Heart rate monitoring for ME/CFS pacing

ME/CFS folks, I just started heart rate monitoring a few days ago and have found it to be an incredibly helpful pacing tool, I feel much less fatigued already! Essentially you follow this formula [ ((220 - age) x 0.6) ] to find your anaerobic threshold (the heart rate at which your cells run out of oxygen and burn glucose for energy instead) and then stay below that as much as possible. If you are severely ill, you can try 0.5 instead of 0.6 in the equation People with ME/CFS and PEM process energy differently than healthy people so crossing that barrier can cause a crash/flare. Using the formula, my AT was 119 BPM but I rounded it down to a nice 115 since it was easier to remember. With my Fitbit, I found that I frequently went above this number while walking or doing chores. Now, when I see my heartrate getting that high, I pause and take some breaths to calm down and maybe even sit for a while. It's been a pain as my walks across campus now take twice as long (slowing down and sitting breaks) but wow has it been effective!! I find that I'm not as worn out by the end of the day as I usually am and can get more done I definitely recommend trying this by investing in a heartrate tracker if possible. Really upset that no doctor has told me to try this and I had to discover it on the internet during my own research but it has helped significantly alongside my meds. Having something to actually measure and look at has been way more helpful than the vague "just pace yourself" I keep hearing from medical professionals I also read that doing this and completing strengthening exercises (while staying under your AT) can help expand your energy envelope over time so I'm looking forward to summer break when I will have the spoons to research that path some more 😁