A Neuroscientist Explains How to Spend Your Rest Days — Triathlete

We often think of rest days in terms of what not to do: no intervals, no hard rides, no intense swim workouts. But what if we peppered our day off with things we should do? What if we were intentional about how we rest?

The concept of optimizing rest days might sound like overkill, but it’s important, considering not all rest is created equal. From a neuroscience perspective, recovery isn’t simply the absence of training; it’s an active biological process.

Rest days, when done properly, create space for the nervous system to carry out critical functions. This includes activating the parasympathetic nervous system and supporting the body’s ability to adapt to training, which promotes long-term growth. Rest also helps the nervous system use motor neurons to recruit muscle fibers, which is necessary for strength, power, and endurance.

Five low-key but productive things to do on your days off from training

1. Journal

You may already keep a training log of your workouts, but putting pen to paper on your rest day should look a little different. Journaling while recovering is an opportunity to reflect on the more qualitative (versus quantitative/metrics) aspects of training. Perhaps ask yourself a few questions:

• What felt easy this week?
• Where did I override signals from my body?
• What are some repetitive thoughts I’ve been having, and are they yielding anything of value?

You can also freeform a bit. Try setting your timer for 5-10 minutes and simply write non-stop. Consider this a brain dump to spell out everything that’s currently occupying mental real estate.

If you’re feeling strong emotions about a specific training day or your progress in general, journaling can reduce activity of the brain’s amygdala, a region that drives emotional responses. Journaling can also enhance learning and improve focus, which can ultimately benefit performance.

Forget that you’re an athlete

Aside from the 10 minutes or so you spend journaling, use the rest of the day to temporarily drop the athlete identity. For the entire day, do not mention training, racing, or goals – out loud or in your own head.

No, this will not be easy; yes, it will benefit you. How? Research shows that athletes who can psychologically step away from their athletic identity (mental detachment, as it’s called in psychology) tend to recover better and maintain more robust mental well-being.

Do something you’re bad at (on purpose)

Spend some time engaging in an activity where your skills scream “novice!” Pick up a paintbrush, use a language app, hula hoop, sing, or take an improv class.

Choose an activity where the consequences of failure are negligible. When you struggle, but the stakes are low, your brain’s threat response isn’t triggered. This is a safe way to promote neuroplasticity and cognitive flexibility, pulling the brain out of autopilot or efficiency mode and into learning mode.

Doing something you’re bad at is an excellent way to reinforce adaptability, which elite performance depends on.

Practice progressive muscle relaxation

Progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) uses breathing, mental imagery, and muscular energy to systematically relax the body and help the nervous system shift out of sympathetic dominance and into parasympathetic activation.

To practice, lie on your back with your legs slightly separated and your arms slightly away from your body, with your palms up. Beginning with your left foot, inhale and tense it for 5 seconds, then exhale and relax it for 5-10 seconds. Notice how your foot feels, then move to your right foot. Repeat this with each major muscle group, alternating left and right, while moving up your body.

Contrasting tension with relaxation can help you access deeper levels of calmness. If you practice it before bed, it can set you up for a solid night’s sleep.

Try cyclic sighing before bed

From a neuroscience standpoint, one major goal of rest days is to shift activation from the sympathetic to the parasympathetic nervous system. Cyclic sighing is an effective breathing technique for accomplishing that.

When you get into bed in the evening, practice breathing through your nose, if possible, in the following pattern: Take a normal inhale, followed by a shorter inhale, then breathe out in an extended exhale. Repeat this for 5 minutes.

Like many other breathing practices, cyclic sighing reduces anxiety. However, when practiced routinely, it has the added benefit of enhancing positive affect, which is a state of enthusiasm, engagement, and pleasurable emotions — certainly all qualities that can benefit our performance and wellbeing.

Rest days don’t need to be passive to be restorative. When we rest with purpose, we give the nervous system the conditions it needs to integrate training, regulate stress, and adapt more effectively. In triathlon, rest is a critical part of the training process that determines how much of our work actually translates into performance. So the next time you take a day off, treat it like part of the plan, rather than a break from it.