When we think about recovery, especially from Long COVID and other post-infection conditions, we often focus on symptoms: fatigue, brain fog, pain, sleep issues. But underneath those symptoms, there's something deeper at play—your nervous system. And when we support it directly, everything else can start to shift.

Your Nervous System: An Overlooked Piece of the Puzzle

Your autonomic nervous system (ANS) is constantly working in the background, helping regulate everything from energy levels and digestion to mood and sleep. After a virus or prolonged stress, the autonomic nervous system can get "stuck" in overdrive or become overly sensitive. This can lead to heightened sensitivity to stressors and stimuli, getting caught in a push-crash cycle or a general feeling of being "off." 

At ThriveNinety, we see this all the time—people pushing through symptoms, not realizing their nervous system is waving a red flag and being stuck with symptoms.  

What Happens When the Nervous System is Out of Balance

When your nervous system is dysregulated, even simple tasks can feel overwhelming. You may feel wired but tired, overstimulated, anxious, or foggy. Your body is trying to protect you, but in doing so, it may limit your capacity to heal. When the “fight or flight” response is on due to roots of symptoms like anxiety, elevated heart rates or brain fog it means that processes in your body responsible for rest, repair, digestion and executive functioning skills are limited to divert energy to dealing with the immediate threat stressor. This means that it can actually prevent recovery, and over time even cause health issues.  

Supporting your nervous system isn’t about "toughing it out." It's about helping your brian and body to feel safe again. Fortunately, there are practical steps you can take that can help, including listening to your body, responding with care, and interrupting the cycle of stress and flare-ups.

Small Steps, Big Shifts: Supporting Your Recovery

One of the most powerful things you can do for your recovery is to create an environment—internally and externally—that helps your nervous system feel safe. At ThriveNinety, we guide you in:

• Practicing gentle pacing to avoid crashes and promote consistency
• Using somatic tools to reconnect your brain and body
• Learning how to downshift from stress and signal "safe" to your system
• Creating daily rhythms that support energy, focus, and repair

These aren’t just nice ideas—they're grounded in neuroscience and adapted to real life. And they can help your body and brain shift out of survival mode and back into healing to help you feel like yourself again. 

What You Can Try Today

• Soften your breath: Try a few minutes of longer exhales than inhales to gently cue your parasympathetic system
• Get curious: How do certain activities, foods, or environments impact your system? Curiosity builds awareness without judgment

Recovery takes time, but with the right tools, guidance, and support, it is possible. Your nervous system isn’t working against you—it just needs the chance to stand down and move more flexibly between sympathetic (fight or flight) and parasympathetic (rest and recovery) states.

If you're ready to learn more, check out our Long COVID Symptom Management Program or start exploring with our free resources.

You're not alone. It is possible to feel like yourself again. We're here to walk with you.

Warmly,
Katie & Andrea

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The Solution for Long COVID Isn’t Resting — It’s Active Recovery

Small Steps for Recovery: Building Resilience

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