While I sleep for over eight hours a night, practise yoga a few times a week and take regular rest days, I hold my hands up to being someone who struggles to spend their downtime actually resting.

I’m only ever sitting still when I’m bingeing on episodes of The US Office and simultaneously scrolling through stress-inducing Instagram feeds. On rest days, I don’t swap workouts for relaxation practices; I’d rather pack my calendar with life admin, social events or extra work. Like many others, it’s only when injury stops play that the foam roller comes out.

Why are we not resting?

To get to the bottom of why it’s so bloody hard to relax, I ask Anne-Sophie Fluri, neuroscientist and mindfulness expert at MindLabs, why we’re so bad at doing the things that make us feel better. Initially, she points me to a study from Harvard University that shows we are evolutionarily programmed to favour rest. Aside from running from food, “hunter-gatherers in camp usually sit on the ground (they have no chairs), do chores, take care of children and engage in other activities that require little exertion,” the researchers write.

Recovery Clinic: why we are so bad at resting, according to a neuroscientist