the benefits of exercise on human health have been myriad now research shows that exercise can also break the vicious cycle of inflammation that can lead to developing diabetes and depression months after a person recovers from the virusso far no medically recognised treatment exists for long covid defined by the us centres for disease control as a constellation of other debilitating symptoms it includes brain fog muscle pain and fatigue that can last for months after a person recovers from the initial infectionlong covid can also cause depression and increase blood glucose levels to the point where people develop diabetic ketoacidosis a potentially lifethreatening condition common among people with type 1 diabetes said researchers in the study published in the journal exercise and sport sciences reviewsfor example a person may not get very sick from covid19 but six months later long after the cough or fever is gone they develop diabetesexercise can help exercise takes care of the inflammation that leads to elevated blood glucose and the development and progression of diabetes and clinical depression said candida rebello a research scientist at pennington biomedical research centre in the uswe know that physical activity is a key component to a healthy life this research shows that exercise can be used to break the chain reaction of inflammation that leads to high blood sugar levels and then to the development or progression of type 2 diabetes added pennington biomedical executive director john kirwan who is also a coauthor of the paperexercise may also cut covids effect on heart health some of the symptoms common in long covid patients include palpitations dizziness chest pain and shortness of breath these may be due to heart problemsthe question remains how much exercise is enoughyou dont have to run a mile or even walk a mile at a brisk pace rebello saidwalking slowly is also exercising ideally you would do a 30minute session of exercise but if you can only do 15 minutes at a time try to do two 15minute sessions if you can only walk 15 minutes once a day do that the important thing is to try it doesnt matter where you begin you can gradually build up to the recommended level of exercise she said