“In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, O Lord, will keep me safe.”1 “It is useless to work so hard, anxiously working for food to eat. For God gives rest to his loved ones.”2 “I lay down and slept, yet I woke up in safety, for the Lord was watching over me.”3“He let me rest in green meadows; he leads me beside peaceful streams. He renews my strength. He guides me along the right paths, bringing honor to his name.”4 “You can go to bed without fear; you will lie down and sleep soundly.”5“The Lord God placed the man in the garden of Eden to tend and watch over it.”6“So the creation of the heavens and the earth, everything in them, was completed. On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work.”7
From the verses above, sleep and rest are seen from the Bible’s perspective. At first, when God created humanity, Adam, God placed him in the Garden of Eden to dress it and keep it: in fact, to work. God expected Adam to temporarily break in his activity, relax, refresh, and be energized: indeed, to rest. For God gives rest to his loved ones.” God knows by experience the importance of rest. On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work.” In this sense, rest is the deliberate, temporary suspension of active involvement in work to restore physical, mental, emotional, and social well-being. Your rest will be a period of relaxation and a state of mental and emotional calmness and safety.
In addition to rest, God expected Adam to sleep. Sleep is the natural state of rest characterized by reduced consciousness and sensory activity. Jesus Christ, the “visible image of the invisible God,” slept to maintain His physical health and optimize His performance. Before daybreak the next morning, Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray.8 Many people find it difficult to fall asleep, stay asleep, and wake up feeling refreshed. But God says that when you experience a “New Nature Created to be Like God” (born again), your sleep will be peaceful, calm, sound, and free of anxiety because He watches over you as you sleep. You will get enough good-quality sleep regularly.
Healthy sleep and rest are components of a healthy lifestyle. We define a healthy lifestyle as a way of living that individuals intentionally adopt, maintain, and practice daily to prevent and control disease, improve their physical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual well-being, and enhance their quality of life.
One of the most important steps you can take toward a healthy lifestyle is to get enough sleep and rest. Adopting, maintaining, and continually making healthy choices for a healthy lifestyle requires behavioral change. According to the Institute of Medicine (IOM,2001), “Behavior can be changed, and those changes can influence health. However, “Initiating and maintaining behavior change is complex and difficult” (Pellmar, Brandt, and Baird, 2002). According to DiClemente et al (2019), “Before behaviors can change, the determinant(s) of behavior, the nature of the behavior, and motivation for the behavior must be understood.” There are several behaviors change theories and models that can be applied at multiple levels of influence on human behavior, using a socioecological approach: which states that “human behavior shapes and is shaped by multiple levels of influences.” Such levels of influence include intrapersonal (individual), interpersonal (family, friends, peer groups), organizational, community, and public policy.
WLT provides the fundamental truth, rooted in God’s word, for behavior change that promises benefits in this life and in the life to come. This truth brings profound change to individuals’ hearts and minds, transforming their character, behavior, attitudes, beliefs, and knowledge, enabling them to easily adopt, maintain, and continually make healthy daily choices. When individuals adopt a healthy lifestyle, they serve as a model for other family members, including children, and for the broader community. Many diseases, injuries, disabilities, and premature deaths from heart diseases, strokes, cancers, and diabetes can be prevented or reduced with behavior change.
WLT uses evidence-based information and interventions from CDC.gov/sleep, peer review through systematic review, Guide to community service, and Truth from the Holy Bible to help you acquire the knowledge, attitudes, skills, and beliefs you need to adopt, sustain, and continually practice daily healthy choices to prevent and control disease, improve yourphysical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual well-being, and enhance your quality of life.
“Sleep is a biological necessity for physical, mental, and emotional health.”Sleep is the natural state of rest characterized by reduced consciousness and sensory activity. During sleep, you “close your eyes, your body is inactive, and your mind does not think.”According to Rutknosha, M., Bienko, M., et al. (2024), “Sleep plays a critical role in maintaining both physical and mental health, as well as optimizing performance. The Non-Rapid Eye Movement (NREM) sleep stage, known as the foundation of restoration, is essential for physical and intellectual performance, supporting processes such as cellular repair, immune function, and homeostasis. The Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep stage, characterized by vivid dreaming, is vital for cognitive processes, emotional regulation, and memory consolidation.
