Measure your Moderation

Thank you for this information. That is a great idea. My Physical Therapist through the Long COVID clinic where I am a patient, advised doing no more than 20 minutes of activity at a time. I set a timer on my Amazon Echo. I do 20 minutes at a time on good days and less on others. Activity could be slowly walking around, doing dishes, etc. It all depends on the individual.

My daughter uses this tool - she is beyond 3 years with post-Covid syndrome. She is now up to 40 minutes active with a brief rest between sessions on good days.
I am a chronic pain person, with bad lungs to make things more fun. When I was recovering from a severe lung infection 4 years ago, my active periods were 10 minutes on, 20 minutes off - It took over a year to work up to a full hour without a pause. Now my "new normal" can be a full day (6-8 hours) of activity, IF it is followed by a low-key day. Relearned my lesson about "too much" last month with a lung exacerbation that laid me flat for over 2 weeks after I didn't follow my own rules.
So "less is more" is my new normal.
Sue

That is wonderful that you can have 6 to 8 hours. Congratulations! I also understand the overdoing it. I do that at times and then deal with the consequences. I try to not do this very often. Unfortunately, having my grandson with me, he is six, is overdoing it no matter how much of a low key day we have. I need my time with him. I do try to limit it. I am 52, I am a young grandma. I try to avoid dwelling on what I can't do and what I can. But it is hard at times. I was in excellent shape prior to long COVID.

@sueinmn she might be using something just a bit different than what I am mentioning. Apple Watch dashboard shows "move" and "exercise". In Apple Health (which the watch feeds data to) there is a category "Active Energy" which computes calories of moving around + exercise. That's all the calories one burns in a day and what I am using as guidance and a guard rail.

This is all helpful! I have a condition not formally dx, similar to chronic fatigue, that ebbs and flows depending on stress, activity, weather, etc. They don't know if I've had a mild case of covid or not, in addition to my other systemic, long term issues. I've learned not to beat myself up about something that's not well understood, and to be gentle in general, along with getting good daily walks, playing with my dog, spending time with husband and grands, as well as friends. Thankfully, I'm in a neighborhood where I can walk and see folks daily, with a YMCA few blocks away for yoga, exercise and socialization opps..... still, it's all 'touch and go', depending on how I feel. While it would be nice to have an answer, I'm 70 and have no desire to spend the rest of my life in doc ofcs or having more tests.... I'm just living my best life and enjoying it! Open to suggestions, tho!

Welcome, @suss53. I love the last line of your message "I'm just living my best life and enjoying it!"

I see a lot of joy (and health) in the activities you listed. I'm trying to encourage my mom to pace herself more. Like you she's active and her activities bring her joy, socialization and are healthy behaviors. But sometimes (with increasing regularity) they set her back for a day. My observation is that she finds it hard to take breaks, especially when she feels good and people are around.

How do you pace yourself? What tips would you offer?

Suss53; I have one of those conditions too (old age) and am trying to learn to slow things down. Like you, I'm tired of trying to convince my GP that I probably have LC (although I have about 7 or 8 of the cardinal symptoms). I know I've read/learned a lot more than she has, since it's been my research project for months. Also, I've been accepted into a LC Clinic as of 4/1/24, no thanks to her. Now she wants me to get more tests and seems to be focusing on my heart ... although EEG/ECG's, etc. result in the need for more tests and not much else. This pacing thing (mental and physical) is hard to learn but seems to be the only thing that works for me. Gradually feeling less ill, after positive Covid dx ten months ago. Thanks for your suggestion... just trying to live your life and enjoy it. For me that includes lots of music (Classical WFMT in Chicago), time to finally read the books and magazines piling up, hanging out with a 10-year old grandchild... tonight the Charlie Brown Christmas Special, with Vince Guaraldi's music. Let's just keep on keeping on...

My best tip would be Do it if you feel like it. Don't if you don't!'
Simple to say and type, but not so simple to begin to make more thoughtful choices and anticipate consequences. Some days are lay around days.... not my fav. Others, I'm able to do two, maybe three things.... depends on many things. Overall, I'm very grateful to still be here, and other than this, relatively healthy!

There's an app for this! On the iPhone, it's called Visible. I don't know if it's available on Android. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/visible-long-covid-me-cfs/id1624474919

I tried Visible and while it may be best choice for others it really wasn't for me. At a glance in the Apple Health app I can see the numbers I need to keep myself disciplined and measure my progress.