
Spending time alone is the best way to get real rest–even for extroverts - submeta
https://qz.com/794329/spending-time-alone-is-the-best-way-to-get-real-rest-even-for-extroverts
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paperpunk
All this survey reports are the things people consider to be restful. To that
end it doesn't seem more valuable for your personal use than just asking
yourself what you find most restful and doing that.

It's not actually a study that demonstrates a connection between what things
people conventionally think of as restful – such as being in the natural
environment, or reading a book – and whether there is any evidence this is
more effectively restful than, say, getting coffee with a friend.

Do these people work more effectively? Sleep more soundly? Do their brain
exhibit neurological features of restfulness? Do they get fewer illnesses? No
data.

If we actually consult the research [1] we can see this was never the aims of
the survey:

"The Rest Test sought to explore people’s _subjective experiences_ of rest"
(emphasis added)

What they do measure is whether people consider their 'subjective wellbeing'
improved with rest. But what other people think makes them feel better may not
be what actually makes you feel better.

So: interesting anthropologically, but not at all what the title suggests.

[1]: [http://hubbubresearch.org/rest-test-
results/](http://hubbubresearch.org/rest-test-results/)

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jph
Try reading outdoors, ideally in a park or the forest, with a book of
something non-work and non-linear such as poetry, listening to abstract music
without lyrics such as Brian Eno.

30 minutes of this enables me to then code extremely effectively for hours.

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sdeep27
These conclusions were gathered from a self-reported study of what people
think are 'restful activities'. I would hardly consider the title an accurate
conclusion to make. It is entirely possible that extroverts (or anyone in the
survey, for that matter) picked activities that are seen as peaceful or
calming by society as a whole.

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elmerland
Note sure how reliable/accurate the conclusions in the article are. At the
very least the introverts among us can use this bit of (confirmation bias)
information to convince ourselves that "we were right all along" and
extroverts should be more like us.

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laughfactory
Uh, that's kind of the point here: basically they find that so called
introverts and extroverts have the same desire for solitary restful
activities. Other research has found that there's no basis to the idea that
introverts recharge when they're alone and extroverts recharge around people.
Indeed, the label tells us more about how comfortable people feel around other
people than anything about their needs.

