Coronavirus - All you need to know

The novel coronavirus has caused 2595 deaths in China, the place of its origin as per the latest report from WHO. Also, there have been 79,331 confirmed cases across 29 countries, forcing the WHO to declare it a global emergency. But what exactly is the virus, and what are the treatment options available? Read on to know all about this outbreak.

The coronavirus is a family of viruses that are present in animals. When they jump from animals to humans, they cause illnesses that range from the common cold to serious disorders like SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) and MERS (Middle-East Respiratory Syndrome). The virus causing the recent outbreak has been named ‘SARS-CoV-2’, and the disease it causes is known as ‘Coronavirus disease 2019’ abbreviated as COVID-19.

A press-up, also called a push-up, strengthens your arms and chest muscles. It aids in muscle development and enhances upper body strength.

• Fever
• Cough
• Runny nose
• Sore throat
• Shortness of breath

In more severe cases, the virus might affect your lungs and cause pneumonia, or cause the failure of the kidneys. It is also found to lead to the development of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) in advanced stages.

The incubation period of the virus can last up to 14 days. However, coronavirus symptoms can appear 2-14 days after the virus infects your body.

If you suspect that you have contracted the virus, reach out to your doctor. Your doctor may recommend several tests to diagnose your condition. These tests may include taking a sample of your saliva (sputum), a nasal swab and a throat swab, to send to specially-equipped centres for testing the presence of the virus.

Call up the hospital before making an appointment with the doctor and provide details of your travel history. If the need arises, they will make the necessary arrangements for your treatment before you visit the hospital.

Several vaccines are being developed for the virus with many of them in the testing phase. However, there are no treatment options for the infection as of yet. Treatment for the disease mainly involves treating the symptoms caused by the virus. Medications used include-

• Pain relievers
• Cough syrup and other medication
• Rest
• Increased fluid intake

The WHO and other health organisations have come out with a set of precautionary guidelines that might keep you safe in the time of this outbreak -

Precautionary Measures if you have Travelled to a Country with Confirmed Cases of Coronavirus:

Build up to a repetition of 10 to 15. Slowly add 3 to 5 sets to your daily exercise at home routine for consistent results.

• Wash your hands: Washing hands is part of basic hygiene which can help kill the viruses on your hands. You must wash your hands for at least 20 seconds with an alcohol-based soap or sanitizer before eating, after using the washroom, after sneezing or coughing, and after coming home from outside.
• Practice respiratory hygiene: Make sure to cover your mouth when sneezing or coughing, preferably with a tissue. Discard it in a dustbin immediately after use. In the absence of a tissue, cough into the groove made by flexing your elbow.
• Maintain distance: Keep a distance of at least 1 metre between you and anyone else who is coughing or sneezing. This is because the droplets that come out of the mouth or nose when you cough or sneeze contain small liquid droplets that may contain viruses, including the coronavirus. In case you are too close, you might breathe in the virus if the person is suffering from the disease.
• Avoid touching your mouth, nose, and eyes with your hands: Your hands regularly come into contact with surfaces on which the virus might be present. When you touch your mouth, nose, or eyes, the virus can gain entry into your body.
• Seek medical attention if you are unwell: If you have a temperature, along with a cough or cold and difficulty in breathing, seek medical attention at the earliest. You should not delay or self-medicate. It might aggravate the condition.
• Keep yourself up-to-date: Keep yourself up-to-date with information from verified sources like the official sites and handles of WHO (World Health Organisation), CDC (Centre for Disease Control), and NHP (National Health Portal) India. Follow your medical practitioners’ advice if you are unwell and are suffering from any illness.

In case you have travelled to any country with confirmed cases of coronavirus, you need to take the following precautionary measures

• Stay at home: If you are feeling uneasy, even if you are suffering from seemingly minor illnesses like a runny nose or a headache, you need to stay at home so that you do not spread the virus.
• If you develop symptoms: Reach out to your doctor immediately. Before going to the clinic, inform the staff so that they can take precautionary measures beforehand to avoid the possible spread of the virus in case you are infected.

