Exercising When You’re Sick: Helpful or Hurtful?

On Sunday my throat hurt, Monday morning I was stuffy and Monday night I was flat out miserable because I couldn’t breathe.  Finally I admitted the painful truth: I’m sick. Noooo!

My daughter had to miss school on Monday because she was one day ahead of me in the sick game (and the sick culprit I suspect) but still I held out until in the middle of the night on Monday to admit that I too had caught a bug. But I finally did and even came to terms with missing a Monday AND Tuesday workout.  But everywhere I was on Monday and Tuesday there were runners or cyclists or cross fitters (doing…I’m never quite sure what they do) but there they were all exercising and all not sick.

This is not me…but it could be.

Wednesday I decided that enough was enough and I was going on my routine Wednesday night ride (WNR).  It’s in the evening so it wasn’t too terribly hot so I figured that was good and at this point my throat didn’t hurt I was just really stuffy.  My riding group took it easy and I didn’t feel too bad until towards the end.  By the end of the ride I was pretty achy and stuffy. No bueno.  The dillema of exercising when you’re sick is this:  It can either kick it out of you or make it worse.  The ride probably made it worse BUT Thursday I woke up feeling pretty good.  It was hotter that day and I could only run at noon.  Turns out this made me nauseous and ridiculously overheated, I listened to my body cut my run in half and went really slow at the end, some people might even call it “walking.”

I was going to swim on Friday morning but I decided not too push it so I went ahead and opted out of yet another workout.  I decided to do a little research on this subject and I discovered that in general

This is what the cold virus looks like…I guess.

there is a “neck-up” rule.  Meaning that if your symptoms are contained to your head then in general you can work out.  Experts still advise cutting your workout in half and not going as hard.  According to CNN Health, “Some experts argue that moderate exercise can actually have a beneficial effect on cold symptoms, according to the American College of Sports Medicine.”  Apparently it can help open nasal passages and temporarily relieve nasal congestion.  According to Dr. Laskowski, on the Mayo Clinc web site,

Let your body be your guide. If you have a cold and feel miserable, take a break. Scaling back or taking a few days off from exercise when you’re sick shouldn’t affect your performance. Resume your normal workout routine gradually as you begin to feel better. And check with your doctor if you aren’t sure if it’s OK to exercise.

Good to know.

My conclusion is that I think if I had started off with just a head cold I would have been okay…maybe even made it a little better.  But since I started off mildly feverish the workout made me worse.  Also, there was an explosion of outdoor allergens where I live and riding through those (when I already have a hard time with allergies) probably wasn’t a bright idea either.

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