Use the spoon theory for energy conservation

Hi, it’s Chris Maddocks here. I just want to share what I received about something called the Spoon Theory. I have found it very helpful.

It was started by a lady in Australia and she had Lupus and somebody asked her “how does it affect you, how does it make you sleep, how is it for you?” This can so easily be used for people with dementia, or Parkinson’s, or any long term health condition.

If you think of teaspoons, then a person who has nothing wrong with them will have an unlimited source of teaspoons to use for tasks throughout the day. But as somebody with dementia you might wake up and not have a good day, so when you wake up and you think “is this a good day or is this not a good day?” If it’s a good day you may have 15 teaspoons to use, so you can carry out and do a lot of your tasks.

If it’s not such a good day and you wake up and think “oh crumbs, I’m not having a good day, I’ve only got three teaspoons to use today”, well you might use one teaspoon by taking a shower. Your second teaspoon might be preparing yourself breakfast, so that leaves you with one teaspoon and you may have four chores to do, or five, six or seven, so it’s all about prioritising.

I have found this useful because if you have used up two of your spoons and you’ve got one left, then what do you use it for? I heard somebody say once to me that they were so tired, they had a choice that they could either take a shower or prepare a meal. Obviously it’s important to eat, so if you only have one teaspoon left then you would prepare a meal. Going out shopping may take two teaspoons. You think  how many teaspoons, how much effort you have to put into that chore, so think about how many teaspoons you’ve got in the morning when you wake up. It may even help to lay them out on the kitchen unit or something so when you do something you can take a spoon away, because I found that I often try to do more than I am able to do and then I end up feeling a bit annoyed, and cross with myself and frustrated. So in the morning when I get up now I try and think “so how many teaspoons have I got and how can I use them today?”

I’ve found it very helpful and I’m just hoping that everyone will find it helpful. I don’t know if I’ve explained it terribly well but you can find it on the internet if you put in Spoon Theory’.

So, count your spoons, use them wisely and have a good day everybody.

Thanks. Bye!