Incorporating calf raises into your body exercise at home targets the triceps surae, tibialis posterior, and peroneal muscles of the lower leg. The movement also exercises your ankles, leading to ankle extension. Training calf muscles improve ankle stability and overall balance

• It is a great way to finish off your home exercise routine with calf raises.
• Start by standing upright with your feet hip-width apart and toes facing forward. You can hold onto a wall for balance if necessary.
• Lift your heels as high as possible, holding the position for a few seconds.
• Gently lower your heels back to the starting position. But don’t land completely on your heels. Keep them hovering over the ground.
• Push your body once again on your heels and repeat the process.

You can do this exercise for 15 to 20 counts. 3 to 5 sets should be more than enough to give your calves a good workout. Other variation includes doing calf raises on one foot at a time. Using a wall for support, balance yourself on one foot and push off that heel to work out the calf muscle. Repeat 10 to 15 times before switching the foot.

Cardio exercises are important to keep excessive weight at bay, and there are many effective home exercises to help you achieve this without stepping into a gym. This type of exercise at home can increase your stamina and fitness as well as boost your mood. It also helps your body use oxygen more efficiently, which in turn helps your heart and lungs. A cardio workout at home is as effective as outdoors or at a gym. Remember to warm up properly before trying the following home cardio workouts:

This exercise will take you back to your childhood. Who would have imagined that all those hours of jumping rope could translate into an effective home workout? In case you never got a chance to do that, now is your chance to discover that child in you.

Skipping exercise involves coordinated jumps over a rope you hold in both hands. The rope is swung repeatedly over the head and under the feet. You can set the speed of the jumps. The faster you swing the rope, the faster you will have to jump over the rope. Missing the time would result in you missing the jump. Don’t worry about that, you can just restart and build the speed up. Ensure you land gently on your feet after jumping and focus on landing on the ball of the feet.

Skipping improves coordination and balance, toning your calves, strengthening your core, and boosting your lung capacity.

Many variations in skipping can challenge you. You can start by jumping with both feet and transitioning into jumping with one foot to even crossing your hands to cross the rope and jump!

You can decide the duration of the counts for this exercise. Starting anywhere from 1 to 5 minutes or 30 to 100 counts a set, you can take a call on how many times you want to repeat it. Set intervals as required. Build up the pace and track how you progress over a period of time.

Box jumps can be an interesting alternative for your workout at home. You need a sturdy box to hold your weight - like a commercially available plyo box. You can also substitute it with a bench, a chair, a stool, or couch. The item you choose needs to be strong and sturdy, with good balance and a flat surface. Ensure it remains stable and doesn't tip over during this exercise.

To start with:

• Stand in front of the box at a gap of one foot with feet at shoulder width distance.
• Bend your knees and move your hips back while swinging your arms behind you to give you a sense of momentum.
• Use this momentum from your quarter squat to explode from the balls of your feet to propel you to jump upward and forward onto the surface of the box. Depending on the height of the box, you can land in a squat position or stand up straight with slightly bent knees. Move your hands in the front for balance.
• Step down from the box onto the starting position.
• Repeat the process.

Yes, you can jog even at home without using any kind of treadmill or any other machine. Jogging, as an exercise at home, gives you a good workout and leaves you feeling invigorated. Jogging is essentially running at a slow and leisurely pace. The idea behind jogging is to maintain a speed slower than running but faster than walking for longer. This form of cardio workout increases physical fitness but with lesser stress on the body that comes from running.

If you are blessed with a lot of space at home, you can jog all over your home, maintaining a steady speed. If you have a space restriction, then you can do spot jogging.

Stand with your feet hip distance apart. Lift one foot and then the other, placing it in the same place. Doing it repeatedly and slowly increasing the tempo increases your heart rate to achieve the desired workout.

Starting with 3 to 5 minutes and slowly building up the time to 20 to 30 minutes will be a great addition to your home workout routine.

Home workout tends to be more enjoyable when you constantly challenge yourself to do better. A workout plan for beginners at home should also incorporate strength training. You can invest in a few dumbbells to raise your bar. Order yourself weights from a beginner level to move up to an intermediary as you progress. With a couple of weight variations, you can find amazing results in yourself. You can simply increase the sets to achieve muscle fatigue instead of going in for heavier weights. Below are a few challenging strength training exercises:

The dumbbell floor press works on your shoulders, chest, and triceps. It is an effective exercise to enhance arm strength and build muscle mass.

