How to Plan the Perfect Rest Day

Rest, recover, repeat. Rest days are a crucial part of caring for your body and recharging after a busy week. Whether you’ve been exercising hard or are just feeling the effects of a full-on schedule, rest days can help you repair your body and boost your well-being too.  

Without rest days, it’s easy to lose motivation and you might even find yourself teetering on the edge of burn out. Rest days are important for catching up on sleep, but there’s a little more to them than that.  

We’re joined by two-time World Champion and Winter Olympic skeleton racer, Matt Weston, to hear about how he likes to spend his rest days, and why they’re important for keeping your body at its best. 

Rest days are a break from your usual routine of exercise or activity. Usually taken at least once a week, rest days prioritise relaxation and give your body a chance to repair itself after strenuous activity, with benefits for both your muscles and your nervous system.  

Rest days can also help your sleep if you’re a keen exerciser, helping to reduce the build-up of adrenaline and cortisol after exercise that might otherwise keep you awake.  

For Matt Weston, rest days are a necessary – but challenging! – part of his athletic routine, crucial for preventing injuries and pushing for personal bests.  

“All the good stuff you do during the rest of your week is accumulated and made use of in a rest day. You’ve put all this effort into training hard, but the rest day allows your body to put it to good use and make you 1% better every time. 

“I know I can’t push myself the next day if I don’t have a rest. If I have a rest, then I can go back to what I love doing and putting in all that effort. But if I don’t have that rest, I can’t. 

“After a rest day I feel more ready to go, excited to go.” 

No! Whether you’re a fan of hitting the gym regularly or just have a busy schedule, rest days help to repair your body, strengthen your muscles and calm your nervous system, which is something we can all benefit from.  

According to Matt Weston, rest days are best spent enjoying a mix of relaxation and gentle movement: “It’s important to get some fresh air, get your body moving, but not intensely. I find it good to go out and walk the dog or get a coffee. 

“I enjoy doing more stretching and rolling to get my body moving. It only tends to be about 20 minutes to half an hour out of my day, but it makes my body feel good, makes me feel ready for the next day, and makes me feel like I’m still being productive as an athlete.” 

Interested in stretching to wind down on a rest day? Check out our recommendations for the best bedtime yoga routine for better sleep. 

As an athlete, Matt’s body is good at letting him know when it’s time to take it easy: “I know I need to rest when my joints ache and I’m in more pain than normal. I feel more tired. I feel a bit more irritable or frustrated. And I know I just need to give myself a reset.” 

For others, it might not be so easy to spot the signs of an overdue rest day. Here’s a full list of what to look out for: 

• Feeling fatigued 
• Finding it hard to get out of bed 
• Trouble sleeping 
• Irritability or frustration 
• Lack of motivation 
• Trouble focusing 
• Feeling stressed 

“[My fiancée and I will] go out for brunch or a coffee, take the dog for a walk as well. Then we’ll cook something nice together in the evening. Everything just feels very slow and deliberate. 

“We like walking quite a lot, so we’ll go and explore places, especially with the dog. It’s very nice and chilled, whereas the rest of my life is very active and crazy!” 

Learn more: Why Does Fresh Air Make You Tired? 

You might have heard of the famous refeed, where you increase your calories to counteract the caloric toll of exercising and give your body a break from restriction.  

While increasing calories can help to fuel your body, Matt Weston still recommends reaching for healthy whole foods when enjoying a rest day: “Eating well on rest days is key because that’s when you’re giving your body chance to recover, and the fuel you’re giving your body to recover needs to be good. 

“Good food is good fuel. You wouldn’t put normal pump fuel into a race car, that’s how I think of it. So even on a rest day, you need to give your body that good fuel to be able to recover well for the next day.” 

Looking for some sleep-friendly snacks? Check out our recommendations for foods that help you sleep. 

According to Matt Weston, limiting the amount of caffeine you consume on a rest day can help ensure your body has the opportunity to really recharge. 

“Although I do enjoy going out for a coffee in the morning, I also try and limit my caffeine intake on a rest day to give my body a break from it. I definitely sleep better that night! 

“As an athlete, you use caffeine quite a lot to get yourself going for a session, so you want to have those days where you’re not having as much.” 

“Recovery is the best thing so that every day I can go out and train as hard as I can and push myself every single day,” says Matt Weston.  

Whether it’s stretching, napping or taking a bath, recovery is essential for making incremental gains in your performance. If you’re looking for more focus, motivation or better results in your chosen sport, rest days are a component of your routine that shouldn’t be overlooked.  

There can be no doubt that a great night’s sleep plays a significant role too. As Matt Weston says: “Recovery is the main reason why sleep is so important. It doesn’t matter if you eat amazing, you’ve got a private chef, you train as hard as you can; if you don’t sleep well, it’s almost not worth doing all of the other things because sleep is the main thing for recovery.” 

When it comes to planning the perfect rest day, it’s best to enjoy a slow start. Once you’ve indulged in some well-deserved sleep, try to incorporate gentle movement and good, nutritious food to give your body the best possible fuel for what’s to come. A walk in the great outdoors with a loved one is a great way to take in some fresh air and spend quality time with those close to you. Don’t forget to limit your caffeine intake, and make sure you schedule in an early night, too – your body will thank you for it.

Dreams will be backing Matt Weston, our Team GB ambassador, at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympic Games, where we’ll once again be the Official Sleep Partner of Team GB and ParalympicsGB.