A person who regularly plays sports feels physical discomfort and gives up his usual workouts. Is it possible to continue sports activities during a cold? How do sports and colds “combine”?
Sports and colds: scientific research
The American College of Sports Medicine conducted a study on 50 volunteers. Half of the test subjects were infected with a mild strain of a viral respiratory infection. Observations lasted 10 days. During the period of illness, all subjects were engaged in daily training: some intensive (bodybuilding), some – jogging and training on exercise machines. The study group infected with the virus and healthy students who exercised moderately recovered equally. A group of experimental subjects who intensively engaged in bodybuilding during the period of illness recovered slowly and took a long time to recover.
The study's conclusions are: moderate physical activity(aerobics, running, exercise equipment, yoga, etc.) do not cause complications.
This study had opponents, whose main objection was the following: the experimental subjects were infected with a weak strain of the virus, while in real conditions viruses have a much more aggressive effect on the human body.
Professional sports: contraindications
U professional athletes There is a “above the neck” rule. In cases where the disease is “based” above the level of the neck (runny nose, sore throat), you can exercise. It has long been an established fact that after training, nasal congestion goes away and breathing becomes easier.
In cases where the disease is “below the neck”, you cannot play sports. These cases include pain in the muscles, chest, etc.
An absolute contraindication for sports is an increase in temperature. Professional training is also canceled if the following symptoms occur: inflammation, pain, cough, difficulty breathing, heaviness in the arms or legs, muscle pain. In such conditions, even warm-up and simple exercises are contraindicated.
Sports and colds: non-professionals
Professional athletes are always under the supervision of qualified doctors who will accurately determine for them the possibility/impossibility of training in a certain condition. Is it possible to exercise when you have a cold? How to determine the admissibility of training for an amateur who does not have the opportunity to consult a doctor?
There are two opposing scientifically based medical views on amateur sports.
Opinion 1. Sports activities are contraindicated for any painful symptoms: sneezing, coughing, mild malaise, nasal congestion, etc.
Opinion 2. If a person feels well enough and continues to live as usual, goes to work or study, training is not contraindicated.
At the same time, all doctors agree on absolute contraindications to playing sports if you have a cold:
- High temperature. Any increase in temperature indicates inflammatory processes in the body. You can’t play sports if you have inflammation!
- Flu. With the flu, the body is in an extremely exhausted state - the recovery period after this illness takes about 2 months! It is prohibited to treat the flu during the acute period of illness. After recovery, doctors advise reducing the intensity of training for another 2 weeks. The particular danger of influenza lies in complications that can lead to chronic heart or kidney disease if you suffer from influenza on your feet.
- A cough - chesty, intense - is a contraindication for sports.
- Pain in joints, muscles, aching bones.
- Loss of strength. If the body is exhausted and requires rest, it is unwise to overload it. If a cold is accompanied by severe weakness and fatigue, this is a reason to skip training.
Sports: health promotion
It is well known that playing sports reduces the risk of colds, including flu, by 50%. Doctors explain this by saying that physical activity strengthens the immune system and increases the level of leukocytes in the blood, which helps fight pathogens that have entered the body.
What simple physical activities help prevent colds?
- Daily running fresh air or walking for 30 minutes;
- aerobics classes every other day;
- yoga;
- stretching (stretching);
- tai-bo (aerobics with elements of oriental martial art);
- tai chi (slow Chinese gymnastics, suitable for any age);
- water aerobics.
Sports and colds: a reasonable combination
If there are no absolute contraindications to playing sports, and a cold does not cause severe symptoms, you can start training.
How to do this without harm to health? There are several rules developed for playing sports when you have a cold.
Reducing training time.
It is recommended to reduce the duration of training by 30-50%. Thus, with a normal workout lasting 1.5 hours, the workout time for a cold will be 40-60 minutes.
Reducing training intensity.
During illness, the intensity of training is reduced by 50%. You can reduce the number of “approaches” of each exercise by 2 times, reduce the time spent on each exercise machine by half, or reduce the load.
You can do a warm-up aerobic exercise, run on the track, do step aerobics.
Do not exercise when you have a cold strength exercises. Scientists have found that during flu and colds, anabolic processes in the muscle decrease. Physical activity with delayed anabolism leads to the destruction of muscle mass.
