IF YOUR fitness regime has been thrown off course by a bout of flu, a cold or the dreaded norovirus (which causes gastroenteritis), you are certainly not alone. But how, in that sluggish post-viral period, do you gauge whether it is safe to start exercising again?
Your resting heart rate can be a good indicator of whether exercise is appropriate, providing you know what it is when you are well. "Elite athletes check their resting heart rate daily," says Dr Mark Wotherspoon, a sports physician with the English Institute of Sport. "If the resting level is 10 beats per minute above normal, this would be an indicator not to train."
For the rest of us, the nature and location of your symptoms are important determinants of whether you should don your slippers or your running shoes.
"We differentiate between 'above the neck' symptoms such as a runny nose, watery eyes or a mild sore throat," Wotherspoon says, "and 'below the neck' ones, such as a cough, a congested or tight chest, an upset stomach, muscle aches or fever."
If your symptoms are above the neck and you feel OK, it is fine to do a light workout. Research from Ball State University in Indiana found that infecting subjects with a mild cold virus did not affect their ability to exercise moderately. Lung capacity of the infected subjects was the same as that of the healthy ones, and running on a treadmill for 15 minutes felt no harder.
Is there any truth in the old "sweating out a cold" adage?
"Bringing up your body temperature is a way of fighting a virus," says Dr Alex Nieper, sports physician for Chelsea Football Club. "But keep the activity light to moderate - and brief."
Research from the Common Cold Centre at Cardiff University in Wales shows that symptoms normally last about a week; although in about 25 per cent of cases, they can linger for up to 14 days.
"Hard exercise compromises the immune system, allowing a virus to strengthen its hold," Nieper says. "The body is already under stress in fighting the infection, so piling on additional stress through vigorous exercise is counterproductive."
Studies have found that a long, hard workout can lower immunity for up to nine hours.
And if your symptoms are below the neck, give your workout a miss regardless of how you feel, or how much you think you need to do it. Exercising with major cold symptoms, particularly a fever, will prolong your illness and can be dangerous.
"A fever is an indication that your body is fighting a virus," says Professor Ron Eccles, director of the Common Cold Centre. "If you are feverish or feeling really rough, then don't force yourself to exercise as you may faint or, in very rare cases, cause some damage to your heart
Over-exerting yourself when you have a virus can cause a condition called myocarditis, inflammation of the heart muscle. It can cause shortness of breath, heart arrhythmia and, in extreme cases, sudden cardiac death.
Stopping exercise for up to a fortnight can be tough for fitness fanatics or those training for a specific event with a looming deadline, but Wotherspoon says it is important not to panic.
"There's a tendency to think that if you miss a couple of days of training, it's a disaster," he says. "But the quality of your training is at least as important as the quantity. Training when you're not 100 per cent well isn't going to give you that quality."
It is important to return to exercise with caution. Monitor how you feel, make sure you stay well hydrated (particularly if you have had a stomach bug), avoid getting wet and cold and look out for telltale signs that you are overdoing it, such as a work-out feeling harder than it should, shortness of breath, weakness or dizziness.
"There is no hard and fast rule for when to return to exercise after a cold or flu," Eccles says.
Nieper agrees. "From a sports medicine point of view, there are no specific signals that you're ready to return," he says.
"Once your symptoms have gone, try a gentle 10-minute workout and see how it feels. If that's OK, gradually increase the challenge the next day, and again the day after.
"If you're still feeling fine, you can gradually work your way back to where you were."
But, Nieper warns: "Don't try to make up for lost time.
"If you push too hard, too soon, there's a strong chance you might end up back where you started."
Keep fit, keep healthy
Stay well hydrated Dehydration dries up the mucus membranes, allowing infections to take hold.
* Eat and drink after training Within half an hour of training, eat a carb-based meal or snack with a little protein to help maximise the replenishment of fuel stores.
* Take probiotics A new Australian study, published in the British Journal Of Sports Medicine, found that taking probiotics during winter training more than halved the number of days endurance athletes suffered cold symptoms.
* Don't overtrain Balance your training with adequate rest and recovery. One study found that runners who average more than 96 kilometres a week were twice as likely to suffer from colds as those running less than 32 kilometres.
* Wash your hands after the gym "The best advice is to not touch your nose or eyes when exercising and to wash your hands when you finish your workout," says Cardiff University's Ron Eccles.
* Don't linger in damp clothing after exercise As you cool down after a workout, the cold, damp clothes will lower your body temperature further, making you more susceptible to catching a cold
Sam Murphy smh.com.au
Dean Piazza 's- Your Online Personal Trainer Comment :
Thats very good advice in the above article to get you through winter. If your cold or flu is just a runny nose or above the neck then its fine to still exercise but just easily and monitor your recovery from there.
If you are suffering symptoms in the chest / lungs / coughing then its best to totally rest as one session can make it alot worse and you will end up missing weeks rather than just a few days so listen to your body and its best to train more when you are healthy and less when you are sick !
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