Asthma, pacing and overcoming fatigue

6) Pacing

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Breaking up your day into more manageable chunks

  1. Get dressed
  2. Rest
  3. Wash breakfast dishes
  4. Rest
  5. Light dusting
  6. Rest
  7. Make ready meal for lunch
  8. Rest
  9. Iron 2 shirts
  10. Rest
  11. Preparing veg for evening meal
  12. Rest
  13. Cook evening meal
  14. Rest


Pacing should avoid the high peaks and low troughs and even out your energy level for the day. Notice how you can complete more tasks than before over a longer time. You should still be able to gradually build up exercise and activity in to your day using pacing.

  • Use of pacing helps you manage the symptoms you experience related to having asthma, and other long term health conditions.
  • Pacing is an important way to manage both your physical and emotional well being, and overall sense of control over your symptoms.
  • It is important to consider the activities you undertake in a day, how they impact on your symptoms, and think about pacing.
  • The essence of pacing is about ‘listening to your body’. Slow down if necessary or taking short breaks if needed to stay in control and manage breathlessness or any other of your symptoms on a day-to-day basis.
  • Remember a certain level of breathlessness is good for you.