A fatigue diary records when your energy drops, what the tiredness feels like, what you were doing, and how it affects everyday tasks. Add sleep, rest, medicines, and any symptoms that happen alongside it. A short, consistent record can help you explain changes at an appointment. It cannot identify the cause of fatigue.

Describe the Fatigue in Your Own Words

Write down whether you feel sleepy, physically drained, mentally foggy, or a mixture. These descriptions can be more useful than writing "tired" every day. If you want to sleep but otherwise feel able to do things, say that. If you feel awake but lack the energy to prepare lunch or follow a conversation, record that instead.

MedlinePlus distinguishes fatigue from drowsiness: fatigue involves a lack of energy, while drowsiness is the feeling that you need to sleep. They can occur together. You do not need to choose a medical label for your diary; describe the experience as clearly as you can.

Include when you first noticed the problem and whether it is new, ongoing, or different from your usual experience. If you cannot remember an exact date, use an estimate and mark it as approximate.

Record Timing and Daily Impact

Note the time of each entry and when the fatigue started or changed. A morning and evening check-in may be manageable, with an extra note for a noticeable change. You do not need to interrupt every activity to record a score.

If you use a personal 1-10 scale, decide what the ends mean and keep the direction the same. For example, you could use 1 for very little fatigue and 10 for the most severe fatigue you experience. Pair the number with a concrete description:

  • Prepared breakfast, then needed to sit down before getting dressed.
  • Read the same paragraph several times and stopped after ten minutes.
  • Completed an ordinary workday without an extra rest break.

Your score is a personal description, not a medical measurement. Recording an easier day matters too. It gives you something to compare with the days when fatigue limits what you can do.

Add Activity, Rest, and Delayed Changes

Record the main activity before a change, its approximate duration, and any rest afterward. Include mental and social activities when relevant, such as a long meeting or a busy family visit. Note how you felt during the activity, later that day, and the following day if there was a noticeable difference.

If symptoms worsen later, record when that happens. In people with ME/CFS, the CDC describes post-exertional malaise as worsening symptoms after activity, commonly delayed by 12 to 48 hours. The CDC also notes that activity and symptom diaries may help people with ME/CFS understand their individual limits. This does not mean that a tired day or a delayed dip establishes that diagnosis.

Do not deliberately push through symptoms to test a pattern. If ordinary activity repeatedly leaves you substantially worse later, describe that sequence to a clinician. Keep the record descriptive; discuss activity changes with a clinician.

Keep Sleep and Other Context Brief

Add approximate sleep and wake times, awakenings you remember, naps, and whether you felt refreshed on waking. Estimates are fine; note when a detail is uncertain. The sleep and symptom diary guide explains how to keep those details on the same timeline.

Use a short note for other relevant context, such as an illness, a medicine change, unusual stress, or a missed meal. Record medicine names and timing accurately if you include them, but do not change or stop a medicine based on a diary pattern without speaking with the prescribing clinician.

Also note symptoms that occurred with the fatigue, such as pain, dizziness, or difficulty concentrating. If pain is a major part of the day, the pain diary guide has more specific fields. You do not need to copy a full medical history into every entry.

Use a Short Fatigue Diary Entry

This fictional example shows how a score and a few plain details can fit together:

  • Date and time: Tuesday, 3:30 PM.
  • Fatigue: 7/10 on my personal scale; awake but physically drained.
  • Daily impact: stopped folding laundry after about ten minutes and sat down.
  • Earlier activity: a 30-minute work call before lunch.
  • Sleep: roughly seven hours, woke twice, did not feel refreshed.
  • Rest and later changes: sat quietly for 20 minutes; add another note later if anything changes.
  • Other context: mild headache; no medicine change.

The call and the laundry are context, not proven causes. If you add a later note, keep its own time rather than rewriting the earlier entry to match what happened afterward. If you miss a day, resume with the next check-in instead of filling gaps with guesses.

Bring a Summary to an Appointment

Review when fatigue began, how often it affects you, and which ordinary tasks have changed. Choose a few entries that show the range of your experience. Include delayed worsening after activity and whether sleep or rest changed how you felt.

A useful question might be: "I feel awake but cannot finish normal household tasks, even after sleeping. What should we review?" You can also ask which details the clinician wants you to track next. Following a shorter, agreed set of fields may be easier than adding more entries indefinitely.

The NHS recommends seeing a GP when unexplained tiredness lasts a few weeks, affects daily life, or occurs with other symptoms, such as weight loss or mood changes. You do not need a completed diary before making an appointment.

Seek prompt medical advice if fatigue occurs with confusion, blurred vision, or little or no urine, which MedlinePlus lists among reasons to contact a healthcare professional right away. Recording an entry can wait while you get help.

Keep Fatigue Check-Ins Simple With Baseline

Baseline lets you create a tracker for the symptoms and wellbeing signals you want to follow, add personal 1-10 scores and notes, and review your entries in timelines and charts. A fatigue check-in can hold your score, the task it affected, and the activity or sleep details you want to remember.

You can prepare a text summary or CSV export from your check-ins and decide whether to save or share a copy. Your core symptom entries stay on your phone unless you choose to export or share them. See the Baseline symptom tracker page for current features and the privacy policy for details about entries, exports, and backups.

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