Most concussions heal on their own with the right care at home. Adults typically recover in about a week, while children under 13 can take closer to four weeks. The key is managing your symptoms carefully in the first 48 hours, then gradually returning to normal activity as you feel better. Here’s what that looks like in practice.
Know When It’s Not Safe to Stay Home
Before settling into home care, make sure you’re dealing with a straightforward concussion and not something more serious. Go to the emergency room immediately if you notice any of these signs in the hours or days after a head injury:
- Seizures or convulsions
- A headache that keeps getting worse and won’t go away
- Repeated vomiting
- Slurred speech, weakness, numbness, or loss of coordination
- One pupil larger than the other, or double vision
- Increasing confusion, agitation, or inability to recognize people or places
- Loss of consciousness or inability to stay awake
For infants and toddlers, also watch for inconsolable crying or refusal to eat or nurse. These signs can indicate bleeding in the brain, which requires immediate treatment.
The First 48 Hours: Rest Without Overdoing It
The first two days are your most important recovery window. During this time, both your body and brain need genuine rest, but that doesn’t mean lying motionless in a dark room for days on end. The goal is to avoid activities that make your symptoms worse while still allowing light, comfortable movement around the house.
Avoid screens as much as possible during this period. A study of adolescents and young adults found that those who abstained from screen time in the first 48 hours after a concussion recovered faster than those who used screens freely. That includes phones, TVs, tablets, computers, and video games. The group that avoided screens didn’t manage perfect abstinence (they still averaged 5 to 10 minutes a day), so don’t stress about checking a text message. The point is to dramatically reduce screen exposure, not achieve perfection.
Beyond screens, ease up on anything mentally taxing: long conversations, reading dense material, puzzles, or work tasks that require sustained focus. If an activity makes your headache worse or increases fogginess, stop and rest.
Sleep Is Your Best Medicine
You may have heard that you shouldn’t let a concussed person fall asleep, or that you need to wake them every couple of hours. According to Cleveland Clinic, there’s no evidence this helps. That advice likely came from an old fear that sleep could lead to a coma, but that’s not how concussions work. Rest is one of the most important parts of healing, and waking someone repeatedly is actually counterproductive.
Aim for a full eight hours of sleep. It’s fine to check on a sleeping person to make sure their breathing looks normal, and you can do that without waking them. If their breathing pattern seems abnormal, wake them and seek medical attention right away.
Managing Pain Safely
Headaches are one of the most common concussion symptoms, but be careful about what you reach for in the medicine cabinet. Avoid ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin) and aspirin for at least the first 48 hours. These medications thin the blood, which could worsen any undetected bleeding in the brain. They also reduce inflammation in a way that may actually slow the healing process, since some early inflammation is part of how your brain repairs itself.
Ideally, avoid all pain medication in the first 24 to 48 hours. Pain relievers can mask worsening symptoms that would otherwise alert you to a more serious injury. After that initial window, over-the-counter acetaminophen (Tylenol) is generally the safest option. If headaches persist or intensify beyond the first few days, that’s worth bringing up with your doctor.
Setting Up Your Home Environment
Light and sound sensitivity are extremely common after a concussion. Small adjustments to your surroundings can make a real difference in how you feel day to day. Dim bright overhead lights or switch to lamps. Turn down the volume on anything playing in the background. Choose quieter, less crowded spaces in your home when possible. If sunlight through windows bothers you, close the blinds or curtains during peak hours.
These adjustments are most important in the first few days. As your symptoms improve, gradually reintroduce normal lighting and sound levels. Spending too long in a completely dark, silent room can actually make your sensitivity worse over time by keeping your brain from readjusting.
Eating and Drinking for Recovery
Your brain burns through a lot of energy while healing. Meeting your calorie and protein needs in the first few days after a concussion has been linked to faster recovery. Don’t skip meals, even if you feel a bit nauseous. Eat smaller portions more frequently if full meals feel like too much.
Stay well hydrated, since dehydration worsens headaches and fatigue. Water is your best bet, though any non-caffeinated fluid counts.
Certain nutrients show promise for supporting brain recovery. Omega-3 fatty acids (found in fatty fish, walnuts, and fish oil supplements) taken within the first few days after injury have been associated with faster symptom resolution in multiple trials. Magnesium supplementation (400 mg daily for five days) showed acute symptom improvements in one study, particularly around 48 hours after the injury. Vitamin D may also support cognitive recovery when taken during the early phase. These aren’t miracle cures, but they give your brain more of the raw materials it needs to heal.
Returning to Physical Activity
Once you’ve rested for 24 to 48 hours and your symptoms are manageable, you can begin a gradual return to physical activity. The standard approach follows a step-by-step progression, with each step taking at least 24 hours. If symptoms return or worsen at any stage, drop back to the previous step and try again after another day of rest.
- Step 1: Return to regular daily activities like light housework and short walks.
- Step 2: Light aerobic exercise only, like 5 to 10 minutes on a stationary bike or an easy walk. No weight lifting.
- Step 3: Moderate activity that increases your heart rate, like jogging or light weightlifting at reduced intensity.
- Step 4: Heavy non-contact activity, including sprinting, full weightlifting routines, and sport-specific drills.
- Step 5: Full practice with contact (for athletes).
- Step 6: Return to competition.
This progression was designed for athletes, but the principle applies to anyone. The takeaway is that you ramp up slowly, listen to your body, and back off if symptoms flare.
Getting Back to School or Work
Mental exertion can be just as taxing as physical activity during concussion recovery. If you’re a student or have a child recovering from a concussion, a gradual return to academics is just as important as a gradual return to exercise.
In the earliest phase, aim for partial days of one to three hours, with rest breaks between classes and no homework or tests. From there, build toward a full school day with supports: two to three rest breaks of 20 to 30 minutes, less than an hour of homework, and no exams. Tests can eventually resume with modifications like extra time or a quiet room. A note from a healthcare provider may be needed to delay standardized tests or extend deadlines.
Scheduling can be flexible too. If symptoms tend to worsen in the afternoon, attending school in the morning and leaving early makes sense. If falling asleep at night is the bigger issue, starting the school day later and sleeping in may work better. For adults returning to work, the same logic applies: start with shorter days, take breaks, and increase your workload gradually as symptoms allow.
When Recovery Takes Longer Than Expected
About 90% of concussion symptoms resolve within 10 to 14 days. But if symptoms linger beyond four weeks, you may be dealing with what’s called post-concussion syndrome. This is diagnosed when symptoms like headaches, fatigue, dizziness, trouble concentrating, sleep problems, and irritability persist for three months or longer (though some guidelines use a four-week cutoff for beginning further evaluation).
Children are more likely to have a longer recovery. Symptoms in kids under 13 last about four weeks on average, roughly three times longer than in adults. That can feel alarming, but it’s considered a normal recovery timeline for younger brains. If your child still has symptoms after four to six weeks, or if symptoms are worsening rather than gradually improving, that warrants a follow-up with their healthcare provider to explore targeted treatment options like vestibular therapy or cognitive rehabilitation.