Depersonalisation is the feeling of not being part of reality.

I thought I'd throw this out there as I've experienced this personally. At 16 months post-concussion my benefits provider (e.g. disability) decided that my physician/health team was not doing enough. After explaining to them about my situation/limitations, they subsequently emailed me a direct quotation from my benefits contract essentially saying I was required to participate fully in my recovery or would face suspension of disability payments.

Following this, Sun Life called to inform me that I had two choices: i. I could engage in a more active recovery involving bi-weekly meetings with an OT, or ii. I could opt out and have my benefits suspended.

Needless to say, I was upset and ruminated on this strong-arming tactic excessively for months (and continue to). The increased activity levels since this call, though some it has been helpful, has put me in a downwards spiral with many more steps backwards than forwards.

My point to this is that, at least in my case, my activity level has been greatly impacted by Sun Life who feels they know more about my recovery than I do. That is, I don't necessarily have a choice. I hope others have not faced a similar situation, but I suspect they have.

I have been noticing that I feel the best if I sleep 7-8 hours a night. On the weekends I always sleep in, sometimes up to 10-12 hours and I actually feel worse throughout the day. I don't know why this is, but I'm pretty sure it takes me shorter to feel "awake" on days I sleep less whereas on days I sleep 10-12 hours I don't feel awake for the first 5-6 hours of the day.

Also, I always feel better in the 2nd half of the day. No clue why. One would expect it to get worse towards the evening, but it's the exact opposite for me.

Yes, I tend to feel better towards the latter part of the day, I've heard it mentioned on here before from others too. One theory is the that concussion can knock your circadian rhythm out of sync, like being in a different time zone. By the time I go to bed I sometimes feels wide awake but now I can deal with it. I really don't think it's worth sleeping for more than 8 hours unless you're ill, I don't think it's of any benefit.

I also find that I usually feel better in the latter half of the day. Although weirdly enough, for some reason lately if I'm having a day where I'm feeling okay when I first wake up then I get worse as the day goes on, but if I'm not feeling that good when I wake up I get better. It's like a weird inverse relationship, I dunno.

With regards to the original topic, I was wondering something these past few days. Is there a good balance to find between resting and being active? Because I feel like I've been told that I should rest as much as possible by some people, and then different people say I should try to keep my brain active throughout the day (you know, with light cardio and stuff) when I can. So is there a good way to find a balance between the two? Or should you even try to find a balance?

Although even then, I sometimes struggle to figure out what "rest" is at times. Pre-concussion, resting for me would be sitting on the computer or watching a movie or something, laying around. But then when you get the concussion, they tell you to limit screen time and all of that. So aside from just laying down with my eyes closed (which you can only do for so long), I've always struggled to figure out how to rest since the beginning. Probably because I'm the kind of person that always likes to keep doing things.

Hi Deuce,

Regarding rest: this obviously varies from person to person, and even from moment to moment, but rest doesn't necessarily mean physical rest. My worst enemy is my mind, and so I could be lying down struggling to meditate and be "working" at it very hard. My thoughts can be so taxing at times, that what would appear to an onlooker to be "rest" actually feels to me like dangling out the side of a speeding car on the freeway. By the end of one of these episodes of mental mayhem, I have usually experienced symptoms return.

Then sometimes I'll go for a walk and return home feeling completely refreshed. The physical exertion being significantly less taxing than the mental. Or I've discovered that I can sit down with a pad of paper and draw thoughtlessly for an hour, and likewise, feel totally soothed afterwards. Other times neither of those work at all, and I have to try for something else. And then there are days when nothing seems to work, and I just have to clutch to that speeding car till it stops or I fall asleep.

There's definitely no clear answer. But keep playing with different methods and don't give up!

Yeah that's exactly how I am too. I'll be laying on the couch trying to rest, but my thoughts are still racing a mile a minute. And then one things leads to another, and I wind up needing to Google something I was thinking about, and then it all goes downhill anyway. Sometimes I feel like I'm using more cognitive processes when I'm "resting" than when I'm actively doing something. I remember in my first month I literally took a whole day to just lay in a dark room and rest the whole day because I thought it would help, but I winded up just feeling worse after.

I've found I usually feel best when I'm hanging out with people. I don't know if there's something to the power of distraction, but when my mind is off of things I feel my best. But it's like you said with your activities that make you feel better, this isn't always the case. Last week I was hanging with friends and felt crappier than I did when I was alone earlier in the day. There's definitely no clear method on how to rest, because some days none of them do work. I think that's the most frustrating part about it.

But thanks for your comment, glad to know I'm not alone with not being able to find clear methods that work. But we must not give up hope.

I'm the same. On days when I'm recovering from over-stimulation, my thoughts race out of control, leaving me heavily taxed. I posted this a couple weeks ago, too much sound that occurs during showering puts my mind into a mental race that takes the wind out of my sails for the day.

When I'm in such a state, distraction is my best weapon.

I have found that rest needs to be either sleep or just low key activities that keep the mind busy. As mentioned, mindless drawing keeps the brain going just enough to keep racing thoughts at bay. Any manual activities are good, especially because the hands cannot move faster than an injured brain can tolerate.

Trying to rest without an activity to do means the options are limited. Resting in or on a bed creates a risk of tossing and poor neck and head posture. I find that unless I am sleeping, bed is not a good place to be. If I am not sleepy enough to fall asleep, I rest in my recliner. If I fall asleep, I can do it without aggravating my neck.

The old idea that lots of sleep is important has been dispelled. Normal amounts are adequate. What is more important is trying to get good REM sleep.