• Start by sitting on the floor, positioning the dumbbells vertically alongside your arms.
• Maintain a tight grip while picking up the dumbbells and placing them on your hips.
• Slowly lay on your back while keeping the dumbbells close to your chest and your legs bent at the knees. When you are on your back, your feet must be shoulder-width apart and bent at the knees with the toes facing forward. The dumbbells are resting on your chest.
• Press the dumbbells to fully extend your arms straight up to the ceiling by contracting your triceps and chest
• Slowly lower the dumbbells until both elbows touch the floor at the same time and then press both dumbbells back into the upright start position.
• This is one repetition. You can start by doing 10 to 15 repetitions and increasing the number of sets. As you progress, you can either switch to heavier dumbbells or increase the number of sets.

While finishing off, gently set the dumbbells on the side by not requiring too much effort in the shoulders.

The benefits of doing calf raises are already listed above. To put a little more oomph in your calves, you can raise the bar by adding dumbbell calf raises to your home workout routine. Incorporating dumbbells into calf raises introduces added resistance, elevating the challenge of the exercise.

Here is how you perform the dumbbell calf raises:

• Take a weight of your choice in each weight. Start with lesser weight, to begin with. Stand up straight with your feet facing forward with a hip-width distance between them.
• Slightly bend your knees, keeping your hands at your sides. Raise your heels by pressing the balls of your feet into the ground.
• You should move your body upwards until you’re standing on your toes.
• Maintain this position for a few moments, then gently lower your heels to the starting position. Do not completely place your heels on the ground, just allow them to hover slightly.
• Repeat the steps.
• You can slowly make it more challenging by doing this exercise standing on one leg at a time. This is very effective in giving an isolated workout to the calf muscles.

Start with 10 to 15 repetitions and slowly build up the number of sets you add to this exercise.

Bicep curls or dumbbell curls help you in building more strength in your upper arms. It also helps in building upper arm muscles. Bicep curls strengthen your elbow flexion and improve your grip strength. Some other benefits of bicep curls include boosting athletic performance and helping in doing daily activities better.

• Begin with lighter dumbbells in each hand, standing upright with your feet shoulder-width apart and arms at your sides.
• Lift the dumbbells by bending the elbows and getting the dumbbells up to your shoulders. Make sure your elbows are close to your body, but not touching or resting on your body and your upper arms are stationary. Only your forearms should move.
• When the dumbbells reach shoulder level, gradually lower your arms back to the starting position.
• Repeat the steps.

Ensure your knee and elbow joints remain relaxed. Engage your core, keep your palms facing forward, and exhale as you lift the dumbbells. Always maintain a straight back, shoulders rolled back, and head held high.

A set of 10 to 15 repetitions is a good place to start. Build it to 3 to 5 sets and then transition to heavier weights to make it more challenging.

Shoulder press exercises increase the strength and size of the shoulder, triceps, and trapezius muscles, while also increasing the strength of your core muscles, including your lower back. This home workout also involves the lower body since it requires stabilisation to perform the exercise effectively.

• Grab a dumbbell in each hand and stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Raise the dumbbells to shoulder height; this is your starting position for the exercise.
• The dumbbells are held with an overhand grip and palms facing in the front.
• Press the dumbbells overhead until your arms fully extend.
• Gradually return to the starting position.
• Repeat the movements.

Be mindful that you don’t arch your back. If you are leaning forward or backwards, you can switch to lighter dumbbells. Keeping the core engaged will ensure your form is right and you get the maximum benefits from this home exercise.

A good home workout routine includes bodyweight, cardio, and strength training, making it easy to plan your home workout everyday without the need for a gym. You can pick a couple of exercises from each category daily. Or you can break it up into dedicating one day for each category and repeat the cycle. As you advance, ramp up the number of sets. Remember to incorporate rest days. Always tune into your body's signals and adjust the pace accordingly. You will soon see visible results and enjoy a healthier body and life.