Around 450,000 people in Switzerland live with an energy-limiting condition (ELC) such as Long Covid or ME/CFS. For them, a seemingly normal day — doing laundry, cooking, a short walk — can trigger Post-Exertional Malaise: days of near-total exhaustion that follow any overexertion.
A team at the Department of Informatics UZH, led by Dr. André Meyer, has developed MindfulPacer, a smartwatch app designed to help users manage their energy rather than maximize it. The app, available for iPhone and Android with off-the-shelf smartwatches, combines biometric data (heart rate, steps) with prompts for self-reflection on activities, symptoms, and well-being. Users set personalized thresholds that trigger brief reminders to pause and assess their current energy expenditure.
The key insight driving the project: most commercial smartwatches are optimized to motivate more activity — the opposite of what people with ELCs need.
Early user feedback is encouraging. People report growing awareness of how specific activities affect their energy differently, and underline the need for personalization to reflect the highly individual nature of these conditions.
The team is now looking for volunteers and funding to hand the project over to the community for long-term maintenance.
Read the full article in the June 2026 issue of Oec. Magazine, or visit www.mindfulpacer.ch.
Comments are closed.