Episode #65 – How To Rest & Relax with ADHD + 27 Microbreaks To Try

Rest can feel confusing, uncomfortable, or even stressful when you’re neurodivergent. If you’re autistic, have ADHD, or AuDHD, you know that “rest” often feels like just another job.

Maybe it creates new pressure, or the typical advice about getting rest makes you feel guiltier.

You’re not broken if lying down and turning off your brain makes your brain louder, not calmer.

In this episode 65, I talk about:

• Why rest feels challenging for ADHD, autistic, and AuDHD brains
• Key benefits of rest
• Rest can feel like a stressor if you’re not careful
• Introducing Microbreaks + 27 micro-break ideas
• 3 important tips to make resting easier

If rest makes you feel guilty or restless, I hope this episode will help you rethink what rest can look like on your terms.

Listen below, stream it on your favorite podcasting app, or scroll to access the full blog post.

Why Rest & Relaxation Feels Like a Struggle for ADHD & AuDHD Brains

When you’re neurodivergent, rest can feel a little confusing.

? We’re told rest should look like taking naps, sitting quietly, turning off screens, or unplugging, but… for many of us, particularly those with ADHD and AuDHD, effective rest looks totally different.

It might be:

• Hyperfixating on a special interest.
• Rewatching the same few episodes of a comfort show.
• Pacing in circles while listening to stimmy music.
• Organizing your desk drawers.

If you try to do the “real” rest (the still, quiet kind), your brain might get agitated instead of soothed.

This is because for us, rest has to be a way of regulation, and regulation is unique for everyone.

The Key Benefits of Rest

Of course, we know rest is important, but let’s dig in a little deeper into why this is so crucial, especially for ADHD and AuDHD adults.

1. Rest Is a Cognitive Necessity

Rest is not just for recovering from being tired. It’s a core part of how your brain handles everything…

• Processing information
• Integrating emotion
• Supporting executive function.

When you’re constantly “on,” your brain doesn’t get the downshift time it needs to consolidate memory or make meaning from experiences.

Your thoughts get scrambled after a long day of stimulation, and your reactions get snappier. That’s your cognitive filing system completely backed up.

Rest is what lets the backlog clear if you’ve been masking, navigating sensory load, or managing decision fatigue.

2. Regulates Identity

Rest also plays a role in knowing who you are, especially if you tend to people-please or overperform.

If you never stop moving, you never get to notice:

• Who am I when I’m not being useful?
• Who am I when no one’s watching?

These questions surface when you rest because you are finally quiet enough to hear yourself.

If you grew up constantly adapting and performing, that pause is the only time you can reconnect to your authentic identity signals.

3. Improves Communication

Rest directly supports verbal fluency and social functioning.

When your nervous system is overloaded, your ability to find the right words, process nuance, or tolerate ambiguity shrinks.

• Small talk gets much harder when you’re tired.
• Processing subtle social cues becomes impossible when you’re overwhelmed.

This is a sign that your brain’s language and interpretation centers are shutting down due to stress. You need rest!

4. Rest Allows Your Body To Rebuild

Physiologically, rest is when your body does its most important repair work.

We all know about sleep, but even simple waking rest—low-stimulation, low-expectation time—triggers changes in:

• Cellular regeneration
• Immune system repair
• Hormonal balance

If you skip real rest for too long…

• Your immune response weakens, and inflammation rises.
• You might start to feel “sick without being sick.”
  • People brush this off as “sensitivity,” but it’s your body giving you a clear signal: “I don’t need a break after collapse, I need rhythm now.”

If You’re Not Careful, Rest Can Become a Stressor

This happens a lot… You finally get a day off. You clear your schedule. You go to rest… and it feels awful.

Why? You might get flooded with all the things you haven’t done, or all the people you feel like you’re letting down. Maybe you feel guilty about not “using” your rest time productively.

The demand dropped off, but you feel lost, or even panicky.

This is why rest can become another source of pressure. It becomes, “If I don’t do this right, I’ll burn out, so now I’m panicking about whether I’m relaxing correctly.”

Try thinking about it this way instead:

• Rest doesn’t have to be perfect.
• It doesn’t have to be long.
• It doesn’t have to be still.
• Resting just has to be regulating.

Often, this means the finding time for rest can focus on mini, predictable, body-brain-friendly breaks.

This is where microbreaks come in…

What Are Microbreaks?

Micro-breaks or ‘mini breaks’ are short, intentional pauses, usually under 10 minutes, that let your system reset before you hit depletion. And they don’t require silence or sleep.

All you have to do is let a microbreak interrupt the cycle of effort with something neutral, grounding, or soothing.

