The energy chart that explains why you're exhausted by 3pm

I think we all know instinctively that energy is a finite resource. It’s why you don’t try to run – or even train for – a marathon every day (literally or metaphorically).

It’s why trips to the park with your kids don’t go for five hours (although I feel for you if they do).

And it’s why we don’t work 16-hour workdays (though if you do, you’re probably exhausted and in need of my book The Energy Game).

During the COVID years, Dr Jill Calder built a tool that can help you track where your energy is going. The chart was originally created to assist people recovering from Long COVID, but it’s also a helpful guide for anyone suffering from chronic depletion.

What this means is that you can now quantify your energy output and specifically, your Energy Vampires. An Energy Vampire is an activity that might seem relatively harmless – activities and tasks that theoretically shouldn’t require much energy output. But they do.

Here is a chart of the top Energy Vampires (adapted from Jill Calder’s work) and how much energy they use: