The majority of people that have been unfortunate enough to contract Covid-19 will have fully recovered. However, early studies have shown that between 20-30% of people with Covid-19 have experienced symptoms that have lasted longer than a month, this is described as long Covid. This can even affect people that have had mild symptoms of Covid-19.
The symptoms that have been reported by people suffering from long Covid include cardiovascular issues, ongoing respiratory symptoms, brain fog, chronic fatigue, anxiety, depression, pain, sleep problems, loss of taste and smell and PTSD.
Managing long term health issues can be challenging and have a drastic effect on life and limit your day- to -day activities.
Chronic fatigue and brain fog can both lead to even the smallest of tasks depleting someone of all their energy. It’s important to conserve your energy and allow time for rest and relaxation between activities.
To assist with this ‘The Royal College of Occupational Therapy’ have developed the ‘three P’s’ approach: prioritising, planning and pacing.
Prioritise
Learn to prioritise according to how much energy is needed to complete a task. This will vary, so for example someone with brain fog would possibly need more energy to read a book than to tidy the kitchen whereas someone experiencing fatigue would use less energy talking to friends on social media than doing the washing up. For each activity you need to decide whether it’s a high, medium or low energy task. Once you have done this you then need to put them in order of priority. Some tasks maybe completed by others and some could wait until you feel stronger.
Pace
It’s important to pace yourself not pushing through to get the task completed as this will cause extreme fatigue, often wiping you out for the following day. Breaking activities into smaller chunks, with rest breaks, can help you to conserve your energy. How much rest is needed will vary from person to person.
Planning
By prioritising and pacing you will soon learn which activities take the most energy and this will then enable you to plan your week, so the high energy activities are well spread out or even completed by someone else for the time. Being organised and collecting all the things needed before starting a task can help to reduce the amount of time taken and energy used. When planning high energy activities, it’s important to make sure you are well rested before hand and then take breaks during the activity. Don’t be tempted to push through and finish quickly as this can lead to exhaustion and the following day feeling totally wiped out.
Relaxation is also a big help with long term health conditions. It can help you to reduce physical tension and mental anxiety. This can be achieved through controlled breathing, mindfulness and massage to name just a few.
“Hypnotherapy can help with many of the symptoms experienced from long Covid and other long term health conditions. Hypnosis is naturally very relaxing both physically and mentally so can give your body and mind a well -deserved rest. Hypnosis can also help you to cope with new ways of thinking, feeling and behaving which are needed to help you through long Covid and other long term health conditions.
For more information call Debbie on 07774061411, email debroutly@gmail.com
Appointments are available face to face or via zoom.