was unable to detach itself from these activities so when it came round to resting I found it difficult and had trouble sleeping..

It is important that we think about what we're doing and where we do it, and if necessary, create some boundaries. My relationship with sleep is so much better now as I have removed all other activities from my environment.

Of course we don't always have total control over our environment. You may have other people to consider - child monitors or your partners alarm going off before yours in the morning. Despite these uncontrollables we can still think about maximising your environment for more effective rest.

Here's my advice if your bedroom is your restorative place;

• leave your phone turned off or outside (get an old school alarm clock if you need to!)

• Schedule in and be strict with your bedtime routine ie light off by 10.30

• Don't watch TV in your bedroom

• Keep it as neat and tidy as possible - our minds finds it more difficult to relax in a messy environment

• Try and leave your work out of your restorative place - leave laptops and emails at your desk or another room if you need to

Your restorative place might not be your bedroom. Your restorative environment might be walking the dog, meditating, your man-cave, the shed, the conservatory, church, your favourite bench or even the bath!

Even if we make one small change to our environment, the summative effect on the quality of rest over a long period is considerable. This is known as the theory of ‘marginal gains'.

So, have a think, where's your restorative place?

How could you make your environment even more restorative?