Should you exercise or work out when you have a cold?

Well, if your joints hurt and you have no energy at all, then of course exercising doesn’t make sense and you should just rest. But if you still have some energy, you can still exercise but decrease the intensity and time that you exercise. For example if you usually run on the treadmill for 30 min, run at a slower rate than your normal and do it for only 15–20 min. The key point is to not overexert yourself since that will make the cold worse. But moderate and little exercise cannot hurt. Just stay away from contact sports (swimming etc) because you don’t want to pass on the cold. Sports med doctors feel that if your symptoms are “above the neck and you have no fever” then you should be fine with exercising. Also, maybe instead of doing your normal workout routine, you could just do simple household chores such as vacuuming? This will serve as a dual purpose, clean house and you will get the little exercise needed. Just make sure you don’t overdo anything and as soon as you start feeling tired, you should stop. Here are two links that support my answer: link1 and link2 Hope you get well soon and remember to keep drinking fluids :)

Personally I think it’s a good idea to rest. Out bodies need some down time every once in a while. Take it easy and rest. Drink lots of water!

It depends how sick you are, but I don’t think its a good idea (especially if you want to recover faster). Resting is always best, but I agree with PNl.. If you absolutely must work out, don’t over do it and take it easy.

Sometimes in our modern multi-tasking, always running world we do too much until our bodies are forced to slow us down with a cold or other illness. If that is the case, you should rest.

Sometimes a cold is just a cold. In that case, there are even exercises such as yoga or tai chi than can actually strengthen your immune system.

it’s a very bad idea in my opinion to exercise. You tired and weak and no use in overwhelming yourself with a physical strain. It’s better to rest and recuperate rather than workout and not get the full benefit of your workout.

i agree with what the others said too, but of course this all depends on what kind of cold you have. I have had many a cold where it’s nothing more than an annoyance and I am not really that exhausted that i can’t move. But if it’s a severe cold and you feel weak etc, then exercise isn’t a good idea. Only you can know which category you fall in.

If you can, I would recommend taking the time out to rest. I pretty much have a permanent cold because I do lots of sport and never have any time to slow down, and I got sick once and haven’t been able to fully recover, because with the sports I play commitment to the team is vital, and most of the time we only just have enough people to play so if I wasn’t there we’d be one down and that’s just not fair. If you exercise when you’re sick, you may seem like you’re getting better but then the next bug that comes around will knock you back over straight away. At least that’s what happens to me. If you have the opportunity to rest and take it easy, I say go for it.

I bicycle. If I feel well enough, I exercise, no matter what. It takes energy for your body to heal and if I feel that I am so ill that I will be expending energy that will take away from my bodies ability to heal, then I don’t. I believe that fresh air and exercise is so good for my health, that I hardly let anything stand in the way of it.

I think you may need to try to go with your gut on this one. If you’re dreading the idea of exercise, don’t go. That’s hard for those of us with a routine….but I can say that once when I was feeling sick, I went anyway, and then felt way better. You can try something simple and see how your body reacts.

I take a break when I am sick to give my body extra energy for recovery.

i’ve read in many health magazines that if it’s just a light cold, it actually boosts your body’s metabolism to do light exercise such as walking or biking.

Don’t overwork yourself because then you’ll be feeling crappy the rest of the day, but get out and get moving because it will actually make you feel better and decrease the life of your cold.

I’ve been told that you should avoid breathing really hard because that can drive the head cold into your chest. Other than that, how you feel should dictate how much you exercise. So, if you have the energy and strength, walk or do light exercise. Just don’t do it to the point where you are gasping for air.