One way to speed recovery, ironically, is to allow time for recovery. People who exert themselves too quickly are likely to experience a flare-up of symptoms. Better to increase activities gradually.
Exercise is also important for maintaining muscle capacity and relieving muscle and joint pain. Otherwise, deconditioning occurs, making even necessary movement taxing. Because cardiovascular exercise may be particularly difficult at first, experts recommend beginning exercise with mild resistance activities.
Maintaining hydration—even in the absence of thirst— is important for recovery in general. There’s evidence that suboptimal hydration, especially of the nose and throat, is a risk factor for Covid in the first place and worsens symptoms that do occur; it may usher the virus deeper into the lungs. Fever, a marker of inflammation, is a known risk factor for dehydration. Particularly in older patients, dehydration is associated with loss of cognitive function. What’s more, dehydration burdens breathing and is a barrier to blood oxygenation by thickening lung secretions.
Studies indicate that about a third of patients experience loss of the sense of smell. Olfactory training is recommended not only to restore the sense of smell but to ensure the maintenance of such brain functions as memory and emotion regulation. Olfactory training involves programmed, twice-daily exposure to sets of smells while connecting each smell to a memory of that smell.