How to use Garmin watch to reduce stress, charge body battery

[Hufsamor]

No secret cure I’m afraid, but some tricks to try to lower the stress?
Easy to read on the watch if it works for you or not

1) cold water. Try a cold and wet cloth on the forehead or the side of the neck or run cold water from the tap over your wrists for a minute.

2) no food between 8 in the evening and 11 in the morning

3) humming

For me, some of it works sometimes but other times it will work opposite.
But for quite a few me patients at least one of those little tricks lowers the stress immediately, so it might be worth a try. In theory it might help a little bit on the awful feeling in the long run.

 

[Hufsamor]

4) lay flat with your legs up the wall or on a pillow. Legs higher than your heart

5) lay flat on your left side. (The heart side, sometimes this has been the only way I have been able to reduce the stress on the watch)

 

[Hufsamor]

6) breathing

 

[hapl808]

No secret cure I’m afraid, but some tricks to try to lower the stress?
Easy to read on the watch if it works for you or not

Thanks! Sadly I've tried all these things. The best I can do is 'lower' stress into a still mediocre range by staying in bed all day, elevating my feet, ankle pumps, left side, using cold packs on head and wrists (AI suggested the wrists to me - hadn't heard of that before), humming and other vagal exercises, various deep breathing, SOVT, etc. Barely makes a difference.

I also have severe muscle issues (haven't been able to walk in many years), so that complicates everything.

But if I had known these things 10 years ago when I was mild-moderate, I'm sure it would have been helpful. Once you slip into more severe, none of this really moves the needle for me - and certainly there's no immediate drops in stress or HR like I read about. It truly feels like a different disease than mild-moderate.

My stress stays in orange for 100% of the hours I'm awake, and so far beta blockers, guanfacine, etc - nothing has really helped. I have a new beta blocker to try, but waiting until my baseline is more stable so I can tell if it helps.

For anyone who is less severe than me, these are good tips and while people don't like AI, personally I got all these and more suggested by a combo of AI tools. Cold packs (I find that easier than cold water) on my head and wrists are most helpful for the worsening brain fog during a crash, but I have to do it every 30 mins and it only helps a bit.

Anyways, thanks again for the suggestions and hopefully they help someone else. I keep hoping I'll try something and notice a real improvement (in symptoms, HRV, Battery, etc), but almost nothing helps anymore.

Don't let yourself get more severe. The years I pushed through because I 'had no choice' led me to barely existing. I'm just running out the clock.

 

[hapl808]

My sleep has been worse lately (before I usually would go to sleep at 10pm-11pm), but otherwise this is a typical day for me. You can see the dip in my stress in the late afternoon - I believe I was fast asleep then with a normal afternoon nap (which feels like a minor crash since none of my sleep is restful). Even so, it doesn't drop into the blue when I'm fast asleep, on my left side, etc.

Ironically, my sleep is actually better in some ways than in my 'healthier' days. Usually I go to sleep around 10 or 11 and wake up at 6 or 7.

But all my sleep hygiene and ridiculous attention to diet has done nothing. I've tried not eating after certain times, having specific carb meals before bed, every diet under the sun, meditation, the 'brain retraining' stuff, supplements, herbs, medications, etc.

I've tried it all. Even yoga. (Well, way back when I still could stand up or stretch without hurting myself.)

 

[Hufsamor]

But if I had known these things 10 years ago when I was mild-moderate, I'm sure it would have been helpfu

Maybe. I can see some people (on a Facebook group I’m following) have been very sick, but have worked themselves much better with those tricks.
I’m in a much better place now than I have been, but still most of them doesn’t work for me on a regular basis. If I’m feeling very good, having a very good day, they might help. Even the cold water. Some days it helps, other days it gives me elevated stress.

I’m sorry you are in this situation. It’s so difficult when nothing you do are really helpful.

It truly feels like a different disease than mild-moderate.

Yes is does, doesn’t it?
I’m sick enough for my liking, but it’s hard to visualise how sick I was. I’m not surprised others have a hard time to understand the sickness, I hardly understand myself, how sick it is possible to be without dying, even though I’ve been there. (Not at he bottom rock, but a fair bit lower down than I am at the moment.

Only comfort is- it was kind of nice to have a measure of how hard the body was working. Something to point at. I had same stresslevels laying on the couch each day as my husband had on his work as a carpenter. And I can tell you have the same…no surprise you are tired, the body is working so, so hard