Covid-19 leaves one with a weak body and poor metabolism. While it’s not an easy fight for Covid patients during infection, even post-covid recovery takes significant time and attention. Let’s understand better what are the steps you must follow to recover from post-covid symptoms and achieve pre-covid health.
First of all a big salute to all the COVID warriors. Last March(2020) the worst of our nightmares had come true. A global pandemic, claiming the lives of millions stopped the normal pace of our lives. We saw people dying, the economy collapsing, black marketing of drugs, and what not? “ Lockdown” was a term unknown before the outbreak of COVID. Have you ever thought you won’t be meeting your family for months, or the weekend trips would vanish just like that! “Physical Distancing”, “Work-From-Home”, “wearing Masks”, “Sanitising” and such innumerable things became the new normals of our lives.
It is one year from the first onslaught of the ill omen called the CORONA pandemic. Thanks to all the doctors, front-line warriors, and scientists, as their relentless support, kept the health system in the shape. Now, that the vaccines are finally out, we feel relieved. However, we just can’t relax. All my sympathy is there with the families who have lost their near and dear ones, to the COVID warriors, or anyone who has been affected by the virus directly or indirectly. In this write-up, I discuss the measures we need to take at the post-COVID 19 recovery stage.
Symptoms you should be careful on the Post Covid phase
CORONA virus damages our vital organs. Throughout our body, germs cause an unsurmountable amount of destruction. Even after recovering from COVID problems occur. It affects our lungs primarily. Then by progression, it eats up our kidney, brain, skin, and heart.
Symptoms experienced by patients during the Post-COVID recovery stage:
- Weakness
- Gasping/ Shortness of Breath
- Joint Pain
- Chest Ache
- Cough
Also, patients can experience
- Depression
- Muscle Pain
- Headaches
- Fast heartbeats
- Brain fog( Difficulty memorizing things)
- Fevers and chills.
How to combat these problems?
- Make sure you are in touch with your doctor. These problems, that a COVID warrior faces during the infection period come back even after recovery. To fight them you have to take advice from him/her. Don’t try to take medications on your own. COVID 19 treatment should be guided by doctors only.
- Continue wearing Masks and keep on washing your hands. Either use soap water, or any good quality sanitiser. Avoid going to crowded places, like malls, theatres, clubs, etc. Maintain physical distancing for your good and the benefit of others.
- Don’t panic and worry unnecessarily. Stay alert, and keep yourself busy with activities. You can join online communities. From finding support for COVID 19 to getting yourself engaged in meaningful activities— everything now has an online platform. Keep yourself engaged and socialize while maintaining physical distancing.
1. Start with Light Exercise
Regular exercising after recovering from Corona is a must. At this time your body might feel weak. However, don’t skip your exercises because it keeps the blood circulation in your body intact. Skip heavy exercises and go for something that adds agility to your movement, keeps your blood circulation healthy, and breathing problems at bay. Pranayams are good to follow as a Post Covid exercise. They are basic breathing exercises. Here we provide a preferred list of exercises that can be followed after recovering from COVID.
2. Belly Breathing
- Seat or lie down
- Keep the muscles of your face, neck, jaw, and shoulder relaxed
- Touch the top front teeth with the tip of your tongue
- Place your hands on your chest and your lower abdomen
- Practice deep breathing through your nose.
- Your chest ribs should expand while inhaling and your stomach should expand against your hand’s position.
- Now exhale and allow your stomach to contract.
3. Humming Yoga
- Sit straight and upright
- Place hands on the sides of your belly
- Close lips and touch the roof of your mouth with the tip of your tongue.
- Now take deep breaths
- Use your nose to inhale
- Your stomach must expand while inhaling, and expand while exhaling
- Keep the shoulders relaxed
- Now when your lung gets filled with air, exhale saying a gentle ‘OM’.
- Keep your lips closed.
- Repeat 3 to 4 times
4. Aerobic Exercise to improve your breathing
- Walk briskly, run or swim or do any activity that improves your cardio by pumping the heartbeat and breathing rate.
- Try out any dance number and just shake your body the way you want.
Regular exercising is one of the best arsenals to fight against COVID 19. However, do it moderately so that your recovery rate does not get impaired.
5. Take Enough Rest
It’s important to give enough rest to your body to recover. Taking small rest during the day will rejuvenate your energy levels and also help with improved absorption of food nutrients.
For a better sleep through the night, include herbal teas like chamomile or fruit teas to reduce stress levels before going to bed.
