Covid Recovery Special: The steps you can take to help you and your family recover after coronavirus
Eating well, taking gentle exercise and getting rest will help you heal, advises Professor Seamus Linnane
When the virus and its symptoms are at their worst, patients are urged to rest but as recovery progresses, increasing exercise - often beginning with short walks - will minimise some of the effects. Photo: Stock image
When the virus and its symptoms are at their worst, patients are urged to rest but as recovery progresses, increasing exercise - often beginning with short walks - will minimise some of the effects. Photo: Stock image
Prof Seamus Linnane
December 11 2021
With over half a million infections in Ireland, Covid-19 has affected the lives of the entire nation. For 85pc of people, the infection will be mild and self-limiting but can include fevers, headaches, fatigue, a loss of smell, breathlessness and a cough. While the worst of the symptoms will pass in 10 days, a large minority report some symptoms persisting for six weeks or more. Those still struggling at three months meet the World Health Organisation definition for post-Covid syndrome or long Covid.
SARS-CoV-2 is a novel virus, which means our immune systems are seeing it for the first time and reacting vigorously. Luckily, vaccination allows the body to prepare for exposure to the virus and can either prevent infection or leave us with a milder form of the disease.