Every now and then, I notice I start to feel a little slower, a lot more tired and a tad lazier than I'm used to feeling. For some, this feeling occurs around 3 pm every day when they hit their midday slump and slowly make their way to refill their caffeine weapon of choice.

As a common trend, Americans especially pride themselves in being busy, staying busy and camping out in the office all hours of the day to either get work done, prove their devotion to a higher up or distract themselves from other areas of life.

It's no secret that in 2018, we are constantly surrounded by stimulus at all hours of the day. I cringe to know how many times throughout the day we absentmindedly pick up our phones to check for email, scroll through a notification or even mindlessly unlock our phones just to lock them back a few seconds later without doing anything in between.

The other day as I was sitting in my seat getting ready for my flight to land, I noticed the man in front of me speedily flipping back and forth back and forth through the pages on his smartphone home screen as if there was a race to see how many times he could do this in one minute. Feeling completely confused, I was wondering if he felt anxious that he couldn't access the internet since we were still airborne or if this was a form of entertainment for him.

Either way, I came away from this situation thinking how programmed we are to want and need some form of stimulus (mostly in the form of electronics/technology) at all times of the day.

In a word, this stimulus is addictive.

Evolutionarily speaking, technology's gamma rays and blue light are all still very new to our eyes and brains and since all of this is a product of manmade devices, our bodies are working overtime to register the input that it's receiving.

After sitting and staring at a screen, our eyes feel weak and maybe even blurry, our necks hurt from slumping, our hands and forearms may feel the strain from typing and our tailbones even feel sore from sitting.

I'm saying all of this to say that at some point, all of this catches up to us. Whether that point is a daily occurrence as mentioned earlier or a bi-monthly occurrence where weeks of buildup take us down all at once.

The antidote to the majority of these symptoms is rest. Luckily, rest comes in many forms.

Whether you're the type of person who doesn't enjoy sitting still or the type of person who can happily lounge all day every day, it's important to pick your form of downtime.

There are nature walks, there's meditation, art, dance, low-impact exercise, stretching, reading, napping, breath work, journaling, you name it! The ways to disconnect from technology and work are endless but none of us spend enough time thinking about this because we often feel that it's not conducive to our productivity.

If you need validation for your downtime then let this be it: rest has been proven to replenish your brain's ability to be productive and creative.

In fact, a wandering mind isn't always a bad thing either. When our minds wander it allows us to register events from the past and plan for the future while we unknowingly connect dots, draw conclusions and process information that will likely help us in upcoming moments or situations.

Essentially, rest and relaxation is a necessity. If you think you don't have time for it, make time for it. The majority of us somehow make time to scroll on social media or go through reading and deleting nonsense emails even though it may be unnecessary. Perhaps exchange one of those acts for an act of intentional meditation or rest.

In terms of meditation, I feel it's a word that often gets tossed around a lot while many of us are under the impression that we have to study meditation or learn about it in order to practice it. However, meditation comes in all shapes, sizes, forms and ways.

Try sitting in your car in silence and breathing for 30 seconds before turning it on to drive to work; even the busiest person alive has time for that. Try becoming aware of the sensation of your feet in your shoes or the noises that surround you while waiting for your train or subway to arrive. Or if you feel so inclined, try setting aside five minutes each day (maybe building up to 20 minutes) where you sit in a comfortable seat and play some soft music and just watch your mind as it drifts through thoughts and releases any built up tension.

After reading this, pick a point away from your screen to focus on while you breathe in for a count of five and exhale for a count of five and try doing that three times in a row and see how you begin to feel your blood pressure lessen and your tension dissolve.

Rest is best. When we don't rest, we can't operate at our best, so give yourself a test and try your best to rest.