Ladies and Gentlemen (or, search engine computer, because no-one else has found this place yet). I present to you this blog. It’s for anyone who suffers from fatigue (be it from CFS, Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, Fibromyalgia, Depression etc… I won’t bore you with the definitions).

The main gist of it is this: we need more energy. So I’m going to search every source, and scour my brain (or just speak from experience), and deliver you research news, tips, tricks and “lifehacks” on how to get the batteries going better.

Stick around, and check out a bit more about me, and what I’ll be writing about.

(By the way, hello to the vast array of other like-minded and fantastic bloggers out there! I’m subscribed to your content, and would love to join the journey.)
]]> http://humorlife.wordpress.com/2008/07/27/a-humble-launch/feed/ 0 humor http://humorlife.wordpress.com/2008/07/27/exercise-five-tips-to-get-a-routine-going/ http://humorlife.wordpress.com/2008/07/27/exercise-five-tips-to-get-a-routine-going/#comments Sun, 27 Jul 2008 17:19:38 +0000 humor http://humorlife.wordpress.com/?p=9 ]]>

One of the best ways to stop your energy and health sliding down even further is to exercise a little. In most cases, it also helps maintain
some level of fitness that is vital for recovery. I know, it doesn’t work for everyone, but you may be surprised at how effective even a
little bit of exercise is.

So how does anyone start exercising, when all you feel like doing is sitting down, or laying on your bed? You start small. For many of you, start very very very small. Here’s a few tips to keep yourself motivated, but not so much that you will overdo it:

1. Forget your long term goals. In fact, don’t even set long term goals. The idea is to simply get a little bit active, and set a routine for exercise.
2. Throw out the dumbells. Weights, equipment, pedometers… you don’t really need them. Many of us would overdo it on an exercise bike, and need a solution where we can’t get too carried away (and regret it for the following week).
3. Start with stretches. If you are extreemly weak, simply set a routine with light stretches for a few weeks. Don’t spend more than 10 minutes on it, feel free to spend much less.
4. Research small exercises you can do in everyday life. You may need to forget the push-ups and star jumps. Find 3-5 small stretches/exercises you can do and repeat them before or after 3 meals each day.
5. Set a small goal. Don’t look ahead, but just make it your goal to be regular and consistent. For example, don’t aim to be able to do 5 push-ups in one go at the end of the week, aim to do your exercises twice a day, every day.

It’s amazing how effective regularity and consistency in exercise can be for your fitness. I know… you say, “What fitness?”, right? No matter how small it is, just start with some exercise. You’ll hear it many times: the hardest part is getting started. Do yourself a favor, start today, start small.

As I’ve only recently started blogging on fatigue, I’ve been doing a lot of online research. One thing I’ve been overwhelmed about is the amount of blogs and articles out there that are all spam.

Many articles are blatantly copied from other sources and put along side ads to make money. Even more alarming has been seeing so many proclaimed cures and treatments that “get you back to 99% energy”. If you ask me, that sounds like a miracle cure, and doctors haven’t come up with one yet.

Amongst all the shady doctors and duplicate articles, this one came up in my feed reader today:

…chronic fatigue syndrome is a disease that no known cause. This tends to bring out alot of the shadier side of the medical community.Doctors or even people without medical degrees can make a decent living by treating people who are desperate, with alternative treatments.

I have three rules I measure doctors and treatments by:

1. How did I hear about them? If it was through a friend, or genuine testimony, then I’m more convinced that their treatment may help. If it was 10 online testimonies on one page, I’m pretty sure the person who wrote that page is in it for the money.
2. How much do they charge for their information? If they charge for life-changing information they can’t be ethical and I wouldn’t trust them.
3. If there is a really a cure that is applicable to everyone, we will all hear about it very quickly!

It may sound a little cynical, but I would prefer to focus on treatments, while I keep my eye on cures. I know different treatments help people in different ways, so I’d really weigh up what sounds applicable to I before you buy into anything.

What are your experiences with the many treatments and doctors? Share any advice in the comments below!

I can’t think of anything more frustrating than lying awake in bed for half the night. Yet, that is the problem so many of us experience when we are trying to get rest – it comes at all the wrong times. One of the simplest (and often hardest) ways to get a good rest, is to sleep deeply at night.

For this reason, it’s imperative that we make sure we can sleep properly at night, and not during the day. Even though it may be hard to go to sleep at night, try and wake yourself up (and get up) at the same time every morning. In almost all the cases, you’ll find this forces your routine to change, so you eventually get to sleep earlier.

Don’t worry about setting your alarm for 5:30am on day one. I remember what my doctor told me (and you should consult your doctor before considering if it applies to you); I was told to change my wake-up time by 5 minutes every week. I thought, “That’s crazy, it will take me 12 weeks to shave an hour off my waking time!”. Yet, now I see this was so I wouldn’t get discouraged when I relapse.

We so often start off with so much motivation, and end up a tired wreck again at the end of a week or two. So make your bed time stick, by setting your biological clock consistently. If you have a relapse, a change that has been implemented slowly, over a long period of time, will not disappear after a bad week. Even if you only change your waking time by 5 minutes a week, it’s important to keep the changes slow and consistent. Remember – this is your biological clock you are re-setting, It’s much more complicated than a wrist watch!

One of the most original and useful tips I received about sleep was to change my pillowcase often. In fact, my doctor told me to change my pillowcase daily! For many of us, this could be very effective if we are also prone to being allergenic.

As Laura found out yesterday,

Apparently, when you wash your clothes they don’t exactly come out as clean as we think. Our clean laundry still has dust mites, and pollen residue, and dog dander.

While I don’t do it anymore, changing the pillowcase daily became a part of my “get ready for sleep” routine. While it adds to the washing, it helped me to feel like a had a new bed made every time I went to sleep. We often don’t notice it, but being prone to allergies, even whatever collects on a pillowcase, can affect how deeply we sleep, and how fast we go to sleep.

With a washing detergent that is very mild, and a fresh pillowcase, it’s amazing how content it can make you feel, and how much deeper you might sleep. Why not give it a try for a few nights and see what happens?