Even though dialysis sessions require several hours of your week, these hours are never lost. You can use this time for reading, listening to music, watching TV or checking e-mails while being dialysed. 

There are additional time slots within your day when you are not fully but partially busy, e.g. when commuting or waiting in line. These time slots are great for smaller activities and things to do. Over the course of a whole week, these short slots add up to a significant amount of time.

Watching TV is entertaining, but is it on your list of priorities in life? You can gain several hours per week by watching TV more consciously. Don’t switch on the TV out of habit. Instead, focus on those programs that you really want to see and cut the rest.

Up to 15 minutes out of each hour of TV are actually commercials. If you watch TV, tape in advance and fast-forward through the commercials. Many modern television sets even make it possible to cut the commercials entirely when taping a program.

There are several ways to reduce the time you spend on your chores. For example, try cooking larger portions for several meals in advance. Instead of having one day to do all the housework and cleaning, try to use gap time slots in between other activities.

Friends are an important part of our life, contributing to our overall well-being. However, there are people in our lives who use up much of our time and even sometimes use up our feelings without adding to the relationship. Navigate away from those people and focus on those relationships that are really worthwhile.

Many of the tips above are useful to make better use of time. However, when organizing your week, make sure not to exaggerate. It’s not about doing as much as possible, it’s about doing the things that are really important to you. The suggested time gaps can help you to escape from a rigid schedule and sometimes just to follow your gut feeling of doing what is good for you.