HEALTH EXPERT REVEALS 10 WAYS TO HEAL FASTER IF YOU HAVE LONG COVID
Nutritionist and author Lee Holmes never imagined she would write a guide on navigating long-term illness, but life has a way of throwing curveballs.
In April 2022, she, like millions of others, contracted COVID-19. Little did she know that this encounter would stretch into months, challenging her physical health and the core of her identity as a health and wellness expert.
"As someone who had built a career on helping others achieve vibrant health, I suddenly found myself on the other side of the equation," Lee said. "Long COVID had overstayed its welcome, and I became an unwilling expert in the art of horizontal living. This unexpected detour taught me invaluable lessons about health, resilience, and the human spirit."
Lee has just released here latest book, Nature's Way to Healing - A Long Covid Guide. Here, she details 10 key strategies to navigate the complex world of Long COVID recovery.
1. Prioritise Rest and Pacing: Listen to your body and avoid overexertion. Pacing involves carefully balancing activity and rest to conserve energy and avoid exacerbating symptoms. Instead of sprinting through your day and crashing at the finish line, pacing helps you break down your tasks into manageable chunks and take regular breaks to recharge.
2. Adopt an Anti-Inflammatory Diet: Focus on foods that reduce inflammation, such as leafy greens, berries, and omega-3-rich fish. Shifting to an anti-inflammatory diet helps counteract the qualities of Long COVID, which generates internal dampness and heat, driving inflammatory processes that negatively impact the cardiovascular and gastrointestinal systems and metabolic health.
3. Try a Low-Histamine Approach: Experiment with reducing high-histamine foods to help manage your symptoms. High levels of histamine can contribute to chronic inflammation in the body. By following a low-histamine diet, you’ll be reducing your intake of histamine-rich foods that can contribute to inflammation, and you may experience less inflammation overall and an improvement of Long COVID symptoms.
4. Practice Gentle Movement: Incorporate light stretching or yoga when you feel able, but be careful not to push too hard. Practising yoga can reduce stress and tension in the body, helping to down regulate the nervous system.
5. Implement Stress-Reduction Techniques: Try meditation, deep breathing exercises, or gentle mindfulness practices to help manage stress and anxiety. External vagus nerve stimulation can help reduce the severity as well as reducing stress in your life. Breathing exercises and breath work can help reduce the severity of your symptoms.
6. Seek Support: Work with healthcare professionals knowledgeable about Long COVID to develop a personalised treatment plan and read Nature’s Way to Healing. A Long Covid Guide for a hands-on protocol to speed up recovery time.
7. Join Support Groups: Long COVID might make socialising tricky, but that doesn’t mean you have to be a hermit. Connect with others who are going through the same thing as you. Virtual support groups and online communities are a great way to combat the loneliness and isolation associated with Long COVID.
8. Focus on Sleep Hygiene: Sleep disturbances can exacerbate the physical and psychological symptoms of Long COVID. For example, poor sleep can increase your feelings of fatigue and reduce the body’s ability to fight infections, which can make it harder to recover. Prioritise quality sleep by establishing a consistent routine and creating a restful environment.
9. Stay Hydrated: Ensure you drink enough liquids throughout the day to support your body's healing processes. Maintaining proper hydration doesn’t just depend on beverages but also on consuming water-rich foods like fruits and vegetables too.
10. Be Kind to Yourself: Practice self-compassion and remember that recovery is not linear. Celebrate small victories and be patient with your progress.
Nature’s Way to Healing—A Long COVID Guide (Rockpool Publishing) is available in print and eBook editions at all good book stores.
