Recording activity and energy
Cocoacorn guide · Updated
A few notes can help you remember what a day involved and how you felt afterwards. Start with the day you actually had, rather than a target you think you should meet.
Go to the short checklistA small record is enough to start
- What did you do, and roughly when?
- How did you feel before and just afterwards?
- Did you notice anything later? Add the time of that observation.
- What is missing or uncertain in your record?
This is a recording tool, not an exercise plan or a test of your limits.
1. Describe the activity in ordinary words
“A phone call about an appointment” says more than “busy morning”. If useful, add an approximate duration, pauses, help you received, or whether you stopped. Thinking, talking, travelling, and everyday tasks can all be part of your notes; you do not have to restrict the record to exercise.
Use whatever description you can manage. If you already use an energy scale, note what its numbers mean to you. A personal rating is a way to describe your experience, not a measurement of a universally safe activity allowance.
2. Keep later observations separate
The CDC explains that, in ME/CFS, post-exertional malaise can be delayed and activity-and-symptom diaries may help people understand their limits. It also warns that pushing activity can worsen symptoms. See CDC guidance on managing ME/CFS.
Record what you notice later with its own date or time. Do not repeat or increase an activity to fill in this checklist. Discuss activity changes with a healthcare professional who understands your condition.
A change after an activity does not, by itself, establish what caused it. Keep other context and gaps visible rather than turning a sequence of events into a definite conclusion.
A fictional example
- Activity
- Monday, about 11am: a phone call to arrange an appointment. Around 15 minutes, sitting down.
- Before and afterwards
- Before: already tired. Afterwards: harder to concentrate; left the remaining paperwork for another time.
- Later note
- Tuesday morning: still tired. I also slept poorly. I did not make any other Monday entries.
- Uncertainty
- This does not tell me whether the call explains the next morning. It gives me something concrete to discuss.
3. Review without grading yourself
Keep changed plans, rest, and unfinished tasks in the record when they matter to you. You do not need to catch up on missing days. If you add a memory later, label it as a later recollection.
Choose a few examples you want to discuss rather than presenting an unexplained score. Our appointment notes guide can help you prepare that conversation.