Portal:Energy metabolism/Selected article/4

The Energy Envelope Theory is a self-management tool to reduce symptom severity and the frequency of relapses. This theory suggests that because variations in day-to-day energy levels are often unpredictable in people with ME/CFS, they are to assess their perceived energy levels on a daily basis (or in smaller time increments, as needed) and use that level to gauge their energy expenditure for the day. It encourages people with ME/CFS to accept their daily energy limitations and not exceed or fight them. (more...)

Energy Envelope Theory A self-management tool developed and tested by Dr. Leonard Jason to reduce symptom severity and the frequency of post-exertional malaise or relapses for people with ME/CFS. According to this theory, ME/CFS patients should not expend more energy than they perceive they have, as this results in post-exertional malaise and higher disability. Instead patients are advised to stay within their energy envelope, meaning the physical limits the disease has imposed upon them. As the energy envelope theory also cautions about the dangers of under-exertion, its principles are almost identical to ‘pacing’, an activity management strategy for ME patients devised by Ellen Goudsmit in the UK.