The Science Behind Microbreaks:

• A 2022 meta-analysis found micro-breaks (under 10 minutes) significantly increased vigor and reduced fatigue.
• After about 90–120 minutes of sustained focus, your brain performance starts to decline, even if you don’t feel it yet.

Instead of waiting for a total collapse, you can build up small, regular deposits into your nervous system with mini acts of self-care to help you get the rest you need.

27 Microbreak Ideas To Help You Get More Rest

Sensory 

1. Lie flat on the floor – Vestibular reset. Feel supported.
2. Touch a soft texture – Sensory grounding.
3. Run warm water over your hands – Calms nerves through temperature.
4. Put on a weighted blanket – Deep pressure = deep calm.
5. Smell something you love – Scent bypasses thought.
6. Put on stim music or background sound – Auditory regulation.
7. Look at one plant or tree for 30 seconds – The color green calms the amygdala.

Cognitive 

8. Rewatch a favorite 1-minute video – Predictability is peace.
9. Read one paragraph from a comfort book – Tiny hit of joy.
10. Scroll a safe, low-input feed (memes, pets) – Controlled input.
11. Do a 2-minute brain dump – Offload spinning thoughts.
12. Write one sentence about how you feel – Language soothes confused thoughts.
13. Do a sorting task (pencils, tabs, notes) – External order soothes internal disorder.
14. Close your eyes for 90 seconds – Let visual input go offline.

Body-Based 

15. Stretch for 30 seconds – Move energy out.
16. Pace in a circle – Repetition regulates.
17. Shake out your arms – Discharge tension.
18. Walk to another room and back – Physical change IS a cognitive reset.
19. Do 5 squats or heel raises – Fast blood flow shift.
20. Push your hands against a wall – Proprioception meets stress.
21. Drink a glass of water slowly – Grounded, present action.

Connection

22. Sit next to someone in silence – Co-regulate quietly.
23. Send a meme to a friend – Low-effort contact.
24. Ask for a 2-minute hug or hand squeeze – Nervous system reset via touch.
25. Pet an animal (or watch a video of one) – Releases Oxytocin.
26. Say out loud: “I’m taking a reset break.” – Naming it helps regulate.
27. Let someone else choose for you (“pick for me”) – Reduces executive load.

3 Tips To Help You Make The Most of Rest

1. Understand if it’s Rest or Isolation

Sometimes we think we’re resting, but we’re actually hiding, shutting down, or avoiding.

We all need to do this sometimes, and that’s fine. But over time, this tendency can disconnect you rather than restore you.

Here are a few questions to check in with yourself:

• After this break, do I feel more like myself or more numb?
• Do I feel soothed or shut down?
• Do I feel regulated or just “not available”?
• Am I resting to reconnect or to escape?

If you feel like you’re escaping, that’s a signal to add in some co-regulation, connection, or structure to your rest.

2. Learn How To Rest When You’re With People

If you’re often around people, whether with your family or staying at someone’s house, how can you make rest possible?

When you’re sharing space, you don’t get long periods of alone time, but that doesn’t mean you can’t rest. You can practice resting socially without having to “socialize”.

Here are a few ‘rest while together’ ideas:

• Parallel play: Sit next to someone while doing completely different things. You read, they scroll, someone else knits. No interaction required.
• Co-watch without commentary: Put on a show together with zero pressure to talk. Let the show carry the connection between you.
• Gentle shared chores: Washing dishes together can be regulating when the stakes are low and the conversation is calm or nonexistent.
• Quiet walks: Walk side by side and just say nothing. Let silence be the bond.
• Agree on “quiet hours”: Build in communal silence. This means no one has to perform or entertain anyone else.

These ideas let you rest around people, instead of disappearing from them completely.

3. Learn How to Talk About Your Rest Needs Without Apologizing

People can sometimes push their plans on you because they feel responsible for you having a good time.

However, this doesn’t mean you have to say yes and go along with the plans – especially if you need downtime.

Final Thoughts

Just a reminder to my fellow ADHD, AuDHD adults out there… your version of rest does not need to look like ‘typical rest’.

You are totally allowed to:

• Hyperfocus on your special interest.
• Rewatch old cartoons.
• Play cozy games for 8 hours.
• Read about marine bioluminescence at 2 AM.
• Reorganize your bookshelf by genre.

All of it counts as rest.

If you can only remember two things, it’s this…

1. Rest is not a prize for being good
2. You don’t have to earn rest – it’s part of your rhythm.

PIN TO READ LATER

Episode 65 Shownotes & Resources:

Sources:

• The Power of Micro Breaks For Well-Being
• How Sleep Affects Your Immune System
• Rest Is Resistance The Nap Ministry
• Laziness Does Not Exist 20% Off