I was fortunate enough to be able to retire when my ANS blew up. Unable to do much conceptual (left brain) processing, I reverted to sensory (right brain) processing. As to brain lateralization, consider reading Julian Jaynes' The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind and Ian McGilchrist's The Master and His Emissary. I postponed reading Jill Bolte Taylor's My Stroke of Insight for a couple of yrs; when I'd already decided to continue to indulge my senses, even as my cognition rose to the higher levels of mildly impaired, I read Taylor's book and found, as I suspected, she had traveled the same path, but, 37 yo at the time of her left-brain stroke, she could "go native," but not "stay native"--and achieved a massive accomplishment in returning to her profession as a Harvard-based neuroanatomist!

Yes, I read several hrs a day. (Right now, the recently published, glorious right-brained translation of the Iliad by Emily Wilson, who, in addition to the usual prep for a massive translation, visited the beach to hear the ocean waves crash onto the shore, observed light reflecting off metal, and attended to the sights, sounds, smells, and proprioception of horses and dogs.

I also cycle at least 12 hrs/wk along a lonely gravel trail and a few canopied rural roads, I do all of my own yardwork, I wrangle and hug my four large hounds, and I cook nearly all of the nearly entirely single-ingredient food that I eat.

My ANS remains unruly, but shapeable through diet, strenuous exercise (but not during flareups!), procedures (e.g., square breathing or face immersion in cold water for parasympathetic and Valsalva or body immersion in cold water for sympathetic), and long immersion in rest-and-relax settings, in which my fight-or-flee response can surge whenever needed. Just like the hounds!

Peace.