Question for #LongCovid & #MedTwitter fam — past 4 years I've never napped w LC, & now past 2 months I nap almost daily for 30-60 min in afternoon (3-6pm) & **seems** to correlate with maybe slight baseline increase. Could napping be helping, or be a stage of recovery/healing?
When I started napping, my partner was p concerned, like oh no he's regressing again or something new is wrong — but I was like well I def don't feel worse.. & seems to allow me to do a bit more in the day.. so JC why I'm suddenly napping every day, & what it could mean?
@loscharlos The 1st year my sleep was disturbed and I could not nap at all no matter how tired. Once my sleep got better and I was able to nap, I did see a rise in baseline. At one point I even was walking outside everyday, but only if I could nap. I called it “giving in to the nap”
@loscharlos For me it’s a stage of recovery! I’ve had insomnia and that tired-wired feeling all the time (+ no naps) for the first year, and with each relapse. 2.5y in I’ve started napping and it correlates with increased energy envelope. Maybe it’s the nervous system finally calming down?🤞
@loscharlos Perhaps nervous system trying to find an autonomic balance. My POTS Dr said as inflammation lowers post C*vid that the nervous system will try to recalibrate circadian rhythms. In my case, this was the truth
@loscharlos When I got POTS, napping became really difficult. Even when I do, I rarely fully complete a REM cycle…there’s rarely a dream like there was pre-POTS (either when I was healthy or when I “just” had ME). Sounds to me like the effect (not the cause) of an improvement
@loscharlos That is the ME/CFS side they say it takes 5 years to set in. Need to work on your mitocondria.
@loscharlos I take three rests each day. When I'm worse I can't nap at those times. When I'm better i can nap easily and I feel much better after napping too. Some real feedback loops there. For me it seems clear that this is nervous system driven where I get that tired but wired easily. 1/