
Battling a viral infection uses up an immense amount of energy. So does the inflammation that creates the symptoms like the aching joints and oceans of mucus. That’s why you feel tired when you have the flu, and that’s why complete rest is a key strategy for recovery. By ‘complete rest’ I mean extra time in bed, more sleep, or at least spending time on the couch. That’s because when you rest your body gets a chance to gain the upper hand over the virus and prevent the inflammatory process becoming chronic. Your body can focus all its energies on getting well again.
Alas, some folk insist on soldiering on regardless of how their body is struggling. They push themselves out the door to work and generally behave as though nothing was happening. Problem is, this means the immune system never quite gets a chance to overcome the infection properly, and inflammatory processes causing fatigue, aches and pains can become chronic.
This doesn’t just happen with the influenza bug, but also with any of the mosquito borne viral infections we get around here, like Ross River Virus, Barmah Virus and the like. The key strategy to overcome them faster, and more completely, is through complete rest. Even though it’s frustrating to take time off work, say no to community commitments and decline party invitations, rest is your key tactic.
If you choose to just soldier on, you can expect you’ll be dragging yourself through many more weeks of feeling weary than if you had just come to a complete stop for a few days. Worse, some of those symptoms, like the aching joints and muscles, might not go.
So, if it seems the last time you felt really well was before you caught that flu, and if you just can’t seem to shake it off, perhaps you could engage the effective and very natural strategy of complete rest.