"We know that our body needs rest. We understand that. But we have problems accepting the same thing for our brain. And that needs to change." Olga Mecking author of Niksen: Embracing the Dutch Art of Doing Nothing

The kettle has just boiled. You have perhaps two minutes before you need to move on to the next thing.

Without thinking, you reach for your phone.

By the time you have finished your drink, you have checked your messages, scanned the headlines and read several updates. Your body may have stopped, but your brain hasn’t.

This is increasingly how we live. We listen to podcasts while walking, check emails between tasks and watch television while scrolling through our phones. Even when we sit down, we often continue feeding our brains a stream of words, images and information.

None of these things is necessarily a problem on its own. But when every pause is filled, the brain rarely gets an opportunity to settle.

In midlife, this matters. Work may be demanding. Parents may need more support. Children and grandchildren can bring both joy and responsibility. There may be decisions to make about health, finances, relationships and the future.

Our brains are being asked to absorb, remember, organise and respond to a great deal. Yet one of the simplest ways we can support them is also one of the most easily overlooked: allowing ourselves to be still.

Why stillness is time well spent

For many of us, being busy has become closely associated with being useful. If we are not completing a task, helping someone or dealing with the next item on the list, it can feel as though we are wasting time.

But stillness is not wasted time.

Nor does it need to mean formal meditation, sitting in a particular position or attempting to empty your mind of every thought.

Stillness can be as simple as:

• Sitting quietly without picking up your phone

• Drinking a cup of tea without doing anything else

• Looking out of a window for a few minutes

• Resting after reading or learning something

• Listening to birdsong

• Watching the clouds or the movement of trees

• Allowing your thoughts to come and go without trying to resolve them

The aim is not to stop the brain from thinking. That would be almost impossible. It is to stop continually giving it something new to process.

Stillness creates a space between one activity and the next. In that space, the brain has an opportunity to catch up.

Your resting brain is still active

It is easy to assume that the brain is only doing something useful when we are concentrating, solving a problem or completing a task.

In reality, the brain remains highly active during periods of rest.

When our attention is not focused on an external task, a collection of connected brain regions - often called the default mode network - becomes more active. This network is involved in processes such as reflecting on experiences, recalling memories, considering the future and making sense of ourselves and our relationships.

In other words, when you stop actively doing, your brain does not simply switch off. It changes what it is doing.

Scientists are also studying the effects of wakeful rest: short periods of quiet rest while we are awake. Research suggests that resting after learning something may help the brain retain new information.

In one study, younger and older adults who rested quietly for eight minutes after learning performed better on a later memory test than those who completed another task immediately afterwards. More recent research reviews also suggest that wakeful rest can support memory consolidation, with older adults potentially gaining particular benefit.

This does not mean that sitting quietly for a few minutes is a guaranteed way to improve memory. The research is still developing. But it does challenge the idea that we should move immediately from one piece of information to the next.

If you have just read something important, attended a meeting, learned a new skill or had a meaningful conversation, your brain may benefit from a little space afterwards.

Stillness and sleep perform different roles

Sleep is not a substitute for stillness.

While we sleep, the brain carries out vital work. It consolidates learning and memories, supports emotional regulation and activates its waste-clearance processes. Good-quality sleep is one of the foundations of brain health.

Quiet periods during the day offer a different kind of support. They reduce the amount of new information arriving and give our attention a break from constant demands.

We need both: restorative sleep at night and moments during the day when the brain is not required to read, listen, plan, respond or switch tasks.

Unfortunately, many of the things we call rest still involve a considerable amount of mental input. Watching television, browsing online or listening to a podcast may be enjoyable, but they continue to give the brain information to process.

True stillness is less demanding.

Why a constantly busy brain can feel overwhelmed

Every time we switch from an email to a conversation, from a news story to a message or from one unfinished task to another, the brain must redirect its attention.

We may feel as though we are multitasking, but the brain is usually switching rapidly between activities. Each switch has a cost. It can make it harder to concentrate, increase mental fatigue and leave us feeling scattered.