Getting enough high-quality, regular sleep is healthy and part of a healthy lifestyle. Studies show that getting enough, high-quality, and regular sleep is essential for physical health, mental well-being, and longevity. Research consistently shows that sleep is a modifiable risk factor: improving sleep benefits human health. On the other hand, insufficient and excessive sleep are associated with health risks. We begin with the benefits of healthy sleep to stir up your desire to deliberately adopt, sustain, and continually make healthy choices for healthy sleep.
Getting enough sleep can help you:
(cdc.gov/sleep)
These benefits are optimized only when you sleep enough hours, deep enough, and at consistent times.
Sleep Duration (sleep enough hours) is the total time between sleep onset and offset. The recommended sleep duration for adults aged 18 to 60 is 7 or more hours per night; for adults aged 61 to 64, it is 7-9 hours, and 7-8 hours for adults aged 65 and older. (cdc.gov/sleep)
Short sleep duration(insufficient sleep duration, sleep deprivation risks) is less than 6 hours per night. A study conducted by Itani O, Jike M, et al. (2017) shows that short sleep duration is “associated with a significant increase in mortality, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease, and obesity.”
Long sleep duration (excessive sleep, oversleeping risks) is sleeping more than 9 hours per night. A research study by Jike M, Itani O, et al. (2018) shows that Long sleep duration is“associated with a significant increase in risk for mortality and incident diabetes, cardiovascular disease, stroke, coronary heart disease, and obesity.
Sleep Quality (sleep deeply enough, how well you sleep) means “Getting uninterrupted and refreshing sleep.” It is about feeling well-rested, how well you sleep, not how many hours you sleep. Signs of poor sleep quality include:
(cdc.gov/sleep)
A healthy sleep lifestyle can help you get a good night’s sleep. A healthy sleep lifestyle that can improve your sleep includes:
(cdc.gov/sleep)
The Oxford English Dictionary (2021) defines rest as a state of inactivity or repose; ceasing work or movement to relax or recover; a period of relaxation or sleep; a pause or break in an activity; or a state of mental or emotional calmness. Rest is a state of relaxation, not necessarily sleep. Bernhofer (2016) stated that rest is a physical, mental, and spiritual human need, common to all humanity, and is frequently prescribed worldwide as a treatment for many maladies. Rest is “the temporary suspension of active involvement in projects for rejuvenation.”Put together, rest is the deliberate, temporary suspension of active involvement in projects for physical, mental, emotional, and social restoration.
Any difference between rest and sleep? Rest may not induce physiological changes, such as Rapid Eye Movement (REM) and Non-rapid Eye Movement (NREM) cycles, but sleep does. Rest can be achieved in shorter periods than sleep, which requires an optimal duration of 7 to 9 hours for adults, to mention two.
Rest can help reduce fatigue, improve focus, and provide temporary relief from physical exertion.
Studies show that rest can“reduce fatigue, improve focus, and temporary relief from physical exertion; enhance cognitive function and improve memory retention; boost mood and reduce stress levels through better emotional regulation; support physical health by aiding in muscle recovery and immune function; increase productivity and creativity by allowing the brain to recharge; promote better decision-making and problem-solving abilities; and reduce the risk of chronic health issues, such as heart disease and obesity.”
Dalton-Smith(2021) described seven essential types of rest needed to address the “rest deficit” pervading American culture. In 2025, Zhou and Eric reviewed the seven types of rest. WLT will briefly summarize six of them, and the seventh will be discussed along with spiritual well-being. The seven types of rest are physical, mental, sensory, creative, emotional, social, and spiritual.
Follow us on our website, blog, and social media platforms, and at conferences, seminars, workshops, community spiritual well-being events, as we use truths rooted in the Word of God to empower you to practice love and submit in your marriage. We use evidence-based and evidence-informed health education and health promotion interventions to provide equitable opportunities to acquire the knowledge, attitudes, skills, and insights needed to adopt and sustain healthy lifestyles and lead purpose-driven, transformative lives.