Fewer peaks and troughs in your day

With many conditions, energy is scarce. Doing too much on a good day often costs you for days afterwards. Pacing, also called energy management, makes those waves calmer.

You spread the energy you have over your day and your week, and rest in time, not only once you are worn out. A stable level comes first; building up does not happen by itself.

Rest is not lost time. A quarter of an hour on the sofa or in bed recharges you a little, especially when you rest before you are tired.

What has to happen today, what can wait until tomorrow, and what can someone else do? Planning your day leaves energy for what matters.

How a day really went is easy to forget, especially when you are tired. An activity diary shows what you did, for how long and how heavy it felt. With your occupational therapist or therapist you then see where the peaks are and where rest is missing.

This is the approach outside the Netherlands too. The British guideline for ME/CFS (NICE, 2021) recommends energy management, and care providers for long covid and COPD often add a diary.

In the Netherlands many occupational therapists work with the Activiteitenweger, a method developed in 2004 at Meander Medical Centre. You class your activities as relaxing, light, moderate or heavy, and per half hour an activity gets points: relaxing −1, light +1, moderate +2 and heavy +3.

That makes the balance between what you do and what you can manage visible, and you agree a limit per day with your therapist. Dagbalans counts the points the same way, if you want it to.

Your own activities are ready as buttons and the start time is already right. So an activity takes a few taps, on a bad day too.