WatchME and other HR/HRV monitoring apps

[Dolphin]

Pub. October 6, 2026
Upd. October 18, 2026
21 min read
5.0
110

Morning HRV for pacing with ME/CFS and Long COVID: how to read it next to how you feel​

A short morning HRV reading, compared with your own average and read as a trend, can add one physiological signal to pacing decisions. It cannot tell you your energy limit, and when it disagrees with your body, your body wins.

Morning HRV for pacing: how to read it next to how you feel

How to use HRV to pace with ME/CFS and Long COVID: take a morning reading, read it as a trend beside your symptoms, and know when the number is misleading.

welltory.com

I haven't read this myself.

 

[Dolphin]

Pub. October 6, 2026
Upd. October 18, 2026
23 min read
5.0
39

The 50% rule: how stopping before you feel tired keeps you out of a crash​

The 50% rule says to do about half of what you feel able to do and stop before you feel you need to. It is a clinical and patient-community heuristic, not a validated threshold — no trial has ever tested 50% as a number. This is what it is for, where it came from, and how to apply it without under-living.

The 50% rule: stop before you're tired, avoid the crash

What the 50% rule in pacing is, why it is a heuristic rather than a validated threshold, and why stopping before you feel tired is the part that works.

welltory.com

I haven't read this myself.

 

[Dolphin]

Pub. October 6, 2026
Upd. October 20, 2026
26 min read
5.0
138

Heart rate pacing: thresholds, wearables and alerts for ME/CFS and Long COVID​

Heart rate pacing keeps everyday activity under a personal pulse ceiling so that post-exertional malaise has less to feed on. The usual starting number, resting heart rate plus 15, is a heuristic — and the method only works with continuous readings and an alert.

Heart rate pacing for ME/CFS and Long COVID

How heart rate pacing works for ME/CFS and Long COVID: the resting +15 heuristic, chest strap vs watch, alerts, standing, and what your pulse misses.

welltory.com

I haven't read this myself.

 

[Dolphin]

Energy envelope: how to find your baseline for pacing

What the energy envelope is, what Leonard Jason's research found, and a two-week diary to find your baseline when the crash can arrive 12–48 hours late.

welltory.com

Pub. October 6, 2026
Upd. October 21, 2026
22 min read
5.0
125

Energy envelope: how to find your baseline for pacing with ME/CFS and Long COVID​

Leonard Jason's energy envelope theory compares the energy you feel you have with the energy you spend. Because post-exertional malaise typically arrives 12 to 48 hours late, the only reliable way to find your baseline is a short written record — read against yourself, not against a chart.

Energy envelope: how to find your baseline for pacing

What the energy envelope is, what Leonard Jason's research found, and a two-week diary to find your baseline when the crash can arrive 12–48 hours late.

welltory.com

I haven't read this myself.

 

[fst]

Leonard Jason's energy envelope theory compares the energy you feel you have with the energy you spend. Because post-exertional malaise typically arrives 12 to 48 hours late, the only reliable way to find your baseline is a short written record — read against yourself, not against a chart.

I wonder how member here feel about these battery/envelope/spoon analogies?

What works today without getting PEM may not work tomorrow and because I can do 12 different things that cost "a spoon" doesn't mean I can do one of these things 12 times.

I always went by rule of thumb and it's working for me. Stop whenever I feel I'm getting a bit jumpy/nervous or even very engaged/euphoric with an activity.

Maybe it's because I'm severe and I naturally spend a lot of time just lying and contemplating how I currently feel? Maybe these analogies are more useful when being milder?

 

[Jonathan Edwards]

I wonder how member here feel about these battery/envelope/spoon analogies?

From the evidence point of view I don't see any. In biology terms the 'energy' doesn't even have a defined meaning. I think people clutch at recipes but I don't see any validation for this one.

 

[Trish]

I think so long as people see the spoons/energy envelope/battery ideas as metaphors that reflect the fact that if we don't limit exertion we are likely to crash, they are OK for those who want to use them to tell outsiders or ourselves that we need to ration exertion.

The problem comes when people try to interpret them as fixed and known limits, or to pretend they explain, or can measure, or be used to plan ahead, or to predict, or to improve our exertion capacity.

 

[Dolphin]

Pub. October 6, 2026
Upd. October 24, 2026
26 min read
5.0
302

Best pacing apps for ME/CFS and Long COVID, compared: what each one measures and what it cannot see​

Visible, Welltory, Bearable, Garmin Body Battery, Rox and a paper diary cover different pacing jobs: an alarm in the moment, a morning check, a daily budget and a log of what things cost two days later. None of them can tell you a crash is coming.

Jane Smorodnikova
Founder & CEO

Tatsiana Yashyna
Deputy COO
https://welltory.com/blog/best-pacing-apps

I haven't read this myself.

 

[Trish]

Best pacing apps for ME/CFS and Long COVID, compared: what each one measures and what it cannot see

I have read it. It's surprisingly sensible.

Looks at the functions of various apps including visible and Welltory and compares what they offer according to their own descriptions.

Warns against getting burdened by over focusing on data.

Clearly describes pacing for ME/CFS and LC with PEM as staying within one's limits.
Contrasts that with pacing for POTS and FM and other conditions without PEM as including some planned increases in activity.

Quotes relevant bits of NICE NG206 about pacing being a management strategy aimed at reducing PEM, not a treatment.

Suggests different functions of apps being relevant to different needs.

 

[Dolphin]

The Best Pacing Apps for Chronic Illness (2026)​

Pacing apps work in different ways: a heart-rate band, a spoon budget, a rest timer or a diary. Here is what each one is genuinely best at.

The Best Pacing Apps for Chronic Illness (2026) | Juno

The best pacing apps for ME/CFS, long COVID and chronic illness in 2026: Visible, Juno, Welltory, Pacely, Pacing Guard and more, with prices checked.

junocompanion.com

I haven’t read this.