This may help explain why it is possible to reach the end of a day feeling mentally exhausted without being able to identify what we have actually achieved.

The issue is not simply how much we do. It is also how rarely we stop.

Stillness interrupts that constant switching. For a few moments, there is no new message to interpret, no decision to make and no demand to respond to. This can give the nervous system an opportunity to move away from a state of continual alertness.

Stillness can also help us feel more present in our own lives.

Why being still can feel surprisingly difficult

If you are accustomed to being busy, stillness may initially feel uncomfortable.

Within seconds, you may remember something you need to do. You may feel restless, bored or tempted to reach for your phone. Your thoughts may appear to become louder rather than quieter.

This does not mean that the pause is pointless. It may simply reveal how much activity has been taking place beneath the surface.

Constant stimulation can prevent us from noticing what we are thinking or feeling. When the external noise reduces, we may become more aware of worries, tiredness or unresolved decisions.

There is no need to analyse everything that arises. The first step is simply to notice.

Stillness is a skill, and like most skills, it becomes more familiar with practice. Starting with two minutes may be more useful than setting an ambitious target that feels unrealistic.

7 Everyday ways to practise the art of stillness

You do not need to find an extra hour in your day. Brief pauses placed within an existing routine can be enough to begin changing your relationship with stillness.

1. Begin the day before the noise begins

Before checking messages, email or news, sit quietly for a minute or two.

Notice the light, the sounds around you and how your body feels. This creates a small buffer between waking and the demands of the day.

2. Let a cup of tea be just a cup of tea

Choose something you already do - drinking your morning coffee, waiting for the kettle to boil or sitting in the car before an appointment - and resist the urge to combine it with something else.

Let that activity be enough.

3. Create a pause between activities

When you finish one activity, avoid moving immediately into the next.

Sit back, look away from the screen or take three unhurried breaths. Even a short transition can help your brain release one task before engaging with another.

4. Walk without added input

Music and podcasts can make walking enjoyable, but occasionally leave the headphones at home.

Notice the temperature, the movement of your body and the sights and sounds around you. Walking without additional input gives the mind space while also supporting blood flow to the brain.

5. Rest after learning

After reading, listening to a talk or having an important conversation, spend a few minutes doing nothing mentally demanding.

You do not need to rehearse what you have learned. Allowing the brain a quiet interval may help it begin processing and organising the information.

6. Look into the distance

Many of us spend hours focusing on screens and objects immediately in front of us.

Pause by a window or step outside. Let your gaze rest on the horizon, the sky, a tree or the far end of the street. This can provide a welcome change for both your eyes and your attention.

7. Protect one small pocket of quiet

Identify a time of day when you could regularly create two to five minutes without conversation, screens or background noise.

It might be after lunch, when you return from work or before you begin your evening routine. Linking the pause to something you already do makes it easier to remember.

The aim is not to carry out all seven suggestions. Choose one that fits naturally into your life and see what you notice.

Stillness helps us listen

When the noise reduces, we may begin to recognise things that busyness has concealed.

We may realise that we are tired rather than unmotivated. We may see that a problem does not need an immediate answer. We may recognise that something taking up a great deal of mental space is not as important as it first appeared.

Stillness can also reconnect us with what is good.

A quiet pause may help us notice the warmth of the sun, the sound of someone we love laughing or a sense of gratitude for an ordinary moment. These experiences are easily missed when our attention is constantly moving towards whatever comes next.

We cannot always reduce the demands of midlife. There will still be responsibilities to carry, people who need us and situations we cannot control.

But we can create small spaces within those demands.

Stillness will not solve every problem, and it is not another standard we need to meet perfectly. Its value lies in giving the brain fewer demands for a moment - and giving ourselves the opportunity to return to life with greater clarity, calm and presence.

Perhaps the art of being still is not something we have forgotten how to do.

Perhaps we simply need to make room for it again.