A reminder for your week: If you wait until you’re burnt out to rest, you’ve waited too long.

I know that our “rest when you’re dead” culture may have taught you otherwise, consistently makes you feel like you’re not doing enough, and tells you that you’re a failure if you aren’t productive 24/7.

But I’m calling bull and reminding you that your worth is not tied to your productivity.

Fun fact: Research has found that rest not only makes you feel better, but it helps you perform better. Your concentration, creativity, efficiency and task endurance are all correlated with your brain’s ability to recharge.

That’s why I challenge my clients (and you) to take as many 5-minute movement or breathing breaks throughout the day as possible to help the brain and body reset (especially when we’ve been stressed out and staring at a computer all day). I know that can be really difficult to do when you have emails and assignments piling up, but what if I told you that taking time away from the screen will actually help you get your work done faster?

Just think of all the times you’ve spent hours staring at the screen, unable to concentrate and barely getting anything done. You feel too guilty to leave your desk, so you sit there stressing about the amount of work that isn’t getting done and the amount of work you have to do later, instead of actually doing it. Eventually, you decide to check your phone to catch up on texts and Instagram DMs because it feels more “productive” than actually doing nothing for a few minutes.

Sound familiar?

I know it’s easier to “take a break” by checking Instagram while you grab more coffee, but did you know that movement and breath-work can help you feel more awake, energized and able to process information than reaching for that third cup of coffee?

Research also shows that “resting” while scrolling social media, stressing about the work that you’re not doing, or watching the news also doesn’t count as rest.

Why? Because your brain is still working hard to process all this information and you’re most likely still having mental and physiological reactions to the information you’re processing.

Think of your brain like your phone with a million browser windows running in the background. The phone still works, but it might be a little slower, feel like it’s overheating, or lose battery life quickly. That’s because it has to work even harder at the task you want it to do, while also remembering those questions you were googling and shoes you were searching for at 4AM when you couldn’t sleep.

Similarly, your brain needs a way to quickly clear browser windows, reset and recharge in the middle of the day, not just when you go to sleep.

The longer you go without charging your phone, the lower the battery life drops, and the longer it takes to recharge. The same is true for our physical and mental health. It’s much easier and better for our health to treat rest as burnout prevention and not just burnout recovery.

My challenge to you today is this: take as many 5-minute movement breaks as you can, pick a time to unplug and really, truly, unapologetically unplug and rest.

You deserve it.