Guilt about resting: an internal medicine doctor suggests six small changes, from daylight to empty hours in your day

We live as if rest has to be earned first. A free afternoon with no obligations triggers guilt, and an empty day in the calendar sounds like an admission of failure. Internal medicine specialist Daniela Silva says this pace hits mental health directly: without time to recover from stress, emotions become ever harder to control.

Her approach is preventive - recognise your limits before your body shows them to you, and change your routine with small steps rather than big promises. Psychologist José Jaime Pascual Piqueres, author of the book "You Don't Have to Fix Yourself", links guilt about resting to the culture of constant self-improvement and productivity. He suggests a few questions for self-examination: how much do we demand of ourselves, and whose "perfect version" are we actually chasing?

The first change is switching off the screens. Silva recommends putting face-to-face meetings ahead of scrolling. A coffee with a friend is worth more than an hour of watching other people's lives on your phone.

The second is daylight, even on overloaded days. A few minutes outside, on the way to work or on a break, are not a luxury.

The third is movement - as a way of coping with stress and with thoughts that go round in circles, but without it becoming one more item on the to-do list. The fourth is food: healthy, but without rigidity and without a sense of punishment.

The fifth is sleep. The bedroom should be cool and aired, with conditions in which the body really rests. The sixth is perhaps the hardest for many: leaving parts of the day with no schedule at all.

None of this costs money, and that's exactly why it's easy to skip. How many times have you said you'll "rest when retirement comes"? The doctor's conclusion is simple: rest is a necessary part of everyday life, not a reward you have to earn.