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How to manage your energy levels

Practical advice for people recovering from illness or managing long-term health conditions 

How to manage your energy levels

When you are ill or recovering from an illness, you are likely to have less energy and feel tired. A simple task, such as putting on your shoes, can feel like hard work. This guide will help you to find ways to conserve your energy as you go about your daily tasks. By making these small changes you’ll have more energy throughout the day.

The 3 Ps principle (Pace, Plan and Prioritise)

Learning to pace, plan and prioritise your daily activities will help you to save energy.

Pace

Pacing yourself will help you have enough energy to complete an activity. You’ll recover faster if you work on a task until you are tired rather than exhausted. The alternative, doing something until you’re exhausted, or going for the big push, means that you’ll need longer to recover.

The pacing approach

The big push approach

Climb five steps, rest for 30 seconds and repeat. You won’t need a long rest at the top and won’t feel so tired the next day.

Climb all the stairs at once.

You’ll have to rest for 10 minutes at the top, and feel achy and tired the next day.   

Top tips

  • Break activities up into smaller tasks and spread them throughout the day.
  • Try adjusting different parts of an activity to reduce the energy demands.
  • Build rests into your activities; they’re key to recharging your energy.
  • Stop, pause and rest between activities where possible.
  • Sit and rest wherever possible.

Plan

Look at the activities you normally do on a daily and weekly basis, and develop a plan for how you can spread these activities out. If certain activities make you breathless or fatigued, rather than do them in one go, plan ahead to do them throughout the day. Change the time of an activity: instead of having a bath or shower in the morning when you are busy, have one in the evening. Do weekly activities such as gardening, laundry and food shopping on different days, with rest days in between.

Top tips

  • Plan ahead as much as possible.
  • Create routines.
  • Spread activities out.
  • Keep items you need together and in easy reach.
  • Look for equipment to reduce effort.
  • Measure and track your energy use.

Prioritise

Some daily activities are necessary, but others aren’t. Ask yourself the following questions to find out which of yours are necessary:

  • What do I need to do today?
  • What do I want to do today?
  • What can be put off until another day?
  • What can I ask someone else to do for me?
  • What activities help me feel energised?

Top tips

  • Be kind to yourself and don’t try to do everything.
  • Create a balance of activities you need and want to do.
  • Delegate or drop tasks if you can.
  • Look for activities that make you feel energised.

Washing and grooming

Pace 
  • Sit to wash your face, brush your teeth and dry your hair. Have rests after each.
  • Pat yourself dry rather than rubbing.
Plan 
  • Keep all the things you need in the same place.
  • Put a mirror at face level when sitting.
  • Use liquid soap instead of a bar.
  • Use long-handled equipment, such as a long-handled sponge.
Prioritise
  • Try dry shampoo.
  • Use electrical items, such as a toothbrush and razor, etc.

Bathing and showering

Pace
  • Allow plenty of time and take rests.
  • Sit in the shower if possible.
  • Rest in a dressing gown or large towel rather than drying.
Plan
  • Open an inside door to allow good ventilation.
  • Use long-handled equipment.
  • Use equipment to help you get in and out of the bath or shower, such as a rail or chair.
Prioritise
  • Is bathing an activity you enjoy and are willing to spend a lot of energy on?
  • Is a daily bath or shower necessary?
  • Can you have a strip wash at the sink instead?

Dressing

Pace
  • Sit to dress.
  • Break up tiring tasks with easy ones and take breaks.
  • Dress your lower half first when you have the most energy.
Plan
  • Rearrange your bedroom so the items you use most are easy to reach.
  • Collect all your clothes before you start.
  • Wear clothes that fasten at the front and are loose.
  • Put underwear and trousers on at the same time and then pull them up together.
  • Put skirts on over your head.
  • Sit down to put on socks and shoes. Lift and cross one leg onto your knee to bring your foot closer.
Prioritise
  • Rearrange your wardrobe and drawers so that all your clothes are close together.
  • Put clothing in groups of colour to make them easier to find. 
  • Get your clothes out the night before. 
  • If you have someone who can help, could they get your clothes out and help you get dressed?

