Sleep gurus now say we need SEVEN different types of rest every week - how much are you getting?

Doctors suggest that getting enough sleep isn't the only type of rest we need Experts said we need mental, social, and even spiritual rest every week READ MORE: What happens in the body after just one night without sleep

The rules for a healthy sleep pattern are simple, we’ve long been told.

Get at least seven hours every night, don’t doomscroll just before bed – and stick to the same bedtime most nights.

But now, doctors have warned that there is more to rest than simply getting enough sleep.

According to an Alamaba-based specialist, getting many different types of rest every day is essential for a calm body and mind.

There are not one, two or three different varieties, but seven.

And not getting enough of every type may explain why you still feel groggy at the end of the week, despite your long night’s sleep.

From taking a break from loud noises (sensory rest), to avoiding intense conversations (emotional rest), here are all the types experts say you should prioritize.

PHYSICAL REST 

This seems like the obvious one. However, physical rest extends beyond sleep.

Dr Saundra-Dalton Smith, an internal medicine physician in Alabama, wrote for Goop that components include recovery exercises like yoga, stretching, using a foam roller, and getting a massage.

‘Signs that you have a physical rest deficit could be body aches and pain. It could be swelling in your legs and feet after sitting at your desk for long periods of time; it could be spasms in your back,’ Dr Dalton-Smith said.

MENTAL REST 

Giving your mind a break can also ward off burnout.

Signs that you’re low on mental rest include lying awake at night with your mind racing and forgetting basic tasks or items on your grocery list.

‘They’re struggling with concentration and recall, and they’re not in their eighties, so they’re not someone who we’re thinking has dementia,’ Dr Dalton-Smith said.

‘We’re seeing people in their thirties who can’t remember three items for longer than a few minutes because of this busy brain. They’re not able to hold on to information.’

Mental rest can involve anything from watching mindless TV alone, to reading a fiction book – anything that helps you escape for a few moments.

SOCIAL REST 

We’ve all at one point said that we need time to ‘charge’ our social battery.

‘Social rest is the rest we experience around people,’ Dr Dalton-Smith said.

‘Most of us spend the majority of our time with people who are pulling from our social energy. Not that they’re negative people, but they’re negatively pulling from our energy, whether that’s your spouse, your kids, your coworkers, your clients—they need things from you.’

‘They’re pulling from that social energy.’

While spending a night in after a night out can help recharge this battery, it’s not a long-term solution, Dr Dalton-Smith said.

She suggested taking a look at your relationships. If you feel like your friends only reach out when they need you or don’t listen to your struggles, it may be worth stepping back from that relationship.

‘That’s what we want to have in our lives: some people we just enjoy spending time with,’ Dr Dalton-Smith said.

‘Your kids and your spouse can be part of your social rest, but you do have to be aware of the dynamics of the relationship so that you don’t spend all your time pouring yourself into them. Let them pour back into you.’

SPIRITUAL REST 

Meditating is one way to get more spiritual rest

Spiritual rest isn’t just for the religious. It’s about feeling like your life has meaning. Dr Dalton-Smith said that if you feel like you don’t belong or your life is pointless, you’re likely lacking spiritual rest.

Common signs of this include feeling like your work or activities don’t make a meaningful difference in the world.

‘If you don’t feel like your work has meaning, you will experience burnout,’ Dr Dalton Smith said.

‘Find a way to connect to desire for meaning, whether that’s through community, a work culture where you feel like what you do matters, or a faith-based culture.’

‘We all have that need to feel like we belong and that we are contributing.’

SENSORY REST

Signs of sensory overload syndrome include the inability to ignore what’s around you, discomfort, anxiety, fear, extreme sensitivity to clothing or textures, irritability, loss of focus, restlessness, and insomnia

We’ve all felt sensory overload at one point.

Your notifications are dinging, the kids are playing while you try to work, the neighbors are shouting. Even staring at your computer screen all day can overwhelm your senses.

‘Whether or not you are consciously aware of the sensory input around you, your body and your subconscious self are going to respond,’ Dr Dalton-Smith said.

This can lead to sensory overload syndrome, which is when at least one of the body’s five senses gets too overwhelmed.

Signs of sensory overload syndrome include the inability to ignore what’s around you, discomfort, anxiety, fear, extreme sensitivity to clothing or textures, irritability, loss of focus, restlessness, and insomnia.

‘People with a sensory rest deficit may find that you’re good in the beginning of the day, but you can’t understand why at the end of the day,’ Dr Dalton-Smith said.

Spending time alone in a calm place with neutral colors and few sounds for just 10 minutes per day can help redress the balance.

EMOTIONAL REST 

It’s easy to bottle up our emotions until they become too much to handle. When this happens, you likely are low on emotional rest.

‘Many of us carry quite a bit of emotional labor privately, in that we don’t share with people what we’re feeling. We may be carrying emotional labor because we don’t want to share with our kids how bad things are with the pandemic and how it’s affected our finances,’ Dr Dalton-Smith said.

‘You may be carrying emotional labor if you’re in management and you had to lay off employees but you couldn’t show your feelings because you wanted your team to feel like everything was great.’

‘There are a lot of times we carry emotional labor, and we hide our feelings without giving them the opportunity to be expressed and to heal, to be exposed.’

Signs of emotional burnout include feeling like you have to keep your emotions in check and that you can’t show how you’re really feeling.

Confiding in a trusted friend or trained therapist can offer some of this much-needed rest.

CREATIVE REST 

When you’re focused on getting the kids off to school or working on a big project, it can be difficult to stop and take in the art around you.

However, stopping to listen to the lyrics of the song in your headphones or taking in a mural on the street could be forms of creative rest.

‘Creative rest is the rest we experience when we allow ourselves to appreciate beauty in any form,’ Dr Dalton-Smith said. ‘Whether that’s natural beauty, like the oceans and the mountains and the trees, or created beauty, like art, music, and dance.’

‘The way you can tell when you have a deficit in this particular area is when you have a hard time being innovative.’

‘When you have a hard time brainstorming, when problem-solving is difficult for you. Creativity is more than just art; it’s any type of innovation.’