Exercising When Sick

“If I’m feeling sick, do I go sweat it out?”

There is a difference between “working out” and “physically moving the body.”

A structured workout routine — one where you’re breathing heavily, sweating, working hard, and feeling some discomfort — awakens a stress response in the body.

When we’re healthy, our bodies can easily adapt to that stress. But when we’re sick, the stress of a tough workout can be more than our immune systems can handle.

Non-strenuous movement (walking, bike ride, yoga) and purposefully working out (HIIT, heavy weightlifting shesh, or CrossFit class) are different.

Let your own perceived level of exertion be your guide.

In general, a low to moderate intensity workout will leave you feeling energized. A high intensity workout, on the other hand, can leave you depleted. If you’re sick, it makes sense to avoid getting more depleted.

It’s pretty obvious that if you’re actually sick and fighting an infection, your immune system will already be stressed. And if you add the stress of prolonged vigorous exercise, you might, quite simply, overload yourself and make you more sick.

Here are our guidelines for exercise during illness:

Day one of illness: Only low-intensity exercise with symptoms like sore throat, coughing, or congestion. No exercise if experiencing muscle pain, fever, diarrhea, or vomiting.

Day two of illness: If you have a fever over 100 degrees or increased coughing, diarrhea or vomiting, do not exercise. If no fever or worsening symptoms, light exercise (>120 BPM) by yourself indoors.

Day three of illness: If fever persists or symptoms worsen, consult a doctor. If no fever or worsening symptoms, moderate exercise (<150 BPM) by yourself indoors.

Day four of illness: If no symptom relief or new symptoms appear, no exercise and see your doctor. If fever and other symptoms are improved, wait 24 hours and wait to ease back into exercise gently.

Source: Precision Nutrition