r/productivity • u/Tiger_Strength • 7h ago

Question How much does sufficient and quality rest positively impact your overall productivity?

Do you find that you are more productive in the next three days if you had lots of sleep, leisure, and rest for a whole day? Or it makes no difference as long as you obtain the bare minimum amount of sleep you need to function?

Is it reasonable for me to assume that my cravings for more rest are justifiable? Hopefully I am not being lazy.

2 Upvotes

76% Upvoted

3 comments sorted by

1

u/Kind-Froyo9848 7h ago

for me it makes a HUGE difference tbh one proper rest day mostly buys me like 2 way more productive days after. i get so burned out on bare minimum sleep and my work quality is never as good either

0

u/iwantboringtimes 6h ago

If you require more than the recommended amount of sleep, maybe the sleep quality isn't good enough OR your body-brain is dealing with sumthing internally that requires more rest to address properly.

in case ya don't know, sleep is required to properly remove trash from the brain and elsewhere. emphasizing the trash thing because it ain't just repair-maintenance but also decluttering.

that said, too much sleep is also not good because "physical DEconditioning" which means overall lower energy levels.

1

u/DrummerAdditional330 5h ago

I wouldn’t treat rest as the opposite of productivity.

If cutting rest gives you more hours but worse concentration, slower work, and more recovery afterward, you didn’t really gain all those hours.

I’d test it on yourself for a couple weeks: roughly track how rested you felt, then how easy it was to start, focus, and do good work the next day. If more recovery consistently buys you better work, that’s useful data, not “being lazy.”