What is pacing?
Pacing is a self-management technique that helps people learn how to stay within their energy envelope by balancing activity and rest. Rather than being a treatment for ME/CFS or Long Covid, pacing is a way of managing symptoms and reducing the impact that the condition can have on daily life.
Pacing involves:
- Balancing activity and rest
- Choosing how energy your is used
- Stopping to rest before you have to
- Preventing post-exertional malaise (PEM)
- Recognising personal limits and abilities
- Communicating needs and boundaries to others
By understanding and accepting your current level of ability, you may find it easier to plan activities more confidently and avoid worsening symptoms.
Understanding your energy envelope
The term energy envelope refers to the amount of energy available to you at any given time. Staying within this envelope can help reduce symptom flare-ups and support a more manageable routine.
Everyone’s energy envelope is different and can change over time. Learning to recognise your own limits is an important part of pacing.
Some key practical elements of pacing and energy management include:
- Knowing your baseline. Identify the level of activity you can sustain on most days without provoking PEM and stay under it, even on good days, when overdoing it is tempting.
- Track your energy. Keep an activity-and-symptom diary (or use a wearable) to spot any patterns and thresholds that precede a crash.
- Break tasks into chunks. Split activities into smaller pieces with rest inbetween them, rather than doing them in one push.
- Rest proactively, not reactively. Schedule rest before you feel depleted, not only after symptoms flare.
- Count all forms of exertion. Cognitive effort (concentrating, screens, conversations) and emotional stress draw on the same energy budget as physical activity.
Activity means more than physical movement
When people think about activity, they often think about physical exercise or movement. However, for people with ME/CFS or Long Covid, activity can include much more than this.
Activities that use energy may include:
Physical activity
- Walking
- Household tasks
- Personal care
- Exercise
Cognitive (mental) activity
- Reading
- Watching television
- Scrolling on social media
- Using a computer or phone
- Having conversations
- Problem-solving or concentrating
All of these activities can contribute to energy expenditure and may affect symptoms.
Why pacing matters
Pacing can help people:
- Better understand their own limits
- Reduce the likelihood of post-exertional malaise
- Plan activities more effectively
- Maintain a more sustainable balance between rest and activity
- Improve communication with family, friends and professionals about their needs
Pacing is a personal process, and what works for one person may not work for another. The aim is not to increase activity regardless of symptoms, but to find a balance that supports day-to-day wellbeing.
Find out more about pacing and energy management
Source – Action for ME