Cognitive Fatigue - How to Manage It Every Day - Written by Doreen Bridgman

Cognitive fatigue can be one of the most common and frustrating challenges you encounter.  You create a plan for the day, but by lunch, you're too exhausted to complete it. 

When that fatigue sets in, managing daily work and life responsibilities can feel impossible.  

So, what can you do when you run out of mental energy mid-day, and there’s still so much work left to do? 

The Cognitive Energy Rating Scale (CERS), which was developed at the Center for Head Injuries, is a tool we use in the Long Live Your Brain program. It's an effective tool that helps our clients recognize how much cognitive and emotional energy is used to complete specific tasks throughout the day.

The rating scale uses a 10-point system divided into 3 categories that measure the level of mental energy a given task might expend - low, moderate, and high energy.  (Get the tool we use with our clients HERE.)

The Cognitive Energy Rating Scale (CERS) has multiple uses including: 

• Increasing awareness

• Improving the ability to pace

• Increasing the ability to set realistic expectations

We ask clients to identify tasks that fall into each category and then have them complete those tasks to determine how accurately they were able to categorize them. Once they feel comfortable with how the scale works, we begin to implement it daily. 

Clients are asked to predict the energy expenditure using the 10-point scale for each task as they develop their daily plan. They are then asked to track the actual energy expended using the same 10-point scale and this information is reviewed in the weekly sessions. As awareness increases, the difference between the predicted and actual scores decreases. 

The ratings are also used when creating the daily plan. If a client recognizes increased alertness in the morning, their plan would include higher-rated tasks whenever possible.  For someone who is more alert in the afternoon, they would schedule accordingly. The goals are consistency and sustainability. 

Once we identify their ideal range, I encourage them to schedule within that range for 2-3 weeks and monitor their response.   If no difficulty is reported, they can try to increase by 5 points thus demonstrating increased endurance. It’s similar to building a training plan - you don’t increase your mileage until you can repeat what you have already done without experiencing a significant negative response. 

Although the Cognitive Energy Rating Scale (CERS) was developed for clients with neurological challenges, it can be easily adapted for everyone.  It is an excellent tool to increase awareness of the energy required to complete tasks and for effective planning of your day/week.

If you'd like more information on the CERS and how you can use it to increase your productivity, reserve your very own front-row seat in Long Live Your Brain.

We’ll take you through the process of maximizing your brain health, optimizing your brain performance, and boosting your cognitive energy for a more productive day.

Visit our website www.longliveyourbrain.com to learn more, and to schedule your free consultation.  

DOREEN BRIDGMAN, MS, CCC-SLP-CBHC is co-owner of BrainThrive Consulting and owner of The Cognitive Coach LLC.  Doreen is the co-creator of the ©Long Live Your Brain Program, an online brain health program to increase cognitive reserve, improve attention and memory and allow people to stay engaged in their daily lives.  Visit www.longliveyourbrain.com for more information.  Doreen is an Amen Clinics Certified Brain Health Coach and a licensed Speech-Language Pathologist.