Energy management activity diary

This resource is for children who are attending the energy management service for chronic fatigue syndrome.

Please download a blank energy management activity diary here.

Why keep an activity diary?

Keeping a record of what you do, when and for how long helps you look closely at your own lifestyle and plan changes that can help your recovery.

We have included examples of ‘before’ and ‘after’ activity diaries to show how pacing can make weekly activities more manageable.

We suggest you complete an activity diary after you have watched the videos to help you plan some changes, and again the week before you come for your post-workshop review.

When to fill out an activity diary?

The activity diary covers one week and each day starts at 6am in the morning, with space to complete the next 24 hours.

Complete an activity diary after you have watched the videos to help you plan some changes.

You do not need to do a diary every week. It is just a snapshot in time before making any changes.

Fill out the diary again in the week before your post-workshop review. This will capture the changes you have made for the past few weeks.

If you decide to follow on with some individual appointments with one of the therapists, they may ask you to fill in some more diaries as part of your work together.

How to fill out an activity diary?

It helps to put the dates in the boxes Monday to Sunday so you can see changes from one diary to another.

The diary has 5 boxes for: sleep, rest, low, medium and high activity.

Choose a different colour for each and colour in the boxes as a key. For example, blank for sleep, green for rest, yellow for low activity, orange for medium activity, and red for high activity.

Colour in the diary depending on what you were doing each hour of the day.

What is an activity?

An activity is anything you do that needs mental, emotional or physical energy.

As everybody is different. You choose what activities come under low, medium and high. If it helps, you can make a list by the key of the activities you have included, for example:

• Rest – laying down, listening to music on headphones
• Low activity – reading, watching TV, scrolling on your phone
• Medium activity – eating a meal, talking with family, taking a shower
• High activity – walking the dog, lessons at school or college, sports

There are no right or wrong ways to list your activities. Just fill in your diary with what you feel is right for you. Your therapist will talk it through with you during your appointments.

Activity diary examples

Please download a blank energy management activity diary here.

Before making changes

After making changes