Why Reset Days Can Be a Lifesaver When You’re Chronically Ill

Do you feel like you’re falling behind because you’re sick again?

You’re struggling with another flare-up of symptoms that stop you from completing your work or you have to take an extra rest day because post-exertional malaise (PEM) hits harder than expected.

That’s often the reality of living with a chronic illness, but sadly, your to-do list usually doesn’t get any shorter. Dirty dishes and laundry pile up quickly and life admin tasks like signing your kid up for summer camp, paying bills or ordering medication online might not be able to wait. No wonder you’re overwhelmed, exhausted and worried about how you’ll pick up the pieces again once you feel a little better.

A possible solution? Build in reset days into your schedule.

What are reset days, and why do they matter when you’re chronically ill?

When I say ‘reset day’, I don’t mean a spontaneous day off when you feel awful, although rest days and mental health days are both valuable too.

No, a reset day is a more intentional, pre-scheduled block of time to catch up on chores and tasks you haven’t been able to do or to set yourself up for a smoother week ahead, while minding your fluctuating health and abilities. It can be an hour or half-day a week, one day each month or a full weekend each quarter to tackle your inbox, do some simple meal prepping or organize your home.

The idea of reset days fits in well with pacing, the core strategy to manage your energy with chronic illness and avoid the push-and-crash cycles that many of us are all too familiar with. That’s exactly why planning a reset day can be such a powerful tool:

• Reset days can help manage chronic fatigue. An overview study shows that activity pacing leads to less exhaustion, less emotional stress and improved daily functioning in people with ME/CFS and long COVID. What’s more, by stabilizing your energy levels, balancing activity with rest is a science-backed strategy to reduce post-exertional malaise, the worsening of symptoms after (minor) physical or mental efforts.
• Reset days offer some control in unpredictable times. When you’re living with epilepsy, MS or kidney disease, you never quite know how you’ll feel from day to day. Reset days provide some structure as well as a buffer, so you’re not constantly reacting to last-minute flare-ups, but proactively managing your energy.
• Reset days contribute to a better quality of life with chronic illness. That’s because activity pacing is linked to more predictable energy levels, better symptom management and improved emotional wellbeing.

By planning reset days into your calendar, you can take time to rest when you need to, without feeling anxious about if and when you’ll be able to get back on track again. Having a sense of personal control can give you some peace of mind and hopefully less energy crashes.

It won’t cure your symptoms, but reset days can help you deal better with the practical problems of living with chronic illness.

How to Build Reset Days Into Your Life

If you live with chronic illness and know that flare-ups or PEM may pop up regularly, it can help to build reset time into your schedule, before you actually need it. Let’s take a look at some practical steps to consider:

• Decide on the frequency and duration of your reset ‘day’. Do you want to set aside a few hours a week, one full day per month or a weekend each quarter? What works best for you depends on the unpredictability of your illness, how often you need unexpected rest days and the amount of obligations you have.

• Put reset days in your calendar. Think of that blocked time as an important appointment with yourself, one that will offer you both more rest and more productivity in the long run.

• However, stay flexible. Sometimes you might only need a few hours to catch up, other times a full day. If you don’t end up needing that buffer time for work tasks or chores, then you have some well-deserved time (and hopefully enough energy) for self-care or some low-effort fun.

• Be realistic about how much you can do on a reset day. It’s so demoralizing if you’re not able to tick off those to dos for the second time, so don’t plan more tasks than you can achieve.

• Reassess and adjust regularly. When you’re living with fibromyalgia, migraine or Crohn’s disease, your energy levels and daily baseline as well as your triggers and tolerance change over time. So adapt your reset strategies to best fit your current abilities and needs.

To be able to schedule reset days, you do need some autonomy over your time, which can be challenging if you work full-time or you’re caring for family. And if you spend a lot of time stuck in bed, you probably need to rely on (lots of) help from others to put this pacing strategy into practice.

So explore how you can make reset days (or buffer time, if that suits your situation better) work for you.

So what might a reset day actually look like?

What a reset day looks like obviously is highly personal, and can change all the time, depending on which chores you haven’t gotten around to or the preparation you want to do for a hectic period ahead.

But let’s take a look at 24 reset strategies that you can tailor to your unique situation.

Food

Running low on food after feeling unwell this week? Here’s how you can restock your kitchen or prep for challenging times:

• 1. Create a list of 7 low-effort meals for sick days. And if healthy 10-minute dinners still feel out of reach when you’re dealing with excruciating pain, then research some high-quality ready-made meals and the healthiest takeaway foods.
• 2. Order groceries online to restock your kitchen. Save your staple ingredients in a digital list to reduce your cognitive load in the future.
• 3. Make a big pot of nourishing veggie soup or turkey chili and freeze meal-sized portions that you can turn to on days when you’re too exhausted to cook.
• 4. Reorganize your fridge or pantry, so you can easily grab your go-to items and prevent food waste.
• 5. Prep healthy lunches for the work week ahead. You could also make some overnight oats for quick, fiber-rich breakfasts or stock your freezer with morning glory muffins for a healthy snack.

