Exercising regularly is good for your immune system – with some research suggesting it may even reduce the risk of contracting upper respiratory infectionslike the common cold. Even as little as 30 minutes of moderate exercise five times a week is enough to produce profits.
Since exercise is good for our immune systems, some people might think that exercising while sick can help you “break a sweat.” Unfortunately, when it comes to the common cold, there’s no evidence that exercising while sick can shorten the illness or make it less severe.
There are a couple of reasons why exercise is beneficial to our immune systems. The first can be explained in part by the hormones that are released when we exercise. These are called catecholamines, which people may know better as adrenaline and noradrenaline. These hormones play an important role in the functioning of our immune system by causing the rapid release of important immune cells that help detect the presence of viruses or other pathogens in the body. They also increase the amount of movement of our immune cells between the blood and tissues, which is important in helping immune cells detect and prevent diseases caused by viruses or other pathogens. Research shows that exercise is one way we can increase levels of these important hormones in our body
When we exercise, it also increases blood flow to help our bodies keep up with the increased demands of exercise. This elevated blood flow places greater stress in our blood vessels, which releases specific immune cells called natural killer cells and T cells that can be found dormant in the walls of our blood vessels. Natural killer cells and T cells play an important role in killing cells infected with a virus.
Exercise can also benefit our fight against infections in other ways. For example, older adults who exercise regularly over a period of one month have been shown to have faster skin wound healing compared to a non-exercising control group. This faster healing process reduces the risk of viruses and bacteria entering the body through breaks in the skin.
All these mechanisms together can improve our immune system and reduce the risk of getting sick from viral infections. You don’t even have to be a gym goer to see the benefits. three studies have shown that when non-exercisers began regular brisk walking for 40 to 45 minutes, five days a week, they saw 40 to 50 percent fewer days of upper respiratory infection symptoms compared to a control group.
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Despite the benefits of exercise on our immune systems, it’s hard to know if exercising while sick with a cold will help you get over your illness faster than not exercising at all. There are currently no studies that have investigated this, largely because of how difficult it would be to conduct this type of study, mainly because some of the participants would have to be infected with a virus on purpose to compare whether exercise has any effect or not. Not only would this be difficult to do, it could also be unethical.
So since exercise is good for the immune system, why doesn’t exercising while sick improve the immune system’s response to infection? Well, it’s important to remember that exercise can stress the body. This stress can, in turn, cause immune cells less able to respond to pathogens. This may be due in part to the fact that the body needs more oxygen and stored energy (in the form of glucose) when we exercise, which our immune cells also need to help fight off a virus. If the body is fighting an existing infection and is then exposed to the stress of exercise, this may not benefit the immune response.
But while there’s currently no evidence that exercising while sick with a cold can help you get over it faster, that doesn’t mean you can’t exercise if you want to. If the symptoms of it are mainly above the neck (such as a runny nose or congestion), start by exercising at a lower intensity than normal to see how you feel. If you feel good, you can gradually increase your intensity. But if exercising makes you feel worse, rest. It is also not recommended that you exercise if you have a fever, muscle pain, or vomiting.
If you want to exercise while you’re sick, be sure to exercise caution, especially if you’re exercising with other people. Since colds are infectious, it may be best to skip the gym and exercise outdoors or at home to avoid spreading it.
Regular exercise is a great way to help prepare the immune system to fight off many different types of infections, including the common cold and possibly even COVID-19. But he doesn’t feel like he has to exercise if he’s sick. Sometimes the best remedy for a cold is to rest, stay hydrated, and take pain relievers if needed.
