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You are in: Home > Chest Information > Living With > Conserving Energy / Coping With Tiredness

Conserving Energy / Coping With Tiredness

• Tired all the time?
• Use breathing control
• Save energy!
• Organise your time
• Organise your space
• Pace yourself
• Get assistance

Tired all the time?

Tiredness and lack of energy are very common with many chest conditions. Sometimes this tiredness can feel overwhelming and leave you with little energy, or motivation, for everyday tasks. Symptoms such as breathlessness and coughing can be exhausting.

Tiredness affects everyone differently. As well as a general lack of energy you may also:

• Find it hard to concentrate or make decisions
• Feel irritable and get upset easily
• Have difficulty remembering things
• Have interrupted sleep
• Withdraw from family and friends

Learning ways to conserve your energy can be very helpful: this page gives you some useful tips.

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Use breathing control

Practising breathing control exercises can help to improve symptoms (such as breathlessness) and conserve your energy. It is very useful to learn and master. It combines gentle relaxed breathing, using the lower part of your chest, with relaxation of the upper chest and shoulders.

You shouldn't feel that you are working at breathing. You should allow your tummy to rise as you breathe in and fall as you breathe out. Breathing control encourages a normal breathing pattern and helps to get air into the lower parts of your lungs.

How to do breathing control Settle yourself into a chair in a comfortable position. Make sure your back is well supported. Rest one hand on your lower rib cage with the other hand on your upper thigh. Let your shoulders and upper chest relax, think about letting your shoulders go. Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. Concentrate on letting the lower part of your chest move under your hand. Feel your hand rise and fall with your chest as you breathe gently in and out. Breathe at your own rate. Doing this should not tire you. Continue until your breathing is back under control once more. Once you feel happy about doing this, you may like to try resting both hands down on your thighs with the palms of the hands facing up.

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Save energy!

• Use a towelling bathrobe to dry off after showering.
• Let dishes drip–dry or invest in a dishwasher.
• Sit for as many activities as possible, e.g. ironing, preparing / cooking food.
• Use a trolley, or shopper, to gather things from around the house that you need to do something. This saves going back and forwards to get things you need.
• Rest your arms on a surface, or pillows, while using your hands to do something, e.g. chopping vegetables.
• Shop on the internet or from catalogues. This gives you the chance to choose what you want and get things delivered at a time that's convenient to you.
• Avoid bending: use a 'grab' stick to pick up items from the floor or garden.
• Avoid lifting heavy objects.

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Organise your time

• Do most energy–consuming tasks at the time of day / week when you have most energy – but be flexible and plan rest periods.
• Planning in advance will avoid having to rush.

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Organise your space

• Put frequently used items in drawers or shelves that are between waist / shoulder level.
• Keep items in the area where they will be used, to avoid unnecessary fetching and carrying.

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Pace yourself

• Give yourself time to do things. A slow steady pace consumes less energy.
• Alternate work / chores and rest by doing things in small stages.
• Don't be tempted to overdo it on a good day as you will be overtired the next day. If you find yourself very tired one day think back to what you did the day before as you may have done too much. In this way you can learn to adjust what you can do without taking too much out of yourself.
• Consider keeping a diary and keep a note of the times of the day when you are most tired. This can help you discover any patterns to your energy levels and you can plan to rest at these times.

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Get assistance

• Don't be afraid to ask for help.
• It doesn't mean you are being dependent: it means you are using your energy to its best advantage.

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