The most important things to do when you get the flu are start resting immediately, stay hydrated, and decide within the first 48 hours whether you need antiviral medication. Most healthy adults recover in about a week with good home care, but acting quickly on a few key fronts can shorten the illness and prevent complications.
Ask About Antivirals Early
Prescription antiviral medications work best when started within 48 hours of your first symptoms. They can shorten the duration of fever and other symptoms and may reduce the risk of complications like pneumonia and ear infections. Even if you’re past the 48-hour window, antivirals can still help if your illness is severe or getting worse.
Not everyone needs antivirals. They’re most important if you fall into a higher-risk category: adults 65 and older, children under 2, pregnant women (including up to two weeks postpartum), and people with chronic conditions like asthma, diabetes, heart disease, kidney disease, liver disorders, COPD, or a weakened immune system. A BMI of 40 or higher also increases risk, as does a history of stroke. If any of these apply to you, call your doctor at the first sign of flu symptoms rather than waiting to see how you feel.
Manage Fever and Pain
Acetaminophen and ibuprofen are the standard options for bringing down fever and relieving the body aches that come with the flu. If you’re using acetaminophen, stay under 4,000 mg in 24 hours, and be careful about stacking it with combination cold-and-flu products that also contain acetaminophen. It’s easy to accidentally double up. Check the active ingredients on every product you’re taking.
Avoid giving aspirin or aspirin-containing products to anyone under 19 during a viral illness, as this combination is linked to a rare but serious condition called Reye’s syndrome.
Stay Hydrated
Fever accelerates fluid loss because your body burns through water trying to cool itself down. Add vomiting, diarrhea, and a nonexistent appetite, and dehydration becomes one of the biggest obstacles to recovery. When sodium, potassium, and other electrolytes drop, you’ll feel weaker and dizzier than the virus alone would cause.
Your best options are water, electrolyte drinks, and broth. Warm liquids like broth or herbal tea can also help soothe irritated airways. If you have mild symptoms, no vomiting, and can keep fluids down, oral hydration is all you need. Sip consistently throughout the day rather than trying to drink large amounts at once.
Prioritize Sleep and Rest
Rest isn’t just about comfort. Poor sleep actively disrupts the immune response your body needs to clear the virus. Research shows that disrupted sleep impairs the way immune cells mature and communicate with each other. Specifically, it weakens the process by which your body produces targeted antibodies, the proteins that neutralize the virus. Animals exposed to chronic sleep disruption produced fewer neutralizing antibodies and had lower survival rates after viral challenge, even when their immune systems appeared to be working on the surface.
In practical terms, this means canceling your plans, not just for the day you feel worst but for several days. Pushing through work or responsibilities while sick doesn’t just slow your recovery. It actively undermines the precision of your immune response. Sleep as much as your body wants to, and don’t set an alarm if you can avoid it.
Set Up Your Room for Recovery
Keep indoor humidity between 30% and 50%. Dry air irritates already-inflamed airways, making coughing worse and mucus harder to clear. A cool-mist humidifier in the room where you’re resting can help. If you don’t have one, spending time in a steamy bathroom offers temporary relief.
Keep tissues, a trash can, water, and fever reducers within arm’s reach so you’re not getting up constantly. Fresh air circulation helps too. Crack a window for a few minutes if weather permits, or run a fan on low to keep air from getting stale.
Protect the People Around You
You’re contagious for at least seven days after symptoms start, and possibly longer. The general guideline for returning to work or school is to wait at least 24 hours after your fever breaks on its own, meaning without the help of fever-reducing medication. Even after that, you’re still shedding some virus, so good hand hygiene and covering coughs matters for several more days.
If you’re on antiviral medication, don’t assume you’ve stopped being contagious. People taking antivirals continue to shed the flu virus during treatment. Stay in a separate room from household members if possible, wear a mask if you need to be in shared spaces, and wash your hands frequently. Young children, older adults, and anyone with a compromised immune system in your household should take extra precautions to avoid close contact with you.
Warning Signs That Need Emergency Care
Most flu cases resolve at home, but certain symptoms signal that something more dangerous is happening. In adults, get medical care immediately if you experience:
- Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath
- Persistent pain or pressure in the chest or abdomen
- Persistent dizziness, confusion, or difficulty staying conscious
- Seizures
- Not urinating (a sign of serious dehydration)
- Severe muscle pain or severe weakness
- Fever or cough that improves, then returns or gets worse
That last one is particularly important. A fever that breaks and then spikes again, or a cough that clears up for a day and comes back stronger, can indicate a secondary bacterial infection like pneumonia.
In children, the same red flags apply, plus a few others: ribs pulling in with each breath, bluish lips or face, refusal to walk due to muscle pain, and no urine output for eight hours. Any fever in an infant under 12 weeks warrants an immediate call, even if the baby otherwise seems okay. A fever above 104°F in any child that doesn’t respond to medication also needs emergency evaluation.
The Recovery Timeline
Most adults start feeling significantly better within five to seven days, though fatigue and a lingering cough can hang around for two weeks or more. Don’t mistake the tail end of symptoms for a new illness. Your body took a real hit, and the residual tiredness is your immune system finishing cleanup.
Ease back into your normal routine gradually. If you jump straight from bed to a full workday and exercise, you risk relapsing or extending that fatigue. Give yourself a few days of lighter activity even after you feel mostly recovered, especially if you’re in one of the higher-risk groups where complications are more likely.