One thing I have had to learn pretty quickly post cancer is how to deal with fatigue. After years of being energetic and valuing physical activity, this was an eye opener. There are a couple of things I’d like to share from the research about managing fatigue that have helped me.

When your energy is low and you’re feeling fatigued it can be very daunting as it affects all aspects of your life, and I mean all! You suddenly feel more emotional, less able to do work around the home and for your job. You may struggle to sleep, find it hard to prep food to eat well, and exercise feels impossible. All the things that are good for wellbeing are negatively impacted.

You decide to get a grip, trying to push through, only to find this period of boom leads to a period of bust! I experienced all of the above and had to understand more about how I used up energy, and what gained me energy. This is what I learned.

Energy

Our energy use isn’t only physical. Mental processes like concentration and attention, use up considerable amounts, as do emotions, especially those related to anxiety and worry, frustration and anger.

Energy is a lot like money; you can only spend it once. When you don’t have a lot of it you have to be very careful how and when you spend it. So it makes sense to divide the energy you do have over the day and week. This is easier said than done, and is where the art of Pacing and Planning comes in.

Raising awareness of where your own energy levels truly are, together with understanding the relation between overexertion and symptoms, will help you stabilise, pacing yourself to your needs. (See the short video on the Vase of Energy to learn more how to do this).

Pacing and planning:

Write down what your plans and tasks are for today and tomorrow.
Write down how much energy you think each activity will cost you in %.
Add up the percentages to see if you are over 100%.
If you are over, then prioritise the list and postpone the activities at the bottom till the next day.
Work out how much time it should take you to do an activity but never spend this amount on doing it; take up to two thirds of the time and stop it before you feel remotely tired. Waiting to feel tired before stopping will mean you have overdone it.

Switching has been added to the concept of pacing and is about changing the muscle groups you are using to avoid tiring them out. For instance, if you've been reading for a while, stop before your eye muscles get tired and do something which involves a different muscle group, e.g. walking, washing dishes, eating, talking. Do that for a while (stop before you reach your limit), and then switch again (you can even go back to reading).

Exercise & Activity

When you feel tired the natural response is to reduce physical activity. You begin to take the car instead of a walk, and avoid stairs when you can. But this avoidance only makes you feel more tired in the long run. Exercise and activity actually improves fatigue and mood, but it’s about chunking it down into what’s right for you, grading the exercise.

When you feel tired the natural response is to reduce physical activity. You begin to take the car instead of a walk, and avoid stairs when you can. But this avoidance only makes you feel more tired in the long run.

Divide activity into ten-minute episodes, use activity ideas that work for you and get you moving; but 30 minutes over the course of a day is a good place to start. Building strength in your leg muscles doing leg squats and lunges, and some in your arms doing arm curls, with tins of beans for weights, will build strength in muscles for everyday needs. Start at a low level of 2 reps of 5 each time, increasing incrementally in duration and intensity to increase your tolerance threshold.

Putting yourself first

Finally, willingness to self-care is vital in regaining your spark. Stand up for yourself and tell others how you feel and what you can manage, to protect your energy levels. Learn to say no in the short-term so that you can say yes again in the longer-term!

Making new habits does take courage and time, but there is no need to rush. The long-term benefits are worth it and this will help every area of your health.