Illness and exercise: To train or not to train, that is the question - Healthy Woman

Muscle & Fitness/Hers, Dec, 2002 by Jaime Leggatt

A hacking cough, runny nose, aching bones and nausea keep you bedridden. But you're so concerned about losing muscle mass that you contemplate hitting the gym despite your weakened condition. Before you trade your health for a workout or two, make sure you know the facts about the risks exercise can pose when you're suffering from the flu or a chest cold.

Hitting Below the Neck

Avoid exercising if you have the flu. The symptoms that should keep you home include a fever of 100.5 degrees F or higher, body aches and pains or other ailments that are below the neck like hacking cough, chills, diarrhea or vomiting, says David Nieman, DrPH, FACSM, a professor at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, and an expert on exercise and immune function. Exercising during this time may actually exacerbate the illness and lengthen recovery time. "If you have the flu, wait until all symptoms are gone," advises Nieman, who recommends complete rest as the best medicine for flu sufferers. "If you push, all you're doing is inviting a relapse."

But even in the face of potential relapse, many exercisers worry that taking a break for health concerns may undo all the hard work they've put in at the gym. Not so, says Debbie Horzepa, supervisor of clinical evaluations with the Scripps Center for Executive Health in La Jolla, California. "A person will lose a negligible amount after one week of not working out," she notes.

Taking that into account, if your flu symptoms have abated after a week of rest, participating in light exercise should help you maintain your strength without compromising your health. Talking short walks and doing push-ups, lunges or squats at home will also get your circulation flowing without spreading germs at the gym. To stay healthy, exercise for two days at a lower-than-normal intensity for each day you were sick.

Activity Above the Neck

If you're struck with a simple head cold, with symptoms above the neck (as opposed to the flu), the gym is within reach. Moderate exercise can help you maintain your current fitness level without affecting your health. Still, start slower than you would normally. If you don't feel better after 10 minutes, stop. If you hop on the stair-stepper, ride the recumbent bike or lift some free weights, remember your gym manners. "For sick people, it's almost impossible not to spread viruses around, so it's more courteous to stay at home," Nieman states.

"Upper respiratory tract infections are spread two ways. One, if you sneeze in your hand, touch an object and then someone touches it and rubs their nose or eyes, then they give the virus a lift right up into the area it likes to live in," he adds. "The other route is if you don't smother your sneeze and sneeze into the air. It spreads microscopic droplets with viruses that float in the air and then you can just breathe it right in your upper airway tract.

If you insist on training at the gym with a head cold, remember to cover your mouth when you sneeze and then wash your hands before you touch anything. Immediately after exercising, be sure to disinfect the equipment you touched.

Preventive Training

If you're healthy and notice lots of not-so-healthy people at the gym, take some precautions. For starters, clean all equipment before using it. "To decrease your chances of getting sick, try not to touch your face when training to decrease the chance of transmitting germs. Always wash your hands for at least 15 seconds before leaving the gym. Soap doesn't have to be antibacterial to kill germs; length of time is the key," says Horzepa.

Deciding whether or not to work out is ultimately your decision. By using this information with common sense as your driving force, you could stay healthy all winter long.

Free-lance writer and fitness enthusiast Jamie Leggatt resides in Vancouver, British Columbia. She has a bachelor's degree in communications and can bet reached at jamieleggart@hotmail.com.com.

REFERENCE

Primos Jr., WA., Wappes. J.R. Exercising--or not--when you are sick. The Physician and Sportsmedicine, 1996. http://www.physsportmed.com/issues/1996/01_96/primospa.htm