20210714 : Spasticity

"Spasticity" is a term I've encountered only after my stroke. It is very common in the neuro recovery/ rehab world. It's when various parts of the body become stiff/rigid, either involuntarily or through limited muscle action but is not yet receiving messages from the brain to release/relax. sometimes your affected body part feels like a stone and sometimes very painful. But you just have to wait for it to relax on its own. It feels like nothing like a cramp.

It starts with more intensity in the morning and reduces slowly as the day progresses, I guess as there are some movements and more blood circulation. I don't know.

My sleep on most nights is very broken due to cough or waking up frequently for bathroom breaks or something else. It's rare that I get more than 1hr at one stretch.

But what I have observed, more importantly, is that I have a very increased spasticity and I am able do something new which I never could before, when I have a good night's sleep. Rare, but happens once in a while.

I feel like everything I tried to learn to do for several days only gets cemented/ digested in the brain with a good sleep. That's when it gets really internalised. 

It is very discernable to me owing to my condition. But I am thinking it holds true for others as well, just not noticeable. Most of the days, we live just like the previous day and there is nothing new to learn or do to notice the difference.... 

Most of the time, we cut short on good sleep to do something. It must be costing a lot more than the benefit of couple of hours. I don't know what is the right amount of sleep is. I am sure different people's needs are different amounts. The right amount, I think, is the amount to feel sufficiently rested and feel refreshed and not too much to feel lethargic.

What about young children. Every waking minute is a learning experience, good or bad. I guess a good amount of sleep is very critical to hammer in the whole day. No point suggesting staying up late or waking up early and cutting sleep to work harder at something. I guess working smarter in their case, translates to sleeping more...😀

PS: None of the above observations are new information to me. I have always known about it. Only, i knew it intellectually as knowledge and knowing it through experience is something else ...