Rest
Many of us don’t know how to rest. We think resting is lying down watching the TV or scrolling endlessly on our phones. That’s not rest, it’s physical inactivity alongside mental overstimulation. Both mind and body need to rest to really create an environment to heal. I don’t just mean sleep, although sleep is glorious if you have it and if it’s good sleep. Most people with chronic health issues will have disrupted sleep – either insomnia or too much sleep that isn’t a good mix of REM and deep sleep – both leave you feeling exhausted and sleep becomes stressful.
Taking conscious rest breaks throughout the day is super important. I’m a huge advocate of Yoga Nidra (deep guided rest) which is great for a busy brain that needs to follow some commands to stop it from roaming around. Also deep guided meditations are really helpful for regulating the overactive nervous system. There’s plenty of both on YouTube to listen to. If you keep topping up your rest during the day it can take some of the pressure off the nights sleep being the all important dose of good rest.
Rest for some people can also just be resting the mind by doing some mindful activities like drawing, colouring, reading if your brain allows you to, listening to audio books, listening to relaxing music and so on. No screen, no dramatic narrative, no reading the news, no social media etc – think of it as a nervous system detox that you need to go on daily, like a prescription.
As the nervous system starts to calm down, sleep becomes more available to us – so it’s a journey rather than a quick fix but worth doing as the pay off is huge when you finally start to get some quality sleep, even if it’s just for a few hours to start with.