It’s That Time of the Year – Should You Work Out When Sick?

Sniffles… Coughs… Congestion… You know what time it is — time to carry around the hand sanitizer! Colder months of the year tend to be a breeding ground to spread the common cold and flu. Yet, you don’t want to go all anti-social on the world and close everyone off, worried that you’ll get sick. So, you need to prepare yourself. In order to do so, you need to wash your hands regularly, maintain a healthy diet full of micronutrients, grab some extra vitamin C, and try to stay away from anyone who is currently sick. So, should you work out when sick?

A common place where germs and illness are spread are in the gym. People want to sweat out their illness by engaging in resistance or cardio training. Some sit in the sauna in hopes that they can sweat it out. This brings up the question, should you work out when sick?  Have you already went to the gym for a work out when sick?

What’s Up, Doc?

If you’re sick, you should head to the doctor to see if it’s anything of concern. Is it transmittable or are you safe to be around others? Get the medications you need to beat it quickly so you can move on from it and feel better. And most of all, listen to your doctor. If he says to rest and not work out when sick, do so. If he says you shouldn’t go to work or the entire office will get sick, take some time off to Netflix and chill (LOL).

You Used Doctor Google

Have you ever had some random symptom that caused you to not feel well so you went on Google to try and figure out what it was? In almost all instances, the one thing that comes up is cancer. I have a cough. It could be cancer. My ear hurts. It could be cancer. I feel exhausted. It could be cancer. Moral of the story? STOP USING GOOGLE! It’s not going to accurately diagnose your illness — that’s what health professionals are there for.

Related Article: How to Use & Implement the BRAT Diet

But seriously, if your symptoms are enough to make you want to open up your laptop or start pecking away at your phone for answers, just go to the doctor and be done with it and know for sure. If the symptoms aren’t serious and resemble a common cold, grab some over the counter medication and follow the directions. But don’t work out when sick.  Stay home and recover. If you work out when sick, you’re not going to be able to put in the effort needed to truly make change anyway, so rest up.

Should You Exercise?

This is a tough one. Personally, I like to allow my body to have all means necessary to kill off anything I might have picked up from someone. So, I like to rest and allow my body to fight off the cold, flu, or whatever nasty bug I picked up. If I’m feeling a little better, I might do some light weights or some cardio just to prevent myself from going stir-crazy. Mind you, I have my own private gym, so no one will be working out around me that I could potentially get sick. I also make sure to wipe down my equipment as well so that anyone else who works out after me won’t become infected.

Something else you can do is assess your symptoms. What I mean by this is, what area are you feeling like the walking dead? Is it above the neck or below? Anything below the neck, definitely stay away from the gym. This means coughing, diarrhea, stomach pain, vomiting, nausea, fever, or any other ache or pain (think flu symptoms). If you have anything above the neck such as a runny nose, sore throat, sneezing, or sniffling, play it by ear. If you’re up for a workout, then try to get one in if you really need to. But again, I’d recommend taking it easy and not exercising if you’re asking for my honest opinion.

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