Your mental health and social health play a big role in your physical health. Increased stress (from any source) can make your pain levels worse, and when your pain levels get worse, your stress usually does too. You don’t always have control over what your stressors are, but you can gain more control over the way your body reacts and responds to them. Regularly practicing mindfulness will help you become in better control of your body’s response system, but it requires time and practice. The more you do it, the better you will become at it. 

Research consistently shows that exercise is one of the most impactful changes you can make to reduce your fibromyalgia symptoms. Exercise increases your tolerance and resilience to painful sensations. It’s important to start slowly with exercise and gradually increase the difficulty of your exercises as you progress. Every exercise you do, no matter how small, will provide some benefit to your health long-term.

Your body needs sleep to recover and your fibromyalgia symptoms make it more challenging to sleep. When pain is waking you up throughout the night, you need to do everything you can to minimize any other factors that can keep you awake. This means you need to pay extra attention to your sleep routine—going to bed and waking up at the same time each day, avoiding caffeine and other stimulants, and keeping your bedroom dark, cool and quiet.