I remember in high school, the gym teacher said if you get behind on sleep, it is impossible to get caught up by sleeping extra another day. In one sense he was right, but in another he wasn’t…
Sleeping, or in the case of RA, resting to get caught up on rest that was missed is difficult. In my case, my body gets so run down at times that I feel the need to rest in bed an entire day. This is counter-productive for a couple reasons.
First, resting too much in bed makes my joints stiffen up, making my pain and lack of mobility worse. Secondly, too much sleep during the day makes it so I can’t sleep at night, even with the sleeping pill.
So that is kind of where I am at today. I got very run-down from my travels this weekend. I have been so very tired and have felt like I have been coming down with a cold since I got back. So, I slept a lot yesterday; didn’t sleep well last night; am hurting again today (plus a nasty headache).
However, I cannot sleep all day today. I have already learned the vicious cycle that can create, although I learned it the hard way. I will rest an hour or two, but then I have to use will power to get out of bed and get on with my day. If I don’t, my health will suffer, as well as my home (cause it won’t get cleaned) and my business (I won’t get any work done).
No matter what, I have to break the cycle. It is harder than it seems, but very necessary to get past this flare-up.