The 20-second nap

Something that I've discovered this year is that you can achieve an impressive state of rest by "concentrating". What I mean by that is focusing on making your body as relaxed as possible. The second part of this is thoughts -- often if I close my eyes to relax, my mind starts processing all of the things of life -- things I have to do, etc, etc. But by counting in your head, those thoughts seem to be averted, leading to better rest.

So it goes like this: Closing your eyes, getting into a comfortable position, and slowly counting backwards from a number like 20 or 40, making your body as limp as possible. Sometimes I'm so relaxed doing this that I stop breathing for 10 seconds simply because my mind is telling all of my muscles to "stop".

I like this for a few reasons:

There are many times in a day where you have a moment that you have to wait for something.

I find it intriguing that one can "concentrate" on being restful. That seems like an oxymoron to me.

Unlike longer "naps", I don't find this makes you any less alert/awake.