Rest time: what's allowed
 

Sorry symptoms are bad now can't search the forum properly. It probably was discussed.

I tried doing nothing, i.e., being in a dark room. Laying on my back. And meditating. I can't do that for more than 2 hours a day. Then i try to sleep frequently. I still have about at least 10 hours to kill.

What is allowed? I guess, what is the least harmful....?

My rule when my concussion was fresh was nothing that took more than one sense... or at least tried... I did watch some TV.. I did play games on my phone... but I did these things for short periods of time...

Weren't you jogging or running recently?

I hope you're not doing that still.

Another rule of thumb is doing things that are manual in nature. Playing solitaire with real cards. Doing hand crafts. Basically, if you limit your stimulation to the speed that your hands can move, the brain should be able to remain relaxed. Playing a musical instrument would be OK. Learning card tricks. Drawing, sketching, etc. Avoid any activity that causes frustration.

Knitting or crocheting works too. NFL football players do both to relax.

Thanks all.

Lara: yes, i previously went back to jogging since my symptoms were gone after 2 weeks, so by early august i was doing very well. I started slowly and increased. My mistake is that on aug 20 or so, i ran fast... That put me back at square one. Since my symptoms came back i have not been running

Mike: when i have symptoms i find it much harder to play piano without getting more dizzy, in comparison to say reading stuff on my ipad or playing chess, or doing low intellectual browsing of internet...

What are your thoughts on ipad time?

you'll probably bounce back pretty quickly if you were jogging slowly w/o symptoms recently. doing nothing gets a lot easier with time.

i did a little watercolor when i was desperate. just shades of blues and greens.
very soothing.

and i lay around on my yoga mat and stretch.

Playing the piano may be too much two handed demand on your brain. Chess requires planning multiple steps/moves. That is a strain on the brain.

If the activity causes any symptoms, it is likely too much strain.

Is reading allowed? I've been doing some...For short periods of time though.

what about music?

In my experience, one needs to learn to recognize the early signs of brain fatigue. For me, if I was reading, I would find myself rereading a line to make sense of it. I might start trying to squint to see something. My eyes might start to feel tired. I might need to work harder to focus on a task.

There are plenty of other ways one might shows signs of fatigue. Learning to read our own bodies is important. Pushing through the fatigue just extends the time needed to recover.