Conventional wisdom is to rest while you are sick, after all, your body is working hard to get rid of the illness during infections. It naturally wouldn’t make much sense to put more stress onto your body at this time. But being sick also comes with many different symptoms. And for your different symptoms, you have different answers to whether you should be working out. You should stay at home if you are feeling heavy sore throat, chest congestion, upset stomach, vomiting, fever and muscle aches, you might be able to work out if you have a minor sore throat, congestion, slight cough, sneezing.
Within the fitness world, this is considered as the below or above neck check, symptoms existing above the neck shows that it will be okay for you to workout but symptoms that exist below the neck are no go.
If your initial instinct is to rest then you should go with your instincts, after all losing a bit of gain is better than prolonging your sickness and losing more gains than expected.
Along with the same note of prolonging sickness, exercise can reduce the length of your illness. Although there are many studies on this matter, it is highly controversial to intentionally infect subjects.
Some athletes believe exercise helps you to sweat out your sickness and choosing appropriate exercises is important as well. Undoubtedly you should not try to do the same intense workout you normally do. The number of weights, reps, time should be less than usual. Also staying hydrated and continuously monitoring how you are feeling throughout the whole process and at any time if your symptoms get worse, it is best to stop immediately.
Read further to find out when it’s best to avoid exercising:-
Fever
During fever your body is fighting infection and needs utmost care, so it is not advised to exercise during fever.
Cold
It is advised to exercise only if symptoms are above the neck but it is not advised to exercise if symptoms are below the neck and you are finding it difficult to breathe, that is the sign you should be resting fully.
Have a Hangover
Drinking alcohol can cause restlessness, tiredness, and dehydration. Alcohol dehydrates your body and workout after a hangover will produce more stress.
Pregnancy
Before starting any exercising routine, it is advised for pregnant mothers to ask a professional, safest exercising during pregnancy would be walking, doing yoga ( only certain asanas), and swimming.
Sports Injury
You should not exercise when you are having a sports injury, seek help from a professional as soon as possible.
Summing Up
Exercise is good for us. It has several benefits including overall improving the performance of our immune system. Moderate exercise helps to stimulate the production of the type of blood cell known as Th1 which helps to fight against many bacteria and viruses. However as we try to push our training harder, it increases the overall stress and fatigue on our bodies our immune system takes a sharp turn in opposite directions.
Whatever the illness is, it is much better to back off right away for a day or two at least depending upon the symptoms and conditions. It’s worth remembering that we cannot build sickness on the same body.
