Regular visitors to the EP website may remember a post from Autumn 2015 about Hubbub and Radio 4‘s The Rest Test, the world’s largest survey into subjective experiences of rest. The aim of the test was to investigate how different people understand and seek to rest and whether rest can be linked to well-being. A year on and with the input of more than 18,000 people from 134 countries, the results have just been published.
Summary of the Main Findings
68% of the individuals who participated in the survey would like more rest. A third said they feel they need more rest than the average person, and 10% believe they need less rest than the average person.
A question asking how much rest a participant had taken over the previous day resulted in an average of three hours and six minutes.
Participants who had experienced less rest than most the previous day, or who believed they need more rest than the average individual, scored lower overall on a well-being scale. In a marked difference, people who felt they had sufficient rest scored twice as high on well-being scales than those who felt themselves in need of more rest. This finding supports the idea that an individual’s subjective perception about whether they feel rested enough is as important as obtaining a specific amount of rest.
Participants with the highest well-being scores had rested on average for between five and six hours the previous day. Those who’d rested for longer began to experience a slight dip in their well-being score.
Top 10 Most Restful Activities
- #1 Reading
58% of people found reading restful. The Rest Test included a scale to measure whether people felt they were flourishing, and participants who scored high on this scale were particularly likely to choose reading as a restful activity.
- #2 Being in the natural environment
Women were slightly more likely to select this activity than men, and it scored lower in the rankings in Northern Ireland than in other regions across the UK.
- #3 Being on your own
This was most frequently chosen by women and individuals under the age of 30. A significant number of the top ten restful activities chosen by participants are often carried out alone. It’s interesting to note that social activities including seeing friends and family, or drinking socially, placed lower in the rankings. It’s also not just introverts who rate being alone as a restful activity. Extroverts also value time spent alone, and voted this pastime as more restful than being in the company of other people.
- #4 Listening to music
This was more popular among younger people than older people, and was selected by more men than women participating in the survey.
- #5 Doing nothing in particular
This was a popular choice for every age bracket participating in the survey, with the exception of 31-45 year-olds. Doing nothing in particular is not a source of rest for everyone however, and some 9% of participants observed that taking rest can lead to them feeling guilty or stressed.
- #6 Walking
This is an example of how physical activity features on the list of restful activities. Alongside walking, running was selected by 8% of survey participants as a source of rest, and exercise was found to be restful by 16% of people overall.
- #7 Having a bath or showering
This was much more popular among younger participants in the survey, with nearly twice as many 18-30 year-olds selecting this option than those aged over 60.
- #8 Daydreaming
Daydreaming, or mind-wandering, features heavily in Hubbub’s research into rest, and its appearance in the top 10 list of restful activities gives us lots to think about.
- #9 Watching TV
This was popular amongst more younger people than older people, and was chosen by more women than men participating in the survey. It’s interesting to note that watching TV was less popular than reading in every age group taking part in the survey.
- #10 Meditating or practising mindfulness
The appearance of meditation and mindfulness on the list is noteworthy given the increase in wider popularity of these practices in recent years.
PILATES x MELISSA 