TREATMENT DATABASE

Bed rest is lying down, with your eyes shut, and resting. Resting was an integral part of daily life until the last generation. The Spanish siesta, the dinner hour, teatime, the evening cigar, and afternoon snooze all acknowledged the need to take a break from long periods of activity. Rest charges our batteries.

Bed rest was an essential part of treatment for every illness until the middle part of the twentieth century. Conscientious physicians, and mothers, have recognized throughout the ages that the body needs adequate rest to recover from daily wear and the insults of infectious disease. Given the frequent occurrence of serious infectious diseases that characterized life before antibiotics, the sickbed was a place where everyone would no doubt spend time at some point during a lifetime.

USES IN ME/CFS: Virtually every ME/CFS physician recommends bed rest as an essential part of coping with the illness, as do patients. Resting seems obvious when you are tired, but all too often we ignore what our bodies are telling us. Patients with ME/CFS learn very quickly that pushing past their limits exacerbates symptoms. Both those who are well into recovery and those who are recently ill learn this lesson over and over again: Rest is essential to recovery.

Treatment rating for Bed Rest