How to recover from a rough week in two days? Doctor’s advice

Weekdays almost always end with stress, fatigue and lack of energy, which must be replenished at the weekend. Most workers have only two days to fully recover. Even for such a short time you can have time to benefit the body to start a new week with a reserve of strength and energy. We talked to sports doctor Ibraim Tšibitšev and found out why it is so important to allow yourself to rest and how to spend it better.

You can’t do without rest

Many people think that a heavy workload at work is an indicator of high productivity. In fact, it is a guarantee that soon you will not cope with a large influx of tasks neither mentally nor physically. Yes, at first you will still radiate enthusiasm, but then you will feel that without a chance for respite, your condition deteriorates. The reason for this is the internal and far from happy changes in the body.

Ibrahim: Rest is a set of passive and active measures to restore the body after exertion. It includes sleep – the most important part, nutrition, exercise and physical procedures: massage, thermo-contrast treatments, walks, meditation and so on. If the rest phase is disturbed, there is a failure of physiological processes. For example, early aging of the body, growth of tumor cells, disruption of all body systems, a drop in immunity and psycho-emotional diseases.

This is why recovery is so important. And the first thing you can do for your own good is to promise not to think about work on the weekend. After all, psychological rest is just as necessary as physical rest.

Is it realistic to get enough sleep during the week?

Unfortunately, you will not be able to make up for lost time. On weekends it is recommended to sleep as much as you need, not as much as you like. In addition, regular excessive sleep is fraught with headaches, lethargy and even the risk of serious diseases: depression, diabetes, coronary heart disease and obesity. Therefore, during rest, it is worthwhile to follow the regime and put aside gadgets that disrupt it.

Ibrahim: Sleep should last at least six hours, preferably eight. There is no point in sleeping in on the weekend, trying to compensate for lack of sleep. Instead, you can sleep 1-2 hours in the daytime, then the body recovers better. The best option is to create a life regimen. It is necessary to accustom the body to discipline: an hour before bedtime to put aside gadgets, for three to arrange the last meal, take a shower. You do not need to sleep for 12 hours and wake up with a phone in your hands.

What weekend rituals will help you recover faster?

Alas, lying on the bed for a whole day is not on the list. On the contrary, to get more quality rest, you need to make the day moderately active. This does not mean that you necessarily need to turn on productivity to the max and redo all the chores around the house. It is desirable to simply relax with benefit: read a book, tidy up one place in the house, watch a movie or series, go for a walk.

In addition, you should not forget about a healthy lifestyle on a regular basis. Many workaholics can afford extra on the weekend, as if in gratitude for the work done. But indulgences in the form of alcohol, fast food and other bad habits will lead to the fact that you will feel worse literally the next day. It is better to replace such “joys” with healthy rituals.

Ibrahim: The best help for the body is discipline and a healthy lifestyle. It includes a balanced and fractional diet, regular physical exercises of a restorative nature, contrast showers, walks in the woods or in the park, cycling, meditation, reading books, visiting the bath and massage procedures, normalizing sleep and taking multivitamin complexes on a regular basis. And, of course, a timely healthy vacation!

Can sports contribute to a full-fledged vacation?

We paid special attention to this question in our conversation with our expert. After all, on the one hand, sports are good for health, which means that they have a positive effect on the body. But on the other hand, any physical activity requires effort and ends with a pleasant fatigue. So what about working out on the weekends?

Ibrahim: The concept of sport is very stretchy nowadays, as beginners prepare for marathons, which takes time, effort and discipline. Everything has to be in moderation. If practicing sports for competitive purposes is not to the detriment of the rules of recovery, it is only welcome. If a person sleeps for 5 hours and regularly runs to improve performance, but not for himself and health, it is likely to lead to injuries and overload the body. In metropolitan conditions, it is difficult to keep to the regime, but one should strive to do so.

The most correct training is the OFP training. It strengthens the body in a balanced way, gives a charge of energy for the day and is the prevention of most diseases. It should be given special attention and performed regularly. In the mode of training “for health”, not “for competition”, such training must be performed every day, without days off. It is as important as brushing your teeth!