NOURISH ~ A Good Night’s Sleep – Regulating Your Sleep Cycle

Because CFS nervous systems are typically switched on go and sympathetically activated, most of the time, they don’t get many restful reprieves. This means, they spend less time in the para-sympathetically driven state that facilitates healing and recovery. This increases the likelihood of nervous system (NS) dysregulation leading to further potential challenges for recovery and life.
 

When your nervous system is dysregulated, it influences the function of other systems including the immune, endocrine (hormone) and digestive systems. This can show up as secondary symptoms. For example, depression, digestive issues, muscle aches and twitches, Raynauds (cold extremities), sensitivities (e.g., food, light, sound) and for females, irregular menstruation, hot flushes and pre-menstrual syndrome.

A key aspect of recovery and healing is teaching our NS to come off ‘go’ mode, to restore balance and to regulate appropriately.

Here are some strategies to help you do just that.

1)  Mindful Breathing Techniques for Instant Stress Relief
 
Breathing is fundamental to life. It is the cheapest, most accessible, portable and doable thing people can do to calm and balance their nervous systems.

This is especially true when you breathe well and use deep, horizontal, diaphragmatic breathing (think inhale as side ribs expand and belly fills up) rather than shallow chest breathing (think inhale and get taller with tummy sinking in).

The goal is to use your breath to activate the parasympathetic nervous system (rest, digest, restore – restoration oriented system) and reduce sympathetic nervous system input (fight, flight, freeze -survival oriented system). This is done by:

using deep belly/diaphragmatic breathing

making the length of the exhale longer than inhale

adding ‘tone’ or ‘texture’ to the breath (e.g., humming, ohming, sighing, laughing, saying ‘peace’ on exhale).

Find a breathing technique that works for you, that you like and use it often.

My favorite is ‘Hummmm Breath’ which involves breathing in with a smile (when you smile your body releases feel good hormones irrespective of whether it is a real or fake smile), and as you exhale hummmm for as long as you can without straining. This technique tones the vagus nerve further activating the parasympathetic nervous system, aiding moving into a restoration and healing state.

Another favorite is ‘Smell the Roses’. Inhale as if smelling a rose, and exhale as if blowing dandelion seeds everywhere, through pursed lips (think blowing out candles - this breath works well for children too, enabling them to learn to regulate when stressed or upset).

Develop and integrate regular deep breathing practices into your day. I suggest you anchor them to established habits that you engage in regularly (habit stacking). For example, taking a drink, going to the toilet, sitting down/standing up and/or saying ‘thankyou’.

Repetition and good practice are vital keys to success. Think about it - if you are training your dog to sit, you don't just do it a few times in a wishy washy voice and hope they have got it. You do it over and over again in a gentle but firm, no nonsense voice. The more you practise well, the more opportunities your body has to re-learn what calmness and regulation feels like. The more micro-breaks you give your nervous system, the more opportunities you offer it to heal and regulate that little bit more.

2)  Mindful Rest – Embrace the Power and Joy of Naps

I see napping as an artform – those blissful minutes in the sun or under a tree on the grass. Naps can be some of the best quality rest your body receives and so it doesn’t make sense to deprive yourself of the opportunity to calm your nervous system and enter a state of restoration.

Get the most out of your nap by napping in the sunshine (up your Vitamin D which is often low in people with chronic illness), get out in nature (shown to calm your nervous system and slow brain waves), snuggle up in your favorite happy spot or cuddle yourself or someone else to release oxytocin which soothes and calms the body.

While napping has been shown not to interfere with sleep, I would suggest it is wise not to nap within a few hours of bedtime. However, you know your body best – find out what works for you.

3)  Create a Peaceful Sanctuary – Your Safe Space

Living with chronic illness often means dealing with heightened sensitivity to various stimuli. It is important to have somewhere to retreat, where you feel comfortable, relaxed and safe. Creating a peaceful sanctuary can be a game-changer.

If you were to create your own healing sanctuary, What would it look like? Sound like? Smell like? Feel like?

4) Unlock the Power of Meditation – Train Your Brain for Calm

When you live with CFS/ME, ones brain tends to operate in a hyper-sensitive, over-vigilant and alert state where it can over-respond to stimuli, perceiving threats, where there are none. This often occurs without your knowledge or awareness. This is the brain doings its best to keep you safe, albeit in a misguided way.

A small part of your brain, the amygdala, is responsible for deciding whether to trigger and magnify your nervous and immune systems response. Compared to people without CFS, the amygdala of people with CFS/ME is larger in size probably due to how active it is. Meditation (regular and sustained) has been shown to decrease the size and activity of the amygdala in as little as 6 weeks.

It is helpful to release all expectations of what meditation is and isn’t. Think of meditating as a practice used to build a ‘meditation muscle’. When meditating, we all get distracted. Exercising and building your meditation muscle occurs when you notice you have become distracted, and you gently and kindly bring yourself back to your focal point (e.g., your breath, a mantra, a feeling, a candle flame). It’s that simple.

Start with whatever is doable for you. Over time, increase the frequency first and then the duration of your practice. Take the path of least resistance. There are plenty of free guided meditations available in Apps or online. It is not cheating to use these. Anything is better than nothing. Do what works for you. Do what you enjoy the most. Do what is doable.

Conclusion

Keep in mind, that you are gently doing your best (forget the rest) to retrain your nervous system. Your body needs a consistent, structured, repetitive daily routine to support it to heal and recover.

Integrate strategies, one by one, into your daily routine. This will support your healing by giving you and your body a daily structure (also helping with the challenges of being unwell and at home) and developing health promoting habits and strategies to lay a great foundation for healing and ongoing optimal wellness long after you have recovered.

Remember, you are teaching your nervous system a skill it has forgotten – be the teacher you have always wanted – kind, patient, gentle, loving and compassionate.

Can you remember and describe what it feels like to have a fully regulated and calm nervous system?

What strategies could you use to help teach your nervous system to regulate?

If you’d like practical and uplifting health recovery information, sign up for the Connect Community newsletter. Do this and get access to a FREE monthly Connect Community Zoom Event LIVE offering juicy insight, goodness and inspiration on a topic relevant to those experiencing CFS/ME/Long Covid PLUS a free LIVE weekly 15-minute Laughter Wellness Workout via zoom.

Anaya Smiley © 2024. No part of this work can be reproduced in any way without the written and explicit permission of Anaya Smiley.

This blog is not medical advice and should not be considered so.

Before making any changes, always consult your primary physician first.