Get on the train, look at your phone.
Open social media even during a few seconds at a red light.
News and videos on your break at work.
After getting home, more TV and phone, checking messages right up until you fall asleep.
When you think about it, there is very little “time to do nothing” left in our days.
The moment you have a spare minute, you reach for your phone without thinking.
Many people can probably relate.
Even when your body is resting in a chair, new information keeps flowing into your brain.
So what does it really mean to give your mind a rest?
Your Phone on a Break: Is Your Brain Resting, Too?
After an hour of work, you spend ten minutes on your phone.
Because your body is not working, you may feel that you have taken a break.
But from the brain’s point of view,
reading text,
watching images,
hearing sounds,
understanding content,
choosing what interests you,
and switching attention to the next post
all mean that information processing is still going on.
In other words, resting your body is not the same as reducing the information coming in from outside.
Of course, it is not as simple as saying that looking at your phone on a break is bad for your brain.
A favorite video or song can be a welcome change of mood.
But if you take in new information every time you rest, you also have the option of sometimes making a break with no information coming in.
Even When You Zone Out, Your Brain Is at Work
So if you put down your phone and simply zone out, does your brain switch off?
Actually, it does not.
Scientists know of a network of brain regions called the default mode network (DMN), which shows characteristic activity when we are not focused on any specific external task.
The DMN is also involved in
recalling past events,
imagining the future,
thinking about ourselves,
imagining how others feel,
and other kinds of inward thinking.
So the idea that
“zoning out = your brain doing nothing”
is not quite right.
Even when we turn our attention away from the outside world, a variety of activity continues in the brain.
You Don’t Have to Aim to Rest Your Brain Completely
Hearing the phrase “rest your brain,” you might think
you have to reach a state where you think about nothing at all.
But there is no need for that.
The moment you try hard not to think, that effort itself becomes a conscious activity.
What matters is not shutting your brain down completely, but stepping away, just for a while, from constantly receiving information from outside.
Computers at work.
Smartphones on the go.
Ads and noise around town.
TV and videos once you get home.
In modern life, a huge amount of stimulation comes in even when we are not aware of it.
That is why, every so often, making time for
“not searching for the next piece of information”
is meaningful in itself.
Making Time to Do Nothing, on Purpose
You don’t need to do anything difficult.
Put your phone on the desk and look out the window for just five minutes.
Drink a cup of coffee without looking at anything.
Take a short walk.
Keep your phone closed on the train.
Close your eyes and breathe slowly.
Even that much makes for a different kind of time than usual.
The key is not to push yourself too hard with thoughts like
“I have to rest” or
“I mustn’t think about anything.”
Go easy on yourself.
Thoughts may come up, and that is fine.
Simply step back a little from taking in one new stimulus after another.
These days, we may need to set aside time on purpose not only for doing things, but also for doing nothing.
Put “Time When You Don’t Have to Do Anything” on Your Schedule
We are used to filling our schedules.
Work.
Business dinners.
Hair appointments.
Shopping.
Workouts.
Some of us pack our days off with plans too, and feel restless when there is nothing scheduled.
But precisely because we take in so much information, think and make decisions every day, one idea is to deliberately schedule time when you don’t have to do anything.
At La HEAD, in a calm, fully private room, you close your eyes while we slowly care for not only your head but also your neck, shoulders and arms.
There is no need to use your phone.
No need to reply to work messages.
No need to think about what to do next.
Just close your eyes and leave yourself in caring hands.
What we value is not only the treatment itself, but also this time when you don’t have to do anything yourself.
Instead of adding one more thing to your daily schedule,
try booking a plan to do nothing at all.
In a world surrounded by information, time like this may become a truly comfortable kind of rest.
We look forward to welcoming you.