Why You Should Rest —a Lot—If You Have COVID-19

Until recently, running was a major part of Emma Zimmerman’s life. The 26-year-old freelance journalist and graduate student was a competitive distance runner in college and, even after she graduated, logged about 50 miles per week. So she tentatively tried to return to her running routine roughly a week after a probable case of COVID-19 in March, doing her best to overcome the malaise that followed her initial allergy-like symptoms. Each time, though, “I’d be stuck in bed for days with a severe level of crippling fatigue,” Zimmerman says. Months later, Zimmerman still experiences health issues including exhaustion, migraines, brain fog, nausea, numbness, and sensitivity to screens—a constellation of symptoms that led doctors to diagnose her with Long COVID. Though she can’t know for sure, she fears those workouts early in her recovery process may have worsened her condition. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] “I had no idea that I should try to rest as hard as I needed to rest,” she says. Stories like Zimmernan’s—illness, improvement, exercise, crash—are common in the Long COVID world. And they highlight what many researchers, patients, and advocates say is one of the most powerful tools for managing, and potentially even preventing, Long COVID: rest. The only guaranteed way to avoid Long COVID is not to get infected by SARS-CoV-2. But if someone does get sick, “Rest is incredibly important to ...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 healthscienceclimate Source Type: news