 

Making the bed

Pace
  • Put on the sheet, stop for a rest, then the pillowcase, then rest again.
  • Sit for some of the task, such as doing the pillows.
  • If you can, get help with the duvet cover.
Plan
  • Have your bed positioned so that you can walk all the way around it.
  • Start and finish one side, then move to the other so you only circle the bed once.
Prioritise
  • Could someone help you by making the bed?
  • Can you do different parts on different days?

Cooking

Pace
  • Spread the preparation throughout the day. Peel vegetables in the morning, cook in the afternoon and reheat in the evening.
  • Sit regularly for short periods whilst preparing or stirring food.
  • Take rests during and after cooking.
  • Use a trolley to move cooking equipment or cutlery to the table.
Plan
  • Cook large amounts and refrigerate or freeze extra portions. 
  • Get everything you need ready before you start.
  • Keep things that are used together/most often in the same part of the kitchen and near waist height, so you aren’t bending and reaching.
  • Cook simple meals without too much preparation or cooking time.
Prioritise
  • Buy pre-prepared vegetables.
  • Buy frozen ready meals.
  • If able, could family or a friend prepare some meals? 
  • Prepare and eat your main meal at lunchtime

 

Shopping

Pace
  • Have a rest when you get to the shop. 
  • Take your time collecting your items.
  • Put heavy items in different bags.
  • Use a trolley to push your shopping home rather than carrying a bag. 
  • Spread heavy items across shopping bags.
Plan
  • Make a list with similar items together, such as milk and yoghurt together, so that you walk around the supermarket less.
  • Shop at quieter times.
  • Avoid large/deep trolleys to reduce bending when putting in and removing items.
  • Pack items together that go in the fridge/freezer or the same cupboard so it’s easier to unpack.
Prioritise 
  • Can family or a friend help you with the shopping?
  • Can you do online shopping?
  • Can you shop on a day when you don’t have other heavy tasks to do?

 

Laundry

Pace
  • Spread the tasks throughout the day. Load the machine in the morning, empty it in the afternoon.
  • Sit down to iron.
  • Use a low clothes horse and sit to hang out washing.
  • Take rests during and afterwards.
Plan
  • Wear clothes that wash, dry and iron easily.
  • Do several smaller loads each week, rather than one large wash.
  • Store everything you need, such as powder and pegs, in one place.
  • Use a laundry basket on wheels.
  • If possible, have your dryer at chest height.
Prioritise
  • Is it necessary to iron all of your clothes?
  • Do you need to fold all your towels and sheets?
  • Consider the use of products such as crease releaser sprays.

Housework

Pace
  • Spread heavy activities throughout the week. For example, vacuum a different room, or part of a room, each day.
  • Do a mix of heavy and light activities in a day.
  • Have a rest during and between activities.
  • Sit down for tasks like polishing or washing up.
Plan
  • Collect all the items you need before you start.
  • Use long-handled equipment where possible.
  • Use a mop to clean floor spills rather than bending over.
  • Allow washing up to air dry.
  • Use small rubbish bags so you don’t have to lift one heavy bag.
Prioritise
  • Can you ask a friend or family member to help you or pay for someone to do this for you?
  • Prioritise the main rooms which are used and clean others less frequently.
  • Clean one room, or part of a room, at a time and not the whole house at once.

Download a PDF to share and print

This guide replaces the 2020 version on How to conserve your energy: practical advice for people during and after having COVID-19. It has been updated after further consultation with patients, the public and professionals. 

Acknowledgements

Authors:

  • Penny Firshman and Tom Judge, members of the Critical Care Forum, RCOT Specialist Section – Trauma and Musculoskeletal Health
  • Joseph Bradley, Clinical Specialist Occupational Therapist, Yorkshire Fatigue Clinic.

Edited by: Henny Pearmain, freelance writer, DipCOT.

This guide was produced following consultation with occupational therapists and people living with fatigue. The authors would like to thank all those who contributed, including:

  • patients from the Yorkshire Fatigue Clinic
  • RCOT Long Covid Network
  • Long Covid OT
  • RCOT Publications Group
  • members of the following groups who consulted with people with lived experience to provide their feedback:

- RCOT Specialist Section – Major Health Conditions
- RCOT Specialist Section – Neurological Practice
- RCOT Specialist Section – Trauma and Musculoskeletal Health
- RCOT Specialist Section – Work.

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