Chronic fatigue syndrome is a complex disease resulting from systematic overwork. Its symptoms are sleep disturbances, lethargy, apathy, decreased mood background, turning into aggressiveness, reduced immunity. Treatment of chronic fatigue syndrome is a rather lengthy process, associated, first of all, with the exit of the patient from the work process.
However, scientists from Oxford have found a way to prevent its development in the early stages with the help of, oddly enough, occupational therapy. People with the initial stages of chronic fatigue syndrome were instructed to engage in any physical or mental activity not related to their main job: gardening, car mechanics, dancing, language learning – everything that we classify as a hobby. These activities, the study showed, increased the overall tone of the participants, helped them to acquire a positive attitude in life and improve their quality of life. And physical activity helped solve sleep problems.
Occupational therapy has been shown to relieve most people from fatigue, depression, daytime sleepiness, immune dysfunction, muscle pain, hypoxia, and impaired attention skills. The participants worked with specially trained instructors, however, according to experts, the peculiarity of occupational therapy is that any person can independently change their usual way of life and at any age get carried away by an unfamiliar business or hobby.