If you’ve been living with Long Covid or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), you’ve likely heard the advice over and over: rest and pace yourself. It’s the standard go-to recommendation for managing symptoms. While rest and pacing can certainly help prevent major flare-ups, the truth is, they aren’t a cure. Relying on these strategies will leave you stagnated and unable to recover. And to be frank they are somewhat damaging as they leave people believing that there is no hope and that they need to be this way forever.

Let’s dive into why resting and pacing alone won't get you well, and what else you should be focusing on instead so that you can actually start to heal and recover.

The Rest Trap: Why “Just Rest” Isn’t the Answer

It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking rest is the key to recovery. After all, when you feel exhausted, it is as though your body is crying out for it. And yes, rest is necessary, especially when you’re in the middle of a crash or flare-up. But here’s the catch: chronic rest can actually keep you stuck in a cycle of fatigue.

Your body needs movement and stimulation to heal, just as much as it needs rest. When we over-rest, we start to condition our nervous system into a constant state of "freeze." You end up reinforcing the idea that you’re too fragile to do anything, and over time, this mindset can actually make your symptoms worse. You might feel like you’re protecting yourself from further crashes, but you’re also reinforcing patterns of immobility and fear around doing anything.

Pacing: Useful but Limited

Pacing, the practice of breaking your activities into manageable chunks, is another commonly recommended strategy for managing CFS and Long Covid. And it’s helpful—for managing, not curing. Pacing can stop you from overdoing it on days when you feel a bit better, but it doesn’t address the root cause of your illness. It’s a bit like putting a Band-Aid on a wound that needs stitches—it helps, but it’s not the solution.

The problem with pacing is that it’s easy to become overly cautious. You may start avoiding activities that actually challenge your system in the right way. While you think you’re protecting yourself from post-exertional malaise (PEM), you’re actually preventing your body from learning how to recover after stress or activity. Over time, you end up pacing yourself into a smaller and smaller life.

Why Resting and Pacing Aren’t Addressing the Root Cause

Both resting and pacing focus on symptom management rather than recovery. They don’t target what’s actually causing your body to stay in a state of illness. To recover, you need to understand that conditions like CFS and Long Covid aren’t just about “being tired.” They’re about nervous system dysregulation and a malfunctioning stress response.

When your nervous system is stuck in “fight, flight, or freeze” mode, your body struggles to heal. Your immune system stays on high alert, inflammation remains, and your energy production systems (hello, mitochondria!) don’t work efficiently. Resting and pacing, on their own, do little to reset this stuck system.

What You Should Focus on Instead

To truly heal, you need to move beyond just managing your energy levels. Here’s where you should be focusing your efforts:

* Nervous System Regulation

The nervous system plays a huge role in chronic illness. When it’s dysregulated, your body stays in a state of constant stress. Practices like vagal toning exercises, breathwork, and somatic movements help train your nervous system to switch from survival mode to healing mode. By regulating your nervous system, overtime your nervous system will be receiving messages of safety so that the alerts that activate your symptoms have the opportunity to subside.

* Graded Exposure to Activity

Rather than just pacing, focus on gradual increases in activity. The idea is to gently train your body to tolerate more over time. This doesn’t mean pushing through fatigue—that will just set you back. But, by introducing small, manageable challenges to your system and then allowing it to recover, you help build resilience. It’s like slowly adding weights at the gym; you build strength over time. But try not to push yourself over your thresholds - it can be a fine balance, but always erring on the side of caution and living in fear with hinder you ability to recover. It's hard to always get it exactly right, so be kind to yourself if you slip up now and again - its normal.

* Brain Retraining

For many with Long Covid and CFS, the brain is stuck in a pattern of fear and hypervigilance. It perceives any exertion as a threat, which keeps the body locked in a state of fatigue and inflammation. Brain retraining techniques to interrupt the nervous system state work to break these harmful patterns and teach your brain to stop sending out unnecessary danger signals.

* Addressing Trauma and Emotional Stress

Many people with chronic illnesses have underlying unresolved trauma or emotional stress that contributes to their nervous system dysregulation. Practices like somatic therapy, EMDR, or talk therapy can help you process these deep-rooted issues, which in turn helps your body feel safe enough to heal.

The Balance of Rest, Movement, and Healing

Now, I’m not saying you should ditch rest or pacing entirely. They’re important pieces of the puzzle, especially in the early stages of recovery. But they shouldn’t be the only pieces. Healing is about finding the right balance between rest, activity, and nervous system regulation. It’s about giving your body the tools and environment it needs to recover, not just keeping it afloat.

So, if you’ve been stuck in the rest and pacing loop and wondering why you’re not getting better, it’s time to start thinking bigger. Start focusing on the root causes, not just the symptoms, and you might just find that healing is possible after all.

If you want to find out more about my Rebalance and Recover programme that covers all of the above, click HERE