Thursday, April 30, 2009

shut up and listen to me

Yesterday I felt achy and tired but I had several projects I needed to work on. Ken was home from work because he was sick too. I drove him to the doctor and then to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription. We came home and watched TV for a while and I could barely keep my eyes open so I decided to lay on the bed for a while and just "rest my eyes" Within minutes Ken joined me and so did Sadie and Max. Our 20 minutes of resting our eyes turned into three hours of sleep. I thought for sure it would mean that I'd toss and turn last night however that didn't happen. Instead I slept quite soundly. I did the same thing on Monday. I would have done it on Tuesday had I not been stuck in an all day meeting.

So why does all of this matter? I'm the type of person who typically pushes through feeling tired and run down but for some reason my body isn't letting me do that this time. My body is demanding rest. Physically I know my body is lighter but it feels very heavy. Last week I had insomnia and major stress. I barely slept at all last week. I'm still under stress this week but instead of being wide awake and wired, I feel very tired. Ken left for work 15 minutes ago and even now at 6am I'm contemplating going back to bed for a few hours. This is what stress does to my body. This is the aftermath of a high stress week. My body is screaming for rest so for once instead of making excuses I'm going to listen.
Posted by Scale Junkie
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15 comments:

  1. I love the sentence MY BODY IS DEMANDING REST.

    The hardest thing for me is that I DO believe we truly have all the answers within us when we STOP and listen.

    for some reason I still ignore my gut sometimes & try myriad "other ways" before I finally silence and hear what the bod is saying.

    It is true, for me, in all areas of my life.
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  2. Your body knows what you need, and your smart to listen to it. It's almost like it's a separate entity from our minds, strange but true.
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  3. This has been happening to me too (pre-steroids). I have had to lay very low with bad poison ivy and was scared that my sleep would be affected - but wound up sleeping like a baby. It has been a very stressful time and I think it was my body telling me that I need to replenish. Who am I to argue?
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  4. Glad you are listening to your body. Get some rest lady!!!
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  5. Good for you! That is really such an important lesson - to listen to our bodies. Hope all the rest helps.
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  6. Here's a tip I took from Jillian's new book that has already greatly improved my quality of sleep at night so I have more energy in the day:

    NO caffeine after 12 noon! (limit to 2 cups of coffee or green tea)

    NO carbs in the evening---preferably not even with dinner.....just a protein and plenty of green veggies
    Carbs can block your release of growth hormone that you get while you sleep!!

    I have been doing this for 2 wks and have already noticed a difference
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  7. Ya gotta listen to your body ... it knows what it needs.
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  8. I hope you're able to get the rest you need. The ability to understand and listen to your body is very hard when we fight it for so long.. it's great that you recognize it's time to listen! :)
    Have a great weekend!
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  9. It's so tough to actually listen to what our bodies are telling us. Quiet your mind and get some rest....everything will still be waiting for you when you feel better.
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  10. I've been wondering how you were doing this week. I'm so sorry you've had another stressful week!

    Listen to your body. Don't push yourself beyond its limits because you think you should. When you need rest... get some rest, girl! :)
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  11. It's crazy that your body knows and when it wants rest it'll get it!
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  12. I am the same way, I find it really, really hard to take rest time.

    However, you must make yourself do it.

    Good for you to listen to yourself!
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  13. Oh man, I needed to read your post today. I have been pushing through for weeks now and I need to stop. Thanks.
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  14. I know it's hard, but I hope you get lots of rest and feel better quickly.
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  15. Why do we feel as though it is not right, maybe even shameful or guilty to go back to bed after an early am start or even have a daytime sleep. Are we afraid of being labelled slothful or lazy, even by our own self.

    I learned the value of pacing myself and taking whole days out when I could. I had no choice in the days ME or chronic fatigue syndrome was doing it's worst. I had to ignore even what had been essential tasks and let my body call the tune.

    Rest when needed is part of being healthy and essential to healing. Maybe a daytime sleep is an NSV.

    Blessings.
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