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By Dr. Jeanne King, Ph.D.
Why is wakeful rest more restorative than ordinary unconscious rest of a traditional nap? The answer to this question could change your life if you put into practice its message. |
You know how sometimes a daytime nap leaves you feeling like a slug upon awakening, whereas other wakeful rest enlivens you upon your return to ordinary activity. You may have had this experience.
Brain Wave Patterns and Corresponding Mental States
When the mind and body are at rest, all physiological processes slow down and restoration becomes the order of business. Looking at brain wave activity of the wakeful, resting and sleeping person, we see four distinct brain waves: beta, alpha, theta and delta, each corresponding to a specific mental state.
The brain wave patterns associated with ordinary activity are beta and alpha states, alpha and theta with wakeful rest, and delta with deep sleep. Each brain wave pattern corresponds to a specific state of mental functioning.
For the sake of simplicity (as I don’t want to lose you in the academic detail), be mindful that the greatest stress release, purification, restoration and healing occur during wakeful rest, not during deep sleep. Though it is true that deep sleep is essential to psychological health, the body’s greatest self-repair occurs during alpha-theta states. Here's why.
Healing at Its Best in Wakeful Rest
As mind and body are at rest, the system naturally engages in a purification process, which inherently is a state of activity, not inactivity. By activity, I don’t mean ordinary daily activity, I mean the miniscule, though magnificent activity of stress release. We know this through the decades of research on the psychophysiology of meditation.
Suffice it to say, when you spend twenty to thirty minutes once or twice during the day in wakeful rest, you engage in a restoration more profound than the inactivity of deep sleep. And for domestic violence survivors, the more stress release the better so as to off set the ongoing heighten level of arousal that colors your day.
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©Copyright 2008 Dr. Jeanne King, Ph.D. www.PreventAbusiveRelationships.com
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