How long after contracting Covid-19 can I return to exercise?

After recovering from Covid-19 for a week, N. Phuong (Gia Lam, Hanoi) started to return to her daily exercise routine. Before getting sick, she spent 2-3 hours a day doing sports to stay healthy.

“Normally, I would get up early to jog about 3km around the University of Agriculture and at the end of the afternoon, I would practice yoga with my teacher for about 1 hour. It has been 10 days since I contracted Covid-19 until now. Now I just carried my running shoes, but less than 1/3 of the way, I couldn’t continue. Unexpectedly, Covid-19 destroys health so quickly”, said N. Phuong.

Similar to Phuong, Mr. Van (70 years old, Cau Giay) recounted that he had high blood pressure, so as soon as he was positive, he took antiretroviral drugs. After 5 days he returned to Yin. But from there, just walking 2 stairs was out of breath. He did not dare to continue exercising for fear of high blood pressure, “sudden death”.

This man also wondered how long after recovering from Covid-19 could he start exercising again?

According to experts, you should not rush to exercise again immediately after contracting Covid-19, which can be dangerous to your health. Because, returning to your exercise routine after an injury or major illness can have certain limitations.

Ths. Dr. Ha Linh, Vietnam Institute of Applied Medicine said, If you go back to training at full speed and don’t allow your body time to rest and recover, you will actually take longer to regain your fitness or even worse lead to injury or recurrence of illness.

Accordingly, continued heavy physical activity after contracting Covid-19 can cause serious complications, such as myocarditis, for people with post-Covid-19 symptoms.

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Therefore, people with Covid-19 who have just recovered from the disease need to adhere to the principles of returning to exercise. Master Ha Linh said that exercise should not be continued if the patient with Covid-19 still has signs of persistent fever, difficulty breathing at rest, cough, chest pain or palpitations.

Any Covid-19 patient with underlying cardiovascular or pulmonary disease should consult a doctor before resuming exercise, even if asymptomatic.

“A healthy, asymptomatic patient seven days after contracting Covid-19 can begin to resume physical activity at 50% of normal intensity and volume.

A doctor should be consulted if a patient with a history of Covid-19 experiences chest pain, fever, palpitations or shortness of breath when resuming exercise.

It is important to wear a mask and isolate when exercising indoors with people around. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that outdoor activities are still safer than indoor activities (especially when exercising indoors at gyms)”, Ths. Ha Linh information.

World literature has also recommended that people return to exercise after moderate or mild Covid-19 infection.

First, don’t exercise while you still have symptoms of Covid-19

The most important thing to remember is not to exercise while symptoms are still present – fever, fatigue, shortness of breath. Instead, wait 7 to 10 days for symptoms to clear before resuming exercise.

It’s never a good idea to exercise when you’re sick or have symptoms of a virus. If you exercise while you have a viral infection, it can make the infection worse, which can lead to other complications.

Next, how you should start exercising after COVID-19 depends on how active you were before. For most people, walking is a good exercise, which can gradually increase endurance. Once you’ve gotten used to this exercise over a period of several weeks, you can add more intense cardio, but it shouldn’t be too heavy, so your heart rate doesn’t get too high.

Third, experts recommend, you need to listen to your body – especially if you have any heart problems.

The reason experts are giving this advice is because some cases of Covid-19 create intense inflammation throughout the body, and part of that inflammation can affect the heart muscle, causing myositis. heart. You can develop an arrhythmia, in which the heart beats irregularly, or sometimes it can lead to a heart attack. This symptom has been observed in people with severe and moderate cases of Covid-19.

The question is, should you exercise when you have post-Covid-19 symptoms?

Answering this question, Mr. Ha Linh said studies have also shown that people with prolonged Covid-19 can experience excessive fatigue with normal daily activities, experience daily headaches and feel short of breath when going up. go down the stair. You should only do breathing exercises to strengthen the respiratory function of your lungs. High-intensity exercise is not recommended while you have any symptoms of Covid-19.

N. Huyen