Dealing with PTSD: The Importance of Rest

When I deal with posttraumatic stress disorder, I understand the importance of rest. When I was running long distance and training to run marathons, I never ran every day. My typical training week was four days of running, and three days of rest spaced through the week. I have discovered that the same logic serves me well when it comes to dealing with the symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and needing rest.

A typical therapy session can leave me worn out like a long training run (PTSD and Fatigue: Is It Normal To Feel So Tired?). It just doesn’t make sense for me to push my issues the very next day. I have to absorb what happened during the session. The same is true if I have released feelings having to do with my abuse. In my PTSD recovery program, it takes time for that to process, in a number of ways.

Dealing With PTSD Is Draining

• I am physically tired. It took a long time for me to catch on to this aspect of the
  healing process. It’s just really tiring. My body will feel the effects of healing work I have done, and I have to rest just like after a long run. Abuse memories are stored in the body at the cellular level, and when they release, it frees toxins, which need to pass through my system.
• I am mentally drained. If I have addressed a difficult issue, my mind has taken a jolt. I have typically learned something new about myself and how I functioned in my world after the abuse. For instance, in my abuse, I got the message it was dangerous to be successful. Now I better understand why I avoided success. It takes mental energy to absorb that new awareness.
• The healing process continues. I may not be aware of it on a conscious level, but the PTSD healing process, once prompted, will continue within my body (Using Your Brain and Body in PTSD Healing). If I have a therapy session on Friday, the feelings might not hit until Monday. I have learned to prepare for insights that surface much later.
• My energy reserves are low. I can be more easily triggered when I’m in a healing cycle. I can’t process life events as quickly or as effectively. When I’m going through a lot of PTSD healing, my senses are more heightened and on edge.

Rest Is Important When Dealing with PTSD

What I have learned is to put extra downtime into my world. Just like recharging my physical and emotional batteries after a long run, my body needs the time to let the healing process work (Taking A Break From PTSD Recovery).

• Get plenty of extra rest. If I can sleep longer than I normally would, I do so.
• Take healing steps. I take hot baths, or get a massage to release toxins and allow muscles that are tight and sore to release.
• Drink plenty of fluids. It’s amazing how draining PTSD work can be, and it just means my body loses fluids, which need replacement.

Yes, these healing steps sound a lot like what is recommended when I have a cold or the flu – but there’s a reason. My body has freed some old negative energy, and it helps to give myself room for that energy to be released.

Photo by Erik Blokhuis @Flickr. Creative Commons.

Dan is a PTSD survivor, and author of Healing The Writer: A Personal Account of Overcoming PTSD and Freedom’s Just Another Word. You can connect with Dan on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+, and at his website DanLHays.com.