Compliance with the recovery period.
After recovery, the load is increased gradually. In the first week, the training intensity increases to 50-70%, in the second week gradually - to 75-90%. They begin to train as usual in the third week after illness.
During the recovery period, it is recommended to take vitamin-mineral complexes.
Drinking large amounts of fluid.
During a cold, the body needs a lot of fluid. During training, it is recommended to drink warm purified water every 15 minutes.
Complete rest.
For a quick recovery, proper rest is recommended - after training, the sick body will need rest and good sleep.
Caution after training.
After physical activity, immunity drops for several hours. It is advisable to protect yourself from hypothermia and being in crowded places.
Training: moral aspect
Most colds are ARVI - viral infections. During the acute course of the disease, a patient releases viruses when sneezing, coughing, or sweating.
Training indoors in a gym will create a risk of infection for everyone in it: other athletes, coaches and staff.
The advice to exercise while wearing a mask is quite controversial – is it comfortable enough? It would probably be better to skip classes or study at home during ARVI.
How to combine a cold and sports?
Do not exercise at elevated temperatures, severe weakness and pain.
Reduce the duration and intensity of training.
I recently got sick, but now I feel fine. The runny nose persists, and in the evenings I feel a little tired. Tomorrow I'm training in the gym, I'm watching my figure, is it possible to play sports if you have a cold, if there is no fever or it's mild? Irina, 22 years old
Feeling normal and feeling unwell in the evenings cannot mean a satisfactory state of health. The patient requires a gentle regime, staying at home. By suffering colds and fever on their feet, people themselves provoke the addition of secondary infections, fatigue and decreased immunity, complications on internal organs and systems. If you yourself feel a mild cold and there are no other symptoms other than malaise, you can do light workouts within physical training . The load should be applied gradually and 3-4 days after the first symptoms.
Lethargy, malaise, low body temperature - all this can affect the deterioration of well-being after exercise, so it is generally better to refrain from visiting the gym. Considering the purpose of your classes, you should refrain from training and skip 1-2 sessions. The body will get stronger, strength will return, and sport will bring the necessary benefits. During periods of unwellness, sports activities are not only useless, but can also cause some harm due to biochemical processes inside the body.
During times of illness due to illness, stress, severe fatigue, psychoneurological stress and prolonged fasting, the body produces a special hormone - cortisol. The hormone belongs to the catabolic group, which promotes the breakdown of protein, including muscle protein, increases blood glucose levels and promotes the accumulation of fat. Cortisol helps the body adapt to emergency conditions, creating additional resources to restore human strength.
In other words, the body begins intensive accumulation of useful and nutritious substances by breaking down protein into amino acids, and glycogen in the blood into glucose.
It turns out that, giving its last strength during training when sick, the body accumulates fats and microelements due to the destruction of muscle structures.
So, is it possible to exercise when you have a cold? For anyone physical activity There are a special number of factors that should be taken into account when going to training. Classes are prohibited if the following conditions exist:
increased body temperature;
chills, fever;
manifestations of a viral or bacterial infection;
aching joints;
inflammatory diseases of the throat (tonsillitis);
period of antibacterial therapy (taking systemic antibiotics).
Taking antipyretics, antibiotics and attending a workout can negatively affect the condition of the kidneys, liver, and pulmonary structures. The temperature can rise even while taking medications. Physical activity increases the load on the heart and blood vessels. In case of a burdened clinical history, the simultaneous course of ARVI, influenza or a common cold with a deterioration of the patient’s condition requires mandatory rest of the patient and adherence to a protective regime.
After recovery, you should not start exercising immediately. The body needs time to recover, so it is enough to limit yourself to walking in the fresh air, a light jog in the park or in the forest. Physical activity should be gradual.
Exercises for colds can be useful for improving natural ventilation of the lungs, improving blood circulation, and stimulating the overall tone of the body. A beneficial effect can only occur with an uncomplicated cold. During a mild cold without fever or signs of complications, you need to follow a number of recommendations:
reduce the duration of the workout by 20-30 minutes, subject to an hour-long lesson;
reduce the intensity of physical activity