A tool to manage persistent fatigue
Are you struggling with persistent fatigue?
Do you ever feel like you’re constantly running on empty – pushing hard when you have energy, only to crash and struggle to recover?
You might be stuck in a ‘boom bust’ cycle and this makes energy pretty hard to manage.
Day to day this can be hard to recognise, but through good observation and documenting, we can start to recognise trends.
What can you do to spot it?
The first step is to document what you’re doing with an energy diary – we have one for you, and are about to walk you through the steps of how to do it.
Step 1) Get set up:
Download a copy of a PDF activity diary by clicking on this link. Have a few coloured markers or pencils ready.
Step 2) Record:
Start by writing down an activity down and highlight how long the activity was done for. After you have done that, colour code the activity accordingly:
🟢 Green = Low energy expenditure (restful activities)
🟡 Yellow – Moderate energy expenditure (activities that require a little energy)
🔴 Red – High energy expenditure (activities that require a lot of energy)
It is important to keep these as Objective as possible – that is to say, the energy demands of the activity are used to decide the colour, rather than how you were feeling at the time.
For example, brushing your teeth is low energy, but it might be hard on a fatigued day. Another example is a walk may feel good at the time, but it is a moderate to high energy activity. (This is important, as often fatigue an activity, rather than being present during)
Step 3: Observe
See any trends? If you see day to day fluctuations between red/yellow and green (eg, 1 day red, 1 day green, 1 day red, 1 day green…), you might be stuck in boom bust.
Step 4: Take action
Identifying boom bust and actioning it are 2 sides of the same sword – it’s well and good to see, but hard to create action against in your day to day life!
In short, do your best to match the red/yellow time and green time on any given day to make the energy you are spending as equal as possible. Small actions to put in more rest on your busy days and spread some extra activity over to your more restful days can go a long way to start.
And please, keep in mind
Getting through this on your own can be tricky and it can take time, trial and error. Finding the right balance can be a logistical and cognitive nightmare (even harder when you’re already so tired!)
If you cant find a trend, or are unsure what to do next, shoot us an email at info@tailoredhealth.com.au or book in to see us below
