A Positive Start to The Day With CFS
April 20, 2008 by laura
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
Image details: Man asleep in bed holding large alarm clock served by picapp.com
Every morning at 5 am, my radio is set to play selections from the classical music station. I listen to the music for an hour, before starting my day.
This is the only way for me to wake up properly. I can not wake up without assistance. If I decided to wake up, when my body (and mind) was ready – I might now get out of bed until well after noon (such is my curse of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome). The 5 am start is necessary – I have a job, where I need to be everyday – and it takes about an hour to get there.
The 1 hour of listening is imperative. First it brings enjoyment to my day (important!). It gives me an opportunity to awaken my senses in a way that is calming and energizing at the same time. Because of the genre of the station – the music is rarely of a jarring nature. Although, occasionally they will play a jig – or something by Vaughn-Williams – and then it becomes harder for me to wake up in a good mood. Often when this happens, I usually close my mind off, and roll over and fall back to sleep. It happens, when I am forced to listen to music that I do not like.
My point to this, is that it is much easier to wake up to sounds that are gentle, than something extremely high energy first thing in the morning. Pop music belongs on the ipod, dance floor, or the car stereo, and not in the bedroom. An equally good substitute is listening to sounds of nature. But usually that can happen naturally in the spring and summer (at least in my neighborhood).
Another trick is to remain consistent. Don’t let yourself sleep in on the weekends.
What do you to start your day on a good note?
A nice long shower =D To problem normally is getting from the bes to the shower though.
There’s a natural cosmetics company which I absolutely love and that bit of pampering in the morning sets me up for the day and gives me something to get out of bed for.
http://www.lush.co.uk
*ahem*
To problem -> The problem
bes -> bed
Stoopid headache =P
Elena,
no worries- I often have days like that
Yea the problem for me is getting out of the bed, and into the shower. Once I am up – I am usually pretty good, for getting myself ready and out the door. But lifting the head off the pillow is sometimes more of a chore than a delight.
Glad to know that you have found something to make your mornings a good one. I wonder if that is the same as lush cosmetics in North America. Going to go look now!
Having something to look forward to first thing in the morning. Right now it’s dancing, and learning about dance. Even if I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck, the magic of it gets me out of bed. Then I remember I’m supposed to _do_ it, and I grumble for about 5 minutes before I realize that the muscle soreness is actually going away. I still don’t have the stamina to go very far with it, but then taking my tea to the computer and watching other people do it well on YouTube, and learning new moves, is even better.
It’s stopping that and getting on with the dishes that’s a downer.
Jenna,
Makes perfect sense to me if there was something special to look forward to.
When I have something fun planned, I beat the alarm every time.
Hey all,
Well, it’s fairly obvious- CFS sucks and to top it off, I’m 14. Which means the phrase ‘I’m so misunderstood’ annoyingly comes into play here.
No one, literally no one, gets how hard it is. Waking up, doing the day, just watching other people being so energetic. What’s worse is the falling asleep. So knackered, but somehow just can’t go to slumberland.
All these ideas here are really cool, though, and I think I’ll give them a shot =) I like the waking up to classical music idea =)
Thank you
Eve