How Long Do Night Sweats Last After Covid?

It is normal to wake up drenched in sweat on a hot night. Sweating is a natural way for your body to cool itself off. In most cases, sweating at night is never a cause of concern. However, episodes of excessive perspiration while sleeping can be due to various other issues. Some of the commonly known causes of night sweats include sleep disorders like sleep apnea, flu, stroke, anxiety, hormonal changes, and menopause. 

Some types of cancer also increase sweating at night. There are also medications with sweating as a side effect. Examples of such medications include steroids and antidepressants. 

Bacterial and viral infections can also cause night sweats. For instance, night sweats can be related to COVID-19, more so if you experience fever as one of the symptoms. Read on to learn if your night sweats are a sign of COVID and what to do about them.

Night Sweats - a Sign of COVID-19?

Sweating is your body’s natural way of controlling your body temperature. It is normal to sweat during the day or at night when hot. However, having night sweats during the COVID-19 pandemic is a cause for alarm. It’s because night sweats are among the symptoms of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. Earlier virus strains had signs such as shortness of breath, loss of smell, dry cough, and loss of taste. 

But omicron has people reaching for cold towels at night due to excess perspiration. Some people also have a sore throat, headache, fatigue, sneezing and runny nose. Fortunately, most people retain their sense of smell and taste. 

Sweating occurs when your body raises its temperature to fight the infection. However, you may have COVID-19 night sweats with no fever. 

Also, night sweats can be a side effect of the COVID-19 vaccine. The good news is that most of the time, the side effects of the vaccines clear away in a day or two. 

How Long Do Night Sweats Last After COVID?

Night sweats after COVID-19 do not last a long time. In addition, they are not a common symptom of the coronavirus. COVID-19 sweating mostly lasts a few days and stops once the infection is cleared. However, you should note that night sweating lasts approximately 100 days or even longer for some people. There’s no exact duration for night sweats during COVID-19 since it varies from person to person. 

How to Treat COVID-19 Night Sweats

Hot flashes with COVID-19 are quite common. So, the first thing you must do when you notice persistent night sweats is get tested for the coronavirus. You can visit your nearest health centre to get tested or do it from the comfort of your home by purchasing lateral flow tests for sale. 

One of the best home test kits for COVID-19 is the Healgen rapid test. These antigen tests are performed using direct nasal swab specimens from people suspected of COVID. They detect various strains of COVID-19, including Omicron, Delta, South Africa and Brazil variants. 

You can also get the Flowflex rapid test kits that use modern patented technology to detect proteins in various coronavirus strains. An advantage of these is that they are low-level nasal-only swab tests with fast and highly accurate results. 

Once you know the results of the test, then it becomes easy to get rid of the night sweats and COVID-19. If the results are positive for COVID-19, you should self-isolate and consult your doctor on the best course of treatment to help you reduce night sweats.

Some of the methods you can use to deal with night sweats include sleeping in a cool room or using light bedding. In addition, you should avoid wearing heavy pyjamas to bed if you are experiencing COVID-19 sweating.

Conclusion

Sweating is mostly a symptom of the new variants of COVID that are more easily transmitted than previous strains. Although the symptom is rare, night sweats occur when your body raises the body temperature to fight off the coronavirus infection. Fortunately, the sweating stops once the infection is cleared.