Do You Need to Be Bored to Rest?

Do music, podcasts or a chat with a friend count as rest? A listener asked us whether screen-free things that still stimulate the brain count as recovery, or whether you need to fully get bored to rest properly.

Rebecca's short answer: yes, you need time away from screens, and time in nature is one of the best ways to restore attention. Then the science of boredom. When you're bored, your brain switches on the default mode network, the part that drifts back over yesterday ("maybe I should have said this") and helps you do better next time. David splits relaxing from resting, and lands on: do you need to be bored to rest? Yes. But rest isn't always the end goal. Connection and music matter too.

Then it gets personal. David's teenagers have music in their ears all day, and he's the one who handed them the tablet. Is it too late? Rebecca says never: try a five-minute boredom timer, or a walk with your headphones in and nothing playing. Plus an afternoon of touching grass with the kids, and why modelling beats telling, at home and at work.

The research: the default mode network (Raichle et al. 2001) https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.98.2.676 and nature restoring attention (Berman et al. 2008) https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02225.x

Last week's episode on focus: https://wellnessfornerds.com/episodes/e13-cant-focus-meditation-isnt-the-only-answer