My son just graduated, had a birthday and a major college decision which went bust when I didn't have any money and his fin aid even with the scholarships wouldn't cover tuition. The resulting emotional stress since last Thursday was pretty hard on me.
When I get under a lot of stress I don't sleep well, I eat at strange times and maybe not ideally. Instead of having time to make a salad, all the dishes are dirty so I eat toast or drink a Coke. When I'm stressed I am more likely to really crave chocolate - normally I would murder a pint of Haagan Daz ice cream to be honest, but I've held off on that self-destruction for now. So it throws off what good habits I've built up, the meditation, the yoga, the little works out and eating on the clock - that I've been valiantly protecting I guess. Because I'm so isolated it's hard to get the emotional support I need and also just friendly companionship. I live in a really remote area but have been thinking lately, a book club, a coffee shop meeting, a workout group -- you know anything to where I could be around other humans and just listen (don't really want to interact but would like to listen to their stories) I think that would do me good. I need an outlet besides watching YouTube videos, watching birds, and petting the cat.
Prior to all the stress I had been handling cytokine issues by breaking up a workout during the day. I usually feel extra awful after I eat so I would go hop on my spin bike and put in about five minutes after I eat. It's a little like torture because you don't want to move, you really really don't want to spin bike -- that's the last thing on earth I want to attempt -- but do that 3 times per day and eat loads of fruit and veggies and I had a couple of good weeks and my ability to exercise and not crash. I was doing pretty well before the stress threw everything off, I guess because it takes so much concentration just to keep going and anything that throws it off and I'm back to square one - so I'm not really getting better with my CFS but sometimes achieved better days.
In running there is a concept of a "recovery run" and "recovery work" where you exercise to release lactic acid build up from muscles and condition them a little bit but your are not taring down muscle or trying to build it, just get everything worked out so it can heal properly and respirate.
You wouldn't go run 20 miles for instance and then sit on a couch for two days, I mean you could, but you're going to have wicked issues with your legs like that.
So I figure with the cytokine thing, it's like my muscles have always gone for a long run, they're usually full of lactic acid, so I've been foam rolling, yoga, walks, the little workouts during the day and eating a good muscle recovery plan diet.
Foam rolling in particular usually helps with pain.
Working out I do have to have some sugar on hand, I usually put a teaspoon of coconut sugar in water while I "work out" (okay my workouts are really wimpy generally speaking) -- but if I don't I really will have terrible PEM and it's a day or two off if not more after that. I was using Vega and workout drinks but the coconut sugar is just dirt cheap and does the job without other additives.
Haven't been sleeping lately, sorry if this is confusing and unhelpful reply ;-P