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Comment by magicalhippo | Hacker News Reader

I learned this the hard way back in highschool. I took extra gym classes, but during the winter I caught the flu and was really sick for a week or so.

Back at school, it was immediately obvious that my body was not where it was before. Concentrating was more difficult for a while, but the real difference was that during gym classes I got exhausted almost immediately.

What really struck me was that this exhaustion stayed with me for several months. It took me almost 4 months to get back to the level I was before the flu.

I've had that experience very much in mind during these covid days.

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I wonder if this is a continuous effect that eventually fades away, or a one-time permanent “debuff”. Did you have to practice a lot to get back to your level, or did it resolve by itself?

I wasn't super fit, but about average. As I recall the effect was quite powerful for a long time, and then gradually tapered off.

It was just at the end before the summer break that I managed to do the same numbers as before when running and similar. And this was with the same hours per week of practice, though of course with much less intensity due to the exhaustion.

Of course there's no control-me, so can't say if there was a permanent effect as such.

It's really hard to answer this question experimentally.

I suspect that of a pair of identical people who spent 1 hour in the gym every day for a lifetime, one of whom got a long term viral infection, the infected one would never again match the performance of the uninfected.

depends on what was the injury exactly.

some issues can be recovered from completely, some are permanent.

It can be permanent damage up to the point of permanent paralysis, or even death.

So yes, there is no guarantees.

In some people it can trigger an autoimmune disease as well, that's also for life.

Yes, and many folks are familiar with the lesser malaise and "cough that doesn't go away" for six weeks or so. You'll often see "so tired of being sick!" posts around February.

My anecdotal survey is that they don't take great care of themselves in the first place with diet/excercise, but also are highly likely to be vitamin D deficient. Factors that prolong recovery.

> "cough that doesn't go away" for six weeks or so

I had always assumed that was because I have asthma, I didn't realize other people get this as well.

It's relatively common in the winter, sometimes a bacterial infection however.

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