Illness and exercise

I've been repeatedly ill recently, flu-y, with a headache and chesty cough. :frown:

The general question, though, is how 'well' should I be before exercising?

Obviously the sensible thing to do seems to be to rest completely until I feel 100% but I've been getting conflicting advice on whether this is necessary, from coaches and doctors. Also, I've got some fairly important trials etc coming up, and ideally I would like to be training quite a lot. Is this going to make me more ill, or slow my recovery, or can I get away with it once I'm feeling almost OK?

Cheers :smile:

Reply 1

benamure

7

I think generally the advice is not to exercise if you have any symptoms below the neck. So a bit of a blocked nose or sore throat, and you should be good to go. Muscle aches or others symptoms lower down, leave out the exercise.

Exercise is always going to weaken your immune system slightly, although that said, if I'm a bit ill with a cold, I usually feel better after a workout.

Reply 2

Steve Stifler

parsleythelion

I've been repeatedly ill recently, flu-y, with a headache and chesty cough. :frown:

The general question, though, is how 'well' should I be before exercising?

Obviously the sensible thing to do seems to be to rest completely until I feel 100% but I've been getting conflicting advice on whether this is necessary, from coaches and doctors. Also, I've got some fairly important trials etc coming up, and ideally I would like to be training quite a lot. Is this going to make me more ill, or slow my recovery, or can I get away with it once I'm feeling almost OK?

Cheers :smile:

I've got a pretty bad head flu at the moment and I'm still doing physical training. It's not going to be helped by the fact that over the weekend I'm spending 36 hours solid in the outdoors, lemsip is my friend :biggrin:

Reply 3

Bis

1

with viruses and colds etc it's best to wait until you have pretty much fully recovered from it until you begin exercising seriously. you should know that.

Reply 4

e11even

10

What form of "exercising" are you talking about? If it's vigorous training, that wouldn't go to well with your illness, I should think. But, a little exercise wouldn't aggravate it. Unless you're really ill.

Reply 5

gaia_a

1

i think gentle exercise, like jogging, really helps when i have a cold or something. the best advice, however, would be to listen to your body, if something doesn't feel right then don't do it.

Reply 6

tomorrows_apple

1

gaia_a

listen to your body, if something doesn't feel right then don't do it.

Good advice, gaia. From experience, doing too much when you're feeling sickly just isn't a good idea. Better to give your body a chance to heal.

Reply 7

Barny

17

If you're an athlete(by the sound of your post you are) hoping for maximum recovery and performance then you should rest until you feel completely well, otherwise you will just prolong the illness and hamper performance.

Illness and exercise

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