Cleaning and Organizing Your Home

When your home’s a mess because you did not have any energy left to tidy up, these accessible tips will help you to regain some control:

• 6. Do a quick cleaning session for basic hygiene. Put one load of laundry in the washing machine, while emptying the bins and scrubbing your toilet. Make sure you stop cleaning before you get too exhausted.
• 7. Wipe down high-touch surfaces like the kitchen sink, doorhandles or your bedside table. Ok, you won’t see shiny results, but your immune system will thank you.
• 8. Declutter one small area of your home, whether that’s your night stand, dinner table or bathroom drawer.
• 9. Grab a basket to collect items that belong in other rooms. That way, you can make one living area look tidier without spending too much energy.
• 10. Reorganize your entry way. You can set up a drop spot by the front door so you’ll never lose your keys again, or make it easier to head outside by having your mobility aids, bag or umbrella ready to go.

Life Admin and Digital Productivity

We’re bombarded with information all day long, and it can feel daunting to catch up on emails, bills and calls when you’ve been sick. This is a great place to start:

• 11. Make one important phone call to your kid’s school, the pharmacy or insurance company. Be mindful of what’s most time-sensitive or crucial.
• 12. Pay your bills, and set up automatic payments for recurring expenses like rent, childcare fees and utility bills if possible.
• 13. Upload receipts for insurance or taxes.
• 14. Scan your email inbox for easy wins: messages you can delete, archive or reply to without much thought. At work, it also helps to create templates for standard replies to questions you get asked a lot. Add your (part-time) work hours to your email signature to manage expectations.
• 15. Do some digital decluttering. Backup important files, unsubscribe from newsletters you rarely read, delete 25 old photos and clear your downloads folder.

Medical Management

Anyone with chronic illness knows that managing your health can be a full-time job. How can you stay on top of caring for your body and mind?

• 16. Fill your pill organizer for the week. It’s also useful to jot down in your calendar when you need to refill your prescriptions.
• 17. Update your symptom tracker to get a better understanding of potential triggers and patterns.
• 18. Create a coping kit to get through flare-up days. Think of practical items like pain killers, snacks and your heat pack, but also a soothing playlist or easy reads for mental support.
• 19. Prepare for your upcoming doctor’s appointment by writing down important questions or gathering medical documents.
• 20. Review your care plan to see if it still fits your current needs, goals and preferences. Make updates where necessary, and inform family, caretakers and medical professionals who are involved.

Planning

Planning is a natural part of pacing your energy, and these reset strategies can help you work smarter, not harder, whenever you can.

• 21. Update your calendar for the upcoming week or month. Next, write a simple to-do list based on realistic pacing.
• 22. Outline a project or task, so you can execute it more effortlessly once the time comes. If possible, see if you can break it down into low-effort and high-effort tasks, to adapt to your energy levels.
• 23. Got any birthdays and holidays coming up? Write cards and buy presents ahead of time so you won’t end up empty-handed if you happen to be sick on the days beforehand. You could also keep some crowd-pleasing gifts on hand that are fine for any occasion, like shower gel, a box of chocolates or a fun card game.
• 24. Schedule rest days after tiring events, from social gatherings and therapy to anything that involves travel. That gives you a clearer picture of how much you can actually do in one week, and stops you from getting disappointed that you’re too exhausted to be productive.

I know it can be frustrating or disheartening to accept that you can no longer ‘do everything’ the way that you once did. It’s perfectly normal to grieve your old self and the energy you used to have, or to feel guilty that you can’t keep up with work, housekeeping and social obligations.

But pacing yourself with reset days can help you to create a sustainable rhythm that honors your body’s limits while still getting important things done with chronic illness.

Conclusion: Reset days are a helpful tool for pacing your energy with chronic illness

If you’re chronically ill, incorporating reset days into your life can be a lifesaver. By pre-scheduling time to catch up on chores or work tasks, you give yourself a buffer against unpredictable flare-ups, while reducing the risk of post-exertional malaise and mental overwhelm.

Hopefully these 24 actionable strategies have given you some inspiration how reset days can give back a sense of control and make your life with chronic illness a little more manageable.

For more accessible ideas on living a good life with chronic illness, check out ‘How You Can Still Be Productive When Living with Pain, Fatigue and Brain Fog’ and ‘The Ultimate Guide to Getting Things Done with Chronic Illness’.

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