The basic idea is that overdoing any of the following can cause your symptoms to worsen a few hours or a few days later:
- Physical exertion like exercise.
- Mental exertion like having a conversation for an hour, reading, watching a movie, etc.
- Emotional exertion
Usually you’ll discover your limits when you accidentally go over them, e.g. during special events like birthdays and weddings.
Pacing strategies generally involve going right up to your limit and avoiding unnecessary activities so that you can bank your energy for more important things. Maybe this is not a sexy example but if you don’t sweat then you don’t need to shower as often.
Data
According to patient survey data, it’s the #1 treatment.
Survey data suggests that it’s one of the safest treatments out there, which is not surprising because there are no drugs involved. This is one of the few treatments out there that isn’t risky.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to help most people recover. It may not deal with the root cause of vax injury, Long COVID, etc. See What worked for 27 people who recovered - Feb 2023
The data does suggest that some people can exercise without problems. You don’t necessarily need to avoid exercise, although avoiding exercise is probably a good idea for moderate and severe people.
Resources
Try the infographic first
If you want more, see ME-Pedia’s wiki article on pacing