When 8 Hours of Sleep Isn’t Possible: How to Use the 7 Types of Rest to Recharge
Why ‘Just Get More Sleep’ Doesn’t Work for Everyone - And What to Do When Sleep Isn’t an Option
“Just get more sleep.”
If you’ve heard that advice while recovering from childbirth, managing chronic pain, working night shifts, dealing with trauma, or juggling the mental load of caregiving — you know it’s rarely that simple.
Sleep is important, yes.
But sleep is not the only kind of rest we need.
And for many people, more sleep just isn’t available.
The Bigger Picture of Rest
Rest is not a single destination — it’s a landscape with many pathways. And the sooner we stop reducing it to “just sleep more,” the sooner we can begin actually restoring ourselves.
Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith identified seven types of rest — each one crucial to our health and functioning, especially when life gets complicated. And they’re more accessible than you think.
This matters whether you're a new parent, a night-shift nurse, someone managing chronic fatigue, or a person recovering from pelvic surgery or navigating pelvic floor dysfunction.
Let’s dive in.
The 7 Types of Rest — OT Edition
Spoiler alert: You don’t need a week off or a silent retreat to feel better. Just a few minutes of the right kind of rest, at the right time, can start to shift things.
1. Physical Rest
This includes:
Passive rest: sleep, naps, lying down
Active rest: gentle movement, stretching, walking at a relaxed pace
OT Insight: This isn’t about "doing nothing" — it’s about changing the demand on your body. Even short, intentional rest breaks create a ripple effect in your nervous system.
OT Tip: Lay on your back with your legs elevated for 3–5 minutes. This shifts blood flow, reduces swelling, and supports your parasympathetic nervous system (aka: your "rest and digest" mode). Especially helpful after long days on your feet or post-surgical recovery.
2. Mental Rest
You know that feeling when your brain just won’t shut off? Constant decision-making, planning, problem-solving — it’s exhausting. That’s where mental rest comes in.
OT Insight: Think of mental rest like giving your brain a coffee break — but without the coffee.
OT Tip:
Do a quick “brain dump” before bed or between meetings. Get your thoughts out of your head and onto paper.
Build in micro-pauses: when you get home, sit in your car for five quiet minutes before heading inside. Let your nervous system downshift before the next role begins.
3. Sensory Rest
Our senses are constantly bombarded — lights, screens, noises, smells. Most people are in a near-constant state of low-level sensory overload.
OT Insight: Your body can’t relax if your sensory system is constantly on high alert.
OT Tip:
Dim the lights.
Close your eyes for a few minutes.
Silence your phone (or better yet, leave it in another room).
Don’t take your phone to the bathroom. (Seriously — give your senses a break.)
4. Creative Rest
Creative rest is not about producing art — it’s about taking in beauty, novelty, and inspiration. It's a reset button for your problem-solving brain.
OT Insight: Creative rest restores the parts of you that get numbed by routine and overwhelmed by productivity culture.
OT Tip:
Doodle or sketch — even if it’s nonsense.
Walk through a garden and notice the colors.
Listen to music that moves you.
Keep a collection of quotes or images that spark something in you.
5. Emotional Rest
This is the rest that comes from not performing. Not pretending. Not editing yourself for the comfort of others.
OT Insight: Suppressing your emotional reality takes effort — and that effort drains energy.
OT Tip:
Text a safe friend: “I’m not okay today, just needed to say it.”
Say no without a five-paragraph explanation.
Cry when you need to. Rage safely if it helps.
Journal honestly. Or just sit in silence and let yourself feel.
6. Social Rest
Not all social interaction is restorative. Social rest is about being with people who don’t require effort to be around — and creating space from those who do.
OT Insight: Even extroverts need social rest. It’s about quality, not quantity of connection.
OT Tip:
Send a quick voice note instead of scheduling a full call.
Listen to a voice memo from someone you love.
Choose low-demand social settings where you can simply exist — think: co-working quietly, or a walk with a friend where silence is welcome.
7. Spiritual Rest
This is about connection to something bigger than yourself — whether that’s nature, faith, values, community, or purpose.
OT Insight: When life feels mechanical, this type of rest helps you reconnect to meaning.
OT Tip:
Recite a short prayer or poem before meetings or transitions.
Walk in nature and focus on your breath.
Read something that stirs your soul.
Engage with your community or a cause that matters to you.
How OT Makes This Real (This Is Where the Magic Happens)
Advice is cheap. Change is hard. Telling someone to “rest more” doesn’t help unless they have the tools, support, and environment to actually do it.
This is where occupational therapy (OT) truly shines.
OT is all about helping people do the things that matter to them — and rest is a foundational occupation. We don’t just talk about rest; we help people access it in their real, messy, complex lives.
Here’s how:
We make rest functional.
You won’t get a list of “shoulds.” You’ll get strategies that fit your life as it is now. Small changes. Big impact.
We reduce barriers.
Whether it’s pain, mobility, overwhelm, or environmental triggers — we help identify and address what’s standing between you and true rest.
We build rest into routines.
Boy is this a biggie, that so many other clinicians, providers, wellness folks miss. Routines are the building blocks of your day. And we don’t mean a timed, rigid schedule. We mean the to-dos and the meaningful activities in your daily life. We would routines and rest into routines not just when you crash — but proactively, so rest becomes a built-in support rather than a last resort.
We work with your body.
Your nervous system, your pain patterns, your energy rhythms — all of it matters. OT connects the physical, mental, and emotional dots.
We help you feel like yourself again.
Not just more productive. Not just more regulated. But more like you.
Rest + Pelvic Health: The Overlooked Connection
Let’s zoom in.
Pelvic health is deeply impacted by your ability to rest — and vice versa.
Chronic pelvic tension, bladder urgency, pain with intercourse, constipation, core weakness — all of these can be aggravated by nervous system overload and a lack of restorative practices.
Pelvic floor dysfunction is not just about the muscles.
It’s about how your whole body — and life — is functioning.
Occupational therapists in pelvic health understand that rest isn't a luxury. It’s a clinical intervention. Rest can downregulate the nervous system, improve blood flow, reduce muscle tension, and create the internal safety required for healing.
When your body is in survival mode, pelvic healing is harder. When rest is accessible — even in micro-doses — your body begins to shift out of protection and into repair.
In pelvic health OT, rest isn’t an afterthought. It’s part of your treatment.
We help you:
Create body positions that reduce pressure and pain
Build mini-restorative rituals into caregiving or work
Use sensory and mental rest tools to support bladder retraining
Restore connection to your core and pelvic floor without overloading the system
Reclaim time, space, and energy — even in a demanding life
Final Word:
Rest isn’t a reward. It’s a right. And it’s far more layered than just sleep.
By understanding and accessing the seven types of rest, you can begin to fill your cup — without needing to disappear from your life.
OT helps make this possible. Pelvic health OT makes it personal.
Because when your core — literal and emotional — is supported, everything else becomes more manageable.
So next time someone tells you to “just sleep more,” you’ll know: You don’t need more hours in bed — you need more kinds of restoration.
And that’s something we can build together.
