16/11/2005

After some time (weeks, possibly even a few months), at the foregoing baseline level of activity, your symptoms should level off.  If they are still acute you are still doing too much and need to cut back further. All you should feel at this stage is tired. Your sleep should have stabilised, i.e. you should begin waking up in the morning feeling refreshed (not shattered) and the bad dreams should gradually be ceasing. You can then start increasing your mental and physical activity slots, starting with about 10% increments per slot.  You will eventually reach a point where it is practical to double each activity slot and rest periods and work within two-hour spans but it may be wise to work these in gradually.

DO NOT INCREASE AT INTERVALS OF TIME OF LESS THAN TWO WEEKS.  

Everyone is different and you have to find you own level of progress. If symptoms (which may briefly reappear after an increase in activity) haven't disappeared within three days of an increase, the increment may be too much and you can stop, cut back to where you were before for about two weeks or so (may be less, may be more) and then have another go with a smaller increment.

DO NOT DO ANYTHING WHICH CAUSES YOU STRESS        

Think of your energy levels as a bank account. When you are bankrupt you have to save up to a certain balance before you can start regular spending again. After a while you can start spending in small amounts and you can only become a big spender when you have a full account to fall back on.

INTRODUCING READING, TELEVISION AND COMPUTER

WATCHING TELEVISION Once you have started to sleep well and wake feeling refreshed, you can start doing some very limited visual processing.  This should come within the structure of your mental processing slots in the programme.  For instance, if you particularly want to watch television then it is suggested that you use a DVD/Video Recorder and then watch ten minutes per hour.  The more mentally demanding the television programme the shorter the period of time it should be watched. If you have done ten minutes of television  then, of course, you can't do any reading or any computer within that next hour. 

READING,  If you want to read then it is suggested that you start with just one page of a book, (or even less if your visual concentration begins to deteriorate), and progress gradually from there.

and COMPUTER If you are on broadband it is suggested that you leave it booted up and linked to the internet all of the time and then your time slot is not wasted on technicalities. If you want to do a bit of computer work, then it is suggested you start with two minutes per hour right from the word go.  This allows you, at least, to print off an e-mail and, maybe, write an e-mail of one or two lines in reply.  However, if you use the computer for a couple of minutes per hour (say up to five minutes maximum) then you can't read or watch television.  If you read, then of course, you can't watch television or play with the computer - it is simply one thing at a time.  In order to simplify this it is suggested that you should have a television day, a computer day or a reading day so that you don't get bogged down with different activities confusing one another.

It is suggested that all three of the foregoing activities are enjoyed between breakfast and your evening meal.  After your evening meal no visual processing of any kind should be done during the period of winding down before going to bed.