6. Maintain Balanced Diet
Eating healthy is one of the non-negotiable criteria to recover from COVID properly. Your diet should have enough resources to ensure that your body is receiving the proper amount of nutrients. Proteins, vitamins, carbohydrates, fibre, Vitamin C, Vitamin D, Vitamin B, Vitamin E, and Vitamin A are few nutrients that must be included in your diet.
Another good thing is to choose natural foods for your diet during this tough time. Go for organic food. Try to avoid processed food.
Also, cut down on your sugar level. Rather use natural sweeteners like jaggery, stevia, honey, etc.
The post-Covid recovery phase comes with a lack of appetite. But, eating healthy just cannot be compromised.
Ten tips to improve Post-COVID Lack of Appetite
- Increase your intake cycles. Eat in fewer proportions.
- First avoid carbohydrates, especially simple carbs. Complex carbs are high in fibre and are easy to digest. Go for that. Whole grains, like rice, quinoa, poha, etc. are good sources of complex carbohydrates.
- Include a lot of fibre in your food. This way your bowel movement will also stay in proper order. Avoid cigarettes, alcohol, or caffeine. These products further reduce your sense of smell and taste.
- The best nutrients to activate your appetite is zinc, Vitamin C and Vitamin B. Include them as much as you can.
- Stay distressed.
- Allow yourself a good, undisturbed 7-8 hours of sleep.
- Stick to a balanced diet. Have a proper quantity of carbohydrates fibres, natives and, minerals, antioxidants, etc.
- Indian spices can restore your appetite. Cinnamon, black pepper, cardamom, turmeric, garlic, and ginger increase your appetite levels. They are also great warriors against COVID.
- Socialize finding online communities. Talk to friends, family, and close people.
- Last but not the least, do exercise in moderation.
Staying hydrated is a must in the POST-COVID stage
I don’t recommend drinking too much water. You can always make your drinks healthy and tasty. But don’t consume packaged drinks. They are full of preservatives and additives. Maintain the water level of your body and drink water-based shakes and smoothies having proper nutrients. There is good research available that shows how important it is to stay hydrated and eat nutritiously.
The crux of the matter is—
Protein and calories are the two pillars to combat the muscle loss that happens during COVID 19. You need at least 3 litres of fluid, 2000-2500 Kcal of energy, and 75-100 gms of protein per day. Try to hydrate your body every 15 minutes. You can also have oral hydrants in case you need them. Link to the study https://www.nutritioncare.org/uploadedFiles/Documents/Guidelines_and_Clinical_Resources/COVID19/COVID19%20Patient%20Nutrition%20Paper.pdf
Fruits like litchis, grapes, watermelon, pineapple are rich in nutrients and have a lot of fluid in them. They also give your body a good dose of fibre. So have them in the form of a smoothie. You can also make whey protein shakes, adding into it water-based fluids, chia seeds/ pumpkin seeds/Flax seeds, nuts, fruits, etc that are high in their nutrition level.
Another very good source of water is milk. Add a pinch of Haldi to your milk, to make the thing even more healthy. Have it before your bedtime, and enjoy good sleep. This single thing takes care of your nutrition, hydration, relaxation, and immunity needed to combat COVID.
Keep an eye on your oxygen level
One of the worst ways that COVID can affect your health is by dropping down the oxygen level in your blood. Therefore, always measure the oxygen saturation level of your blood, with an oximeter. In the post-COVID phase, your lungs stay damaged in mild, moderate to considerable proportion. An oxygen level below 90 is something alarming. If you face such a situation rush immediately to the hospital. Take the doctor’s advice and follow up with it accordingly.
Try out new memory games
Side by Side affecting our lungs, COVID also impairs brain health. To stop further memory loss, try out your hands on new memory games like Sodoku, Jigsaw puzzle, crossword, etc. These games give a boost for your brain to work, and takes care of your time. In this pandemic time, we sometimes have to isolate or quarantine ourselves. Therefore, staying mentally active, and not falling into the trap of depression is a must. These little tricks help you to maintain good mental health.
Choose team Veg fit as your nutrition and fitness expert in the post-COVID phase
Hello, I am Priyanka, the founder of VEG. Fit and your nutrition cum lifestyle coach. I am almost 10 years+ of experience in the fitness and nutrition domain. I have worked with so many natives and international client’s over these years and found out that every one of us needs exclusive fitness and diet plannings according to our needs and body type. In this COVID scenario, all of us have become all the more aware of how important proper nutrition is. So, I have come up with many plans that are highly economical to reach up to you for my guidance. I keep in touch with my clients and monitor their progress.
Therefore, why wait I am just a call away. Connect to me via Veg. Fit and join my personal training program.
See you again in my next blog!
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