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How to Make the Most of Rest Days | The Health Sessions

47 Ways You Can Make the Most of Rest Days

Resting sounds so balanced and zen – until it’s something you have to do. When you live with chronic illness, the key to managing your precious energy is alternating activities with plenty of relaxation. Not to mention that thanks to the unpredictability of chronic illness, symptoms can flare up at any time, forcing you to stop and take a break.

At first, binge-watching your favorite series all day long feels fun. But when you’re stuck in bed a lot of the time, while you’d rather be doing something else, resting becomes dreadful, mind-numbingly boring and lonely.

So when you’re having another undesired rest day, is there anything you can do to make the most of your situation? In general, there are 3 strategies you can apply:

Focus on deep restoration and replenishing. By doing simple things that support your health, you may reduce your symptoms – or even the number of future rest days.
Have a better time. Who doesn’t want to feel more comforted and entertained when you’re sick?
Living your best life while being housebound. Of course this is not what you signed up for. But your illness doesn’t have to stop you from doing tiny things that are meaningful to you.

Obviously, what works for you depends a lot on your personal situation. Do you need to rest after doing something fun, or because you’re exhausted from folding laundry? Are you feeling really sick too? Do you live alone or do you have partners, kids or pets that require your attention?

Not all tips will work for everyone, but here’s a list of 47 ideas of how you can make the most of rest days.

Life in the Slow Lane: 21 Ideas to Embrace Slow Living

“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” – Lao Tzu

Those endless Summer days are a perfect invitation to adopt a Mediterranean pace of slow living, with time for siestas and home-cooked family meals al fresco. With the sun on your face and great company, what more could you need?

In our fast-pace world, taking time to slow down, savor the moment and enjoy simple pleasures has become a luxury. The notions of “you only live once” and “living your best life” has given many of us a sense of urgency. Every moment has to be seized and used productively. Combined with technology that tempts us to be ‘on’ and connected at all times, there’s little room left for slow living. Time even wrote a notorious piece about the Dutch concept of ‘niksen’ – which literally means doing nothing – as if sitting still and staring our of the window is something revolutionary.

But when you’re living with chronic illness, you’re probably used to life in the slow lane. Having little energy, reduced mobility and requiring lots of rest usually means taking things slow. Because slow living due to health problems isn’t a choice, you might feel sad, angry, frustrated and some real FOMO.

But going faster isn’t always better. Slow living has some serious benefits for your health and happiness. Here’s why you should embrace a slow lifestyle – and how to do it.

21 Mini Adventures to Spice Up Everyday Life (Even If You’re Chronically Ill)

Are you hungry for adventure or longing for that rush of excitement that a first-time experience brings you?

Life with chronic illness, injury or disability can be pretty dull – with mostly unpleasant surprises instead of exciting ones. Unfortunately, backpacking through Europe, rock climbing or partying at festivals are probably not in the cards for you right now. But that doesn’t mean you can’t bring a sense of novelty and excitement to your day-to-day life.

When you break out of your usual routine, your brain releases the happiness hormone dopamine to store information in your memory and create new neural connections.

So if you have some energy to spare, boost your happiness by shaking things up with ‘mini adventures’.

4 Easy Ways to Pamper Yourself at Home

This article is written by Sarah Smith.

Summertime is upon us, and that means a lot of people will be spending time outdoors. However, if you are an individual with health problems, you may not be able to spend as much time outdoors as others. Therefore, you need to come up with ways to pamper yourself at home in order to keep yourself occupied during your free time.

Since many people exert a lot of time and energy into their work, coming up with leisure activities at home to occupy your time that doesn’t include rest may be challenging. If you are one of those people who can not spend much time outdoors, and are struggling to figure out what to do in your spare time at home, you have stumbled upon the right post. In this article, we will be discussing four ways to pamper yourself at home!

‘Sick Lit’: 6 Captivating Novels Starring Chronically Ill Characters

Great stories remind us that we are not alone. Despite our differences, we all have similar struggles, fears, dreams and hopes. By identifying with a book’s character, we can see our own situation from another point of view and discover new ways to deal with our problems.

But what if you have a hard time finding fictional figures you can relate with?

‘Sick lit’ is the somewhat questionable name for a new genre of novels, featuring characters who are faced with illness. Following John Green’s blockbuster book The Fault in Our Stars, lots of gripping stories about terminally ill teenagers and their tragic romances have hit the book shops and movie theaters.

However, there haven’t been many novels written that put living with chronic illness in the spotlight. Maybe that shouldn’t be surprising, because let’s face it, being chronically ill is kinda boring. Instead of going on ‘before-I-die’ adventures, life with MS, chronic migraine or Lyme disease feels more like an endless repetition of doctor’s visits, therapy and sick days in bed.

Fortunately, the sick lit below shows a glimpse of what it’s like to be diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, HIV and osteogenesis imperfecta. And although they’re mostly young adult novels, the older ones among us can still relate to the medical dilemmas, everyday problems and existential questions that the protagonists struggle with.

So if you’re looking for a relatable read, check out these 6 captivating novels that star chronically ill characters.