Conserving your energy using the 4 P’s

Website design By BotEap.comEveryone has experienced the challenge of trying to conserve enough energy to do the everyday things on our to-do list, and when you have arthritis it can make things very difficult by limiting the amount of energy you have and interfering with ability to do them every day. activities, work and enjoying that precious time with your family and friends. But there are some pretty simple things you can do every day of your life to help you use your energy wisely. These energy saving techniques are what are called the 4 P’s: pacing, planning, prioritizing and positioning.

• Swing: It’s the key to helping you maintain your energy levels throughout the day. It will take a look at your activities and break them down into small steps with alternating rest periods. Think about the steps you need to take to complete a task or activity, and then try to solve them in your own time and at your own pace. Do not rush! Rushing is stressful, though you’ll finish much faster and, in the end, you’ll have expended more energy than you really needed. Give yourself plenty of time to get things done, and don’t forget to take several rest periods in between. You may find that you actually have more energy for later. The right way to pace yourself is to learn to listen to your body so you can determine what level of activity works for you. If you do too much activity, you’ll end up overly fatigued or in too much pain, however, too little can cause you to lose muscle strength and undo any conditioning you already have. Learning how much you can do before you get tired and stopping to rest will help you avoid depleting your energy supply completely and end up with some in reserve. Learning to rest both your mind and body is equally important, and if you’re worried about what to do next, you’re probably not getting the full benefit of your downtime. You should try to keep your activities and rest times consistent and automatic so that you always stay within your energy limits. Keeping a diary or diary, documenting your energy levels at different times of the day will help you see when you feel your best and when you feel your energy levels drop. You’ll want to write down the activity you were doing when you began to feel your energy starting to drop. This helps you learn what activities you can tolerate and you’ll start to get ideas about some simple changes you can make to your daily routine to help maintain your energy levels. The first thing you’ll want to do is break the task or activity down into small steps. For example: Let’s say today is laundry day, you can break it down like this; step 1- collect all the clothes; step 2: separate it into different loads; step 3 – washing and drying; step 4: fold and hang the clothes and put them away. By doing laundry this way, you can rest after you’ve collected, separated, and put the first load in for washing and then drying. Then while the second load washes and dries, you can double the first load, you see, sitting doesn’t require as much energy as standing. Plus, simple changes, like delegating tasks to other members of your family, can leave you with more energy for other daily tasks.
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• Timeline: You need effective planning for proper pacing. You need to look ahead a day, a few days, or even a week so that you can develop some sort of strategy for doing your activities. Make a to-do list of things you want to do, or do, that can be accomplished in a day so you can plan the best time to do each activity. If mornings are your best time then you should probably plan your most strenuous activities by time or if you have more energy after a nap you may want to schedule that time to run errands or do work activities that require you to be more physical or for you to think a little more. However, you will need to plan your rest time at some point in the day so that you can replenish your energy levels. Using a calendar or planner can help you schedule your activities for the week so you’re not doing all of your strenuous work on the same day. The first thing you need to do is look at all the things you want to do or need to accomplish in a week, and rank them according to how much energy it takes to do each, such as low, medium, and high. The second is to spread out your high-energy activities throughout the week so you don’t do too many in one day and end up so exhausted that it takes several days to get your energy levels back up. Remember that doing too many energy-intensive activities in one day can cause an arthritis or fibromyalgia flare-up that may take several days or weeks to resolve. When you keep a list of the things you want to accomplish, you’ll be able to keep track of what you’ve already done and what you have left to do. This will give you a sense of accomplishment that is positive when you look back at what you were able to accomplish. Also, remember that you will need to be a little flexible with your schedule because it will allow you to do activities that are enjoyable that you might otherwise have missed out on because you were too exhausted to do them.
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• Prioritizing: Learning to decide what to do first, to prioritize, can go a long way when trying to conserve energy. It can also be one of the most challenging to master because it requires you to take a very close look at all your work, home, leisure and recreational activities and then decide which ones are the most important and necessary and even enjoyable for you. Here are some questions you may want to ask yourself as you try to decide which activities are most important to you.
  • What is the most important priority for me in my life? My job, home activities, or maybe my family and friends?
  • Where do I want to direct my energy? What is the most important thing for me?
  • How can I get the best balance between work and play in my life?
  • How can I get more rest and relaxation into my day to help replenish my energy supplies?
  • Can I simplify my daily tasks more so that I have more energy at the end of my day to do the things I enjoy?
  • Is there anything I really have to do that can’t be delegated to someone else or someone else can help me with?

Website design By BotEap.comYou’ll want to prioritize the most important activities and delegate those that are less important to someone else in your family. Delegating can be difficult if you’re the kind of person who’s always had the do-it-yourself attitude, but if you approach it in a more positive way by realizing that you’re helping yourself conserve your energy levels, you will. easier. Who knows, you may actually be helping others at home or even at your workplace, teaching them to accept responsibility. When you engage with family, friends, and neighbors to help you complete the tasks at hand, like taking your kids to carpool activities, then you could be helping them learn to conserve their energy, too.

• Positioning: When you look at how you position your body or your body mechanics, you can get other ideas on how to conserve your energy. When you look at how you position yourself throughout the day, you’ll be able to identify some ways to do your daily tasks with less energy that can help protect your joints from any undue stress. Here are some examples of techniques you can work into your daily routine to help conserve your energy:
  • Sit instead of standing because sitting uses less energy from your body and reduces stress on your leg joints. Using a shower stool while showering or sitting down to get dressed can help reduce the energy you would otherwise use to perform these activities.
  • If you must stand to perform a task and to relieve stress and fatigue on your back, try propping one foot up on a stool or inside a lower cabinet.
  • Good posture while sitting and standing will help relieve fatigue in your neck, back, and shoulders. This involves keeping your ears in line with your shoulders and your shoulders in line with your hips, and making sure your head doesn’t tilt too far forward.
  • Organizing your work areas so that everything you need is within easy reach can help you avoid reaching, bending, or bending over unnecessarily. Having duplicate items around the house can help eliminate unnecessary trips between rooms. A cart that you’ve organized with the items you’ll need or a lightweight organizing basket, or a storage container that you can carry items in, are other ways that can help you avoid unnecessary reaching, bending, or bending over.
  • Having work surfaces at the right height for you can help promote good posture and reduce fatigue that comes from poor posture. You’ll want your work surface to be just below your elbow height and when you’re sitting, it should be just below your elbow height.
  • To simplify your daily activities, try using devices that can help you do those activities. Items such as reachers, long-handled sponges, brushes and dusters, and jar openers are just a few that can help you when you’re trying to conserve your energy.
  • Lastly, you will need to breathe during your activities. I know it sounds a bit weird, but there is a proper way to breathe that can keep your energy levels up and help you relax. To begin with, pay attention to how you are breathing and if your chest moves up and down when you breathe then you are breathing poorly, it should not move at all. Instead, you want your belly area to move. When you breathe in, your belly area should expand, and as you breathe out, your belly area should compress or contract. Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth very slowly. For you women, think back to when you were in labor with your children and every time you had a contraction you were told to inhale just before and exhale during it. It is the same concept. If you practice this breathing method and pay attention to how you breathe during your activities, it will soon become natural and become a habit.

Website design By BotEap.comOccupational therapists are professionals who are trained to help you make these and other changes to the way you go about your daily work. If you have arthritis, an occupational therapist can recommend techniques and devices that can help protect your joints from any undue stress. They can also help you change your work and home to make them more manageable. Your doctor may recommend an occupational therapist if he or she decides you need this kind of help.

Website design By BotEap.comIf you take the time to think about everything you want to do or need to do, it can be a bit overwhelming. But, if you can accept the fact that you will have some manageable difficulties ahead of you, then you will begin to make the changes in your daily life that can help you conserve your energy. Remember that the changes you make will, in the long run, improve your quality of life and you will feel in control of your energy resources.