Finding a Working Balance

Rest Versus and Productivity:

It’s that time of year again: back to school, back to work, back to the busy season of fall. A friend recently teased me, “You really do work a lot for someone who talks about rest and balance.” True. And I don’t see that as a contradiction. Rest and productive work inform each other. When I recover well, I’m more present, clearer on my “why,” and I actually enjoy the work more.

We need both sides. Humans create things: children, ideas, art, science, and we also need recovery to sustain that creativity. The goal isn’t a lifetime hammock; it’s a workable balance you can repeat week after week.

A quick nervous-system primer

Your autonomic nervous system has two primary divisions that constantly coordinate: the sympathetic system (mobilizes energy for challenges, often called “fight or flight”) and the parasympathetic system (supports restoration, often called “rest and digest”). We use both every day. Sympathetic activation helps you spring away from a taxi in the crosswalk or finish that presentation; parasympathetic activity helps you downshift, digest, and sleep. They are complementary, not enemies. 

When stress is ongoing and the “fight or flight” response stays on too long, the body secretes stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol. In the short term, that’s adaptive; chronically, it’s linked to problems such as anxiety, insomnia, digestive complaints, and elevated cardiovascular risk. 

Digestive symptoms are a common example. The brain and gut are in constant conversation, and stress can amplify gut sensitivity and pain signaling (think IBS flares under pressure). Research links stress pathways and the brain–gut axis to symptom worsening for some people. Treatment that targets thoughts, behavior, and regulation can help. 

It’s also worth naming the other side of dysregulation. Some people don’t feel “wired”; they feel flattened. A widely discussed model in clinical work,  Polyvagal Theory, describes different parasympathetic pathways, including a shutdown-like state when the system perceives inescapable threat. Not everyone resonates with this model, but many clinicians and clients find the language useful for distinguishing calm connection from collapse.

What this means in real life

• If you lean toward constant mobilization, you might notice racing thoughts, muscle tension, shallow breathing, poor sleep, GI upset, and a tendency to overwork. That’s sympathetic overdrive without enough recovery. 

• If you lean toward shutdown, you might notice low mood, fatigue, “numb and checked out,” or trouble initiating tasks. That’s not “good rest”; it’s a system conserving energy because it doesn’t feel safe enough to mobilize.
  

Either way, the target is a flexible range: the ability to mobilize when needed and settle when it’s safe.

Simple practices to try this fall

These aren’t cures; they’re reps that build flexibility.

1. One deliberate downshift per work block (2–5 minutes).
   Stop, unhook your gaze from screens, and orient-look around the room, name five neutral things you see, let your exhale be longer than your inhale for a minute. This recruits parasympathetic tone and reduces unnecessary sympathetic load.
   

2. Protect sleep like a standing meeting.
   Consistent bed/wake times support the body’s ability to recover from daytime stress chemistry. Chronic stress and poor sleep reinforce each other; breaking that loop matters.
   

3. Move the body most days.
   Moderate movement helps metabolize stress and improves mood and sleep quality. It also supports gut motility for those with stress-sensitive digestion.

4. Right-size your workload.
   Batches of focused work punctuated by short breaks generally outperform trying to grind straight through. The point isn’t to avoid effort, it’s to cycle effort and recovery so you can sustain it.
   

A final note: Stress touches the immune system too, but the relationship is complex. Long-term stress can impair aspects of immune function and worsen some conditions; it isn’t accurate to say stress “causes” every disease. If you live with an autoimmune or inflammatory condition, discuss stress-management strategies with your medical team so you’re addressing both the physiology and the lived experience.

As we head into the busy season, consider experimenting with one small habit in each direction: one way you’ll mobilize on purpose (a focused work sprint, a brisk walk), and one way you’ll recover on purpose (a 5-minute orienting break, a stricter bedtime). Over time, that’s how balance becomes a practice, not a slogan.