What does 'impacts on your quality of life' mean?
This is a term widely used by organisations including the World Health Organisation and NHS to understand how health factor affects you. It's about considering how you're feeling in a more holistic way, so you get a clearer picture of how symptoms are affecting your whole life. It's also a helpful way to track how any changes you make might improve your quality of life
How to consider impact on your quality of life
First of all, try not to overthink it too much – this is a guide, not a test! Then for each symptom consider how it affects the different factors in your life:
- 1. Physical health - energy, pain, fatigue and discomfort, sleep and rest.
- 2. Psychological health – negative and positive feelings, self-esteem, body image and appearance, memory and concentration.
- 3. Independence – mobility, activities in your day-to-day life, dependence on medicines, is your work capacity affected?
- 4. Relationships – partners, family and friends, sex, and social activity.
- 5. Environment – opportunity to participate in recreation and leisure, feeling safe and secure, money matters.
