Thanks to meds I don’t have trouble sleeping anymore, but my mother told me that if I couldn’t sleep I should just lie still with the lights off with my eyes closed and not think about too much, and that would be “almost as good as actual sleeping” as far as getting your body to recharge. True or No? I’d hate to lie there bored when I just as well could watch TV for an hour and then try to go to sleep again.
Strictly from personal experience I find that resting as you describe can help bodily fatigue. I am not sure that it would be any better than sitting in a comfortable chair with your feet up and watching TV or reading.
I do not think this sort of resting helps terribly with mental fatigue and one eventually has to actually sleep, go through REM cycles, and do whatever it is the brain does to recover on a daily basis. I am sure someone with actual knowledge on the matter will be along shortly.
Have a look at The Power Of Rest
I don’t think that just resting would have the same benefits of sleep. We don’t know why we sleep but there are plenty of processes that kick in related to growth and repair, the consolidation and erasing of memories, immune system response etc. It isn’t just a case of resting the muscles and eyes.
So whether it’s a good idea to just lie there would depend on whether it was a more effective way of getting to sleep.
IME I find it better to do some writing or something until I get a yawn to tell me I’m actually ready to sleep now. But of course YMMV
No, it isn’t. Your mother was telling you that because laying still for a long time makes people go to sleep even if they don’t realize it plus she just really wanted you to go to bed and not bother anyone else.
The reasons we sleep are one of the biggest mysteries of biology. Nobody knows why we need it but we do. It isn’t just about resting muscles. The brain and body go through predictable, very measurable, and necessary cycles during quality sleep. People that don’t get those due to insomnia, sleep apnea, or other conditions tend to suffer great consequences in mental and physical health because of it. One bad night of sleep won’t do much harm in the long-term but it is a real medical problem if it is chronic.
In the Navy, I learned that (for me) rest vice sleep was at least partially beneficial. On a submarine at sea, rack time (as we call it- rack = bed) can be hard to come by… and ANY amount of rack time is worth it, whether you’re sleeping or not.
So yes, I’ve found that lying quietly, clearing your mind, can be close to as beneficial as sleep. And even if you don’t get to deep sleep, I often found I would get to some in-between phase, in which afterwards I could not be sure if I was actually awake or not.
That is probably going to be counterproductive - research indicates that exposure to bright light sources (including TVs, computer screens, smartphones, bright clocks) interferes with circadian rhythms and increase sleep disturbance. However, if sleep disruption is due to cortisol levels (stress related hormones) lying quietly allows the cortisol to fall away naturally and sleep occurs.
I’m a big fan of fake it till you make it regarding sleep. I have a relaxation mp3 (self hypnosis type thing) that I have edited to 3 hours long that I use when on longhaul flights between the UK and NZ. Works a treat if I use it a couple of times per leg, but even if I don’t always go off, I just try to stay in the track till it is done. Helps me recover from jetlag without coping with sleep deprivation as well.
Si
If one needs to sleep, may I prescribe one bottle o’ wine or a similar amount of beer.
The natural cure since the dawn of man…
If you notice this posted at 4:30 in the morning… night shift ends, cocktails a little later than most.
This. Plus, many people who suffer insomnia get told this by well meaning people around them, to make them feel more relaxed about lying there without sleeping. And feeling relaxed helps. If you lie there thinking: “Oh my god, that is another half hour without sleeping and I have to get up in three more hours” You won’t feel relaxed and the chance of sleep is even more remote.
More interesting would be comparing sleep and rest to meditation.
Alcohol interferes with sleep patterns and fatigue recovery, as well as a host of other effects on the body.
From here
Si
And that getting up in the middle of the night to go empty your bladder messes with my sleep patterns as well. When I was younger a few beers would make me sleep like a baby. Now it just fuels insomnia after an initial crash. Sucks getting old sometimes 
Often also you have that thing where you think you didn’t sleep a wink until right before the alarm went off, but you know from other evidence that you did actually sleep more than you thought.