“How sick is too sick to exercise?” - Michael Irvine

With flu season around the corner, many of you exercise “fanatics” are probably wondering “how sick is too sick to exercise?”

The general public commonly believes that if you are sick, exercise will boost your immune system and speed up the rate of recovery.  Yet, when speaking to medical professionals, they will disagree with this understanding. There is strong evidence to support that if you are experiencing flu like symptoms (fever, severe aches in joints and muscles, pain and tiredness around the eyes, weakness or fatigue, warm flushed skin, red watery eyes, head ache, dry cough, sore throat and runny nose), exercise will more than likely make you feel worse.

There is a fine line when it comes to exercise and your immune system. Research has discovered there to be a strong link between regular and moderate exercise’s to a strong immune system, and a link between too much intense exercises’ and decreased immunity. These links should be a guideline to the type of exercises’ one should be doing with flu season just around the corner. It is recommended that regular and moderate exercises’ should be performed as opposed to high intensity exercise.

There is a general rule to consider when you have the flu: “Neck up or neck down rule”.

If you are experiencing symptoms from the neck up (head aches, runny nose, and a mild cough), you can perform moderate exercise with caution.  While mild exercise can help boost your immune system, if you already have flu it is suggested to cut back on your workload. Physicians suggest that you cut back to one third of your normal work rate.

It is of the utmost importance to watch out for warning signs.

1.      If you are having difficulty breathing during or after exercise, cease what you are doing and take a couple days off to recover.  

2.      If you feel worse following the exercise bout, you should give yourself a couple days rest to recover.

If your symptoms are neck down (deep cough, fever and/or muscle and joint pain) you should cease to partake in exercise.

A fever is a warning sign from your body that you are battling a viral or bacterial infection, and exercise may put additional stress on your body resulting in dehydration. This will most likely prolong the length of the infection and delay your recovery process. When it comes down to making good life choices, sleep and rest is considered the best choice.

The bodies immune system functions best when it is not stressed or in overdrive. The best advice to give someone is to “rest your body when you have the flu”. This will speed up your recovery process, as you need to allow your body to adjust to the additional stress of the infection.

Michael completed his BSc Sports Science undergraduate degree at The University of Stellenbosch and his BHSc honours degree in Biokinetics at The University of the Stellenbosch. 

Michael has a passion for waterpolo and many other sports such as rugby, soccer, tennis and golf. 

Michael has an interest in orthopaedic rehabilitation, in particular the shoulder. As well as a keen interest in chronic disease management. 

Michael can be contacted on 072 929 1309 or mikeirvine@kinetics.co.za