When the weather is bad, staying away from exercise is a must, and you don't have to think about it, but what should you do if you get a cold or flu?

You are not feeling well and you are not feeling as enthusiastic as usual, but your symptoms are not serious. Perhaps you are asking yourself: Is it acceptable to exercise while sick or not?

It's like this: Not all cases are the same, but each case has a different answer from the other!

Follow our article to learn everything about exercising during illness, safe exercises and how to perform them, and when you can return to your usual exercise schedule.

Exercising While Sick Introduction

If you have a mild cold, you may be able to exercise while sick, but at a lower intensity than usual.

Sometimes exercising during illness can help you feel better, and we tell you the general rule (the neck rule), my butterfly: Exercising while sick is safe if your symptoms are limited to the area “above the neck,” such as feeling a headache and a stuffy or runny nose.

Even after we said that exercising while sick is safe when the symptoms are above the neck, you may want, my dear, to reduce the intensity of the exercises that you practice. For example, if you are running, you can practice fast walking, and if you are practicing fast walking, you can walk at a slower pace, and if you are lifting dumbbells with a weight at the gym, you can reduce weight and lift lightweight dumbbells in your home.

On the other hand, when the symptoms you are experiencing are “down the neck” such as chest congestion, vomiting, and nausea, you can take a short vacation for a few days, focus on recovery and your comfort if you feel a fever, and isolate at home if the result of the Covid-19 test is positive.

Read on to learn more about exercising while sick, and follow Farashti magazine to learn more about all the areas of interest to women, including sports, health, and beauty.

Exercising While Sick is Safe Here

As we learned earlier, butterflies, use the neck rule (which divides your body into two parts above and below the neck) to determine whether exercising while sick is safe for you or not.

If your symptoms are above the neck, you can exercise while sick. For example, we consider exercising when you have a cold in your head to be relatively safe in general, and so that things do not confuse you, my butterfly, we will talk about the symptoms that we can consider as symptoms above the neck:

• Mild headache
• Stuffy or runny nose
• Sore throat
• Sneezing
• Dry cough

You may want to reduce the intensity of your exercises, even if you only have a mild head cold, such as choosing dumbbells that are lighter than the ones you normally carry.

Avoid Exercising While Sick During Those Conditions

The American Heart Association (AHA) has conducted several studies and advised avoiding exercise while sick if you suffer from the following symptoms in the lower part of your neck:

• Chest congestion
• Vomiting
• Feeling nauseous
• Wet cough
• Stomach and digestive problems

You should refrain from exercising while sick if you suffer from a wet cough that secretes mucus. Research conducted on many people has found that a wet cough is often linked to bacterial infections in your lower respiratory tract, i.e. bacterial pneumonia, for example, and this is what causes more serious symptoms than other types of cough.

You should get some rest to feel better and reduce the complications of the disease on your body.

The American Heart Association (AHA) added that fever, regardless of the reason for its appearance, is a symptom that requires you to refrain from exercising while sick.

When Can You Return to Regular Exercising 

Slowly return to your exercise after you generally recover from the illness.

Experts and doctors advise you to wait for the infection to completely disappear before resuming your usual exercise schedule.

Some studies have indicated that exercising while sick, especially with a fever, can lead to serious complications such as:

• Heart diseases
• Coordination problems
• Losing your stamina
• Loss of muscle strength
• Release of muscle content into the blood, or rhabdomyolysis
• The spread of germs and infection among individuals in your surroundings
• The disease worsens and its recovery is delayed.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advises you to stay away from others for at least 11 days after you undergo a COVID-19 test and prove that you are infected with it, noting that you can continue exercising while sick after five days if you do not have any serious symptoms.

You may lose some physical strength when exercising while sick, but don't be afraid! Gradually increasing your exercise intensity can help you avoid injuries and complications.

Do not hesitate, and contact your doctor or caregiver if you experience new symptoms after exercising while sick, such as:

• Difficulty breathing or choking during exercise
• Tired
• Cough

Exercising While Sick Best and Worst Benefits

Some exercises can be safer and more beneficial than others, even if you suffer from a mild illness. Exercising while sick can help you boost your energy and relieve congestion, such as moderate cardio exercises. This was confirmed by Andrea Hulse, an internal medicine physician at Sibley Hospital, where he said:《It's a matter of personal preference! the type of symptoms you suffer from, and what your normal routine is》

Read on, my butterfly, so you know what exercises are safe if you want to exercise while sick, and the tips that you should follow when you are sick.

Workout outside and cold weather  

Exercising while sick, in cold weather and low temperatures, can harm the health of some people with a cold and those with low immunity. Dry, cold air leads to irritation of the respiratory airways, runny nose, and cough, and in some cases, symptoms such as asthma can appear.

In cold weather, you may find it more difficult to exercise while you are sick, such as snowshoeing and ice skating, which may be more difficult than usual.

Exercising in cold weather will not cause you to have weak immunity or illness, as is rumored among some people unless your body's immunity is weak in the first place.

Cycling

It is one of the safe sports that you should think about when you want to exercise while sick, as it is a moderate sport that strengthens the heart, increases its heart rate, improves oxygen access to all parts of the body, burns calories, and reduces blood sugar levels without harming the joints of the knees and elbows.

Avoid riding a bicycle in crowded areas, so as not to inhale pollutants in the air, which exacerbate your symptoms of the disease, irritate the bronchial tubes, and symptoms can lead to shortness of breath and coughing.

10 minutes of riding a stationary or moving bike helps maintain your fitness, as it can be done at home on a stationary bike or go out for a walk on the bike, and it can be done with friends. It helps calm your mind, makes you feel refreshed, focuses on the abdominal area, and activates your body in general, thus improving your general health and reducing your symptoms of the disease.

Dancing

You should think about dancing when you want to exercise while sick, but it must be performed carefully and slowly, as it moves all the muscles of the body, including the hips, supports them, contributes to weight loss, strengthens the heart, raises its beat rate, improves balance, and raises morale. You can perform it with a partner so that you do not feel bored. It also has types: Zumba, regular dance, and tango.

You can listen to your favorite songs and dance to them while you clean the house. It is a safe form of exercise when you have symptoms above the neck, reduces stress, and improves your immune function.

Dancing is a low-impact, safe sport where you can work up a sweat without putting pressure on your joints and without making your sinus symptoms worse.

Do not rush do not put pressure on yourself, and take things slowly. You can control the speed of your movements, reduce the intensity of the movements on days when you do not feel well, and most importantly, enjoy your exercise in every moment.

Yoga

Yoga helps you breathe better, and various studies conducted have proven that doing yoga and breathing exercises helps you strengthen the muscles of the diaphragm, strengthen the lower esophageal sphincter muscles, which regulate the flow of stomach contents, and increase blood flow to the various organs of the body, including the digestive system and the respiratory system, thus contributing to strengthen your body and relieve your symptoms of illness.

We advise you, Madam, to do slow and deep breathing exercises, which contribute to relieving stress and anxiety, prevent the reflux of stomach contents into the esophagus, reduce inflammation, strengthen immunity, and thus reduce your symptoms of the disease.

“Light, gentle stretching exercises can relieve some of the aches and pains you experience when you get sick, colds, or sinusitis,” says Dr. Besser.

Exercise slowly, choosing easy, gentle movements such as Hatha or Iyengar yoga, and if you are afraid of overdoing the exercises, choose restorative poses at home, such as leg-up and child's pose.

Yoga is one of your best options when you decide to exercise while sick, and yoga is usually practiced for 30 minutes a day.

Walking

Suffering from a cold can weaken your immunity and lower your energy levels. You may feel a desire to sit and not exercise while sick, because it may cause you stress and fatigue. Here you can replace it with walking, which helps you take in the results and benefits of regular exercise, and can relieve cold symptoms.

Walking is one of the safe and popular exercises that you should consider when you want to exercise while sick, as it is a low-impact exercise that is very beneficial for patients in general, and it significantly reduces your weight and the level of sugar in your blood.

Dr. Besser says: “If your sinuses are blocked, walking will force you to take deep breaths, which will help you open the blocked airways.”

Doctors and healthcare providers recommend walking for at least an hour or half an hour, 3 or 4 times a week.

Jogging

If running is part of your routine, why should you skip it just because you have a slight cold in your head?

Jogging is one of the safe and popular sports that you should consider when you want to exercise while sick, as it strengthens the heart muscle and strengthens and activates your body, thus reducing your symptoms of the disease.

“All of my patients say that jogging helps them feel better,” says Dr. Hulse. “Jogging is a natural decongestant, helps clear your mind and feel normal again.”

Dr. Hulse also says: “If you are sick, try to reduce the intensity and speed of running, as your body is already trying as hard as it can to fight viruses, and completely stop jogging if you suffer from symptoms below the neck such as vomiting and nausea.”

Strength training

Exercising while sick can cause serious injuries, especially weightlifting, due to your poor performance and strength and your lack of adequate sleep.

“Lack of sleep increases your risk of injury while doing weight training and lifting heavy equipment, and the stress involved in lifting weights can make your headaches worse,” Richard Besser, president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, told Health Official.

Instead of exercising while sick in the gym, try doing strength exercises in your home, to reduce the spread of germs and viruses while using sports equipment, and give yourself a rest period and use dumbbells that are less heavy than usual.

Dr. Hulse says: “If you need more of a challenge, you can increase the number of repetitions of the exercise, but I do not advise you to increase the weight of the dumbbells that you train with.”

Qigong

It is one of the safe and popular exercises that you should think about when you want to exercise while sick, as it is a slow conscious movement, which includes meditation and martial arts and combines them.

In Chinese medicine, qigong is a basic movement that helps regulate the body, spirit, and mind, and also helps with healing.

Qigong movement is low-impact, meaning you can practice it at times when you do not feel well and do not feel like sweating.

People have used qigong for thousands of years to this day to help them:

• Increase blood flow to all organs of the body
• Reduce stress and anxiety
• Energy boost
• Support your immune system.

Studies conducted in 2020 confirm that the qigong movement supports the immune system, enhances its function, and helps control and suppress inflammation. Research is still ongoing to this day.

Swimming

Swimming makes you feel refreshed, and indoor swimming can help open your airways due to the moist air, so it is a good option when you decide to exercise while sick!

Swimming helps people who suffer from allergies and improves their health, as it rids the body of pollen and dust.

On the other hand, some people may experience shortness of breath in crowded places such as a swimming pool, or they may be disturbed by water sterilized with chlorine, as chlorine irritates the respiratory tract and may cause coughing and shortness of breath.

Some studies have shown that exercising regularly while sick can alleviate your symptoms and strengthen your body against viruses and germs, but so far there is only little research on the role of exercise in reducing the duration of illness, especially the common cold.

Exercising While Sick Tips 

We previously talked about safe exercises if you choose to exercise while sick, and we talked about their safety if your symptoms are above the neck, but you should not relax your caution and pay attention to every step you take.

Here are some guidelines and tips that you should take into consideration if you decide to exercise while sick:

Stay away from exercise if you have a fever

Do not exercise when you have a fever, because exercising while sick accompanied by a fever may cause muscle pain, increase the headaches you suffer from, and may lead to dehydration.

Keep your body hydrated

When you exercise while sick, you are more likely to become dehydrated and this will make your symptoms worse.

We advise you to hydrate your body periodically, drink plenty of water to replace fluids lost during your illness and choose less intense exercises.

Reduce the intensity and speed of your exercises

Reducing the intensity and speed of your workouts when exercising while sick will help reduce fatigue in your body because it is already using a lot of energy to fight viruses and germs that cause infections.

Try walking quickly for half an hour, instead of jogging or running.

Don't be afraid, butterfly! You can reap the results and benefits of exercise even if you reduce its intensity and speed.

Listen to your body

If exercising while sick is tiring for your body, stop any physical activity that might stress it and take a break, because exhausting your body with exercise may lead to a worsening of your symptoms, and this is what Dr. Besser emphasized.

Do not put pressure on yourself, your body has a right over you, and taking a short break from exercise will not harm your physical fitness!

Avoid crowded places 

If you want to exercise while sick, you should stay at home and stay away from public places that are crowded with people, such as the gym and the club. Influenza viruses and cold viruses are contagious and are spread through hand contact and droplets.

Sports that rely on physical contact increase the spread of infectious disease viruses, as studies have proven that the COVID-19 virus, called SARS-CoV-2, is a virus that can remain active for certain periods on sports balls in the gym.

Try staying at home

You have to stay at home for many reasons, including so that viruses do not spread and other people become infected. We also advise you, Madam, to stay at home so that you can sit and rest in case you end up tired and feeling bad, and to get water and rest.

At the end of the article, we hope that you have benefited and learned that exercising while sick is safe if the symptoms you are suffering from are above the neck, such as mild headaches, runny nose, pharyngitis, and other symptoms that we talked about previously, and that you should know that you should take a break if you are suffering from symptoms of the lower neck, such as congestion and wet cough, and that you should reduce the intensity of exercise when exercising while sick and stay at home if the results of the Covid-19 test are positive, and return to exercising gradually when the infection is completely gone.

For more information and articles about fitness, do not hesitate to follow Farashti magazine or follow Sara’s PopFit programs and challenges via YouTube videos.

Frequently Asked Questions about Exercising While Sick

Can I exercise while sick?

It is relatively safe to exercise while sick when symptoms are above the neck such as mild headache, stuffy or runny nose, sore throat, sneezing, and dry cough.

What exercises are safe if you decide to exercise while sick?

Cycling, walking, dancing, all kinds of yoga, swimming and qigong movement

What are the important tips that I should follow when exercising while sick?

Stay away from sports if you have a fever, keep your body hydrated, reduce the intensity and speed of your exercises, listen to your body, stop any physical activity that may stress your body, and do not put pressure on yourself.

When can I not exercise while sick?

When your symptoms are below the neck, such as a wet cough, chest congestion, nausea, and vomiting.

Written by: Haidy Soliman

Translated by: Ph. Marah Mohamad

Sources:

mayoclinic

healthline

health

webmd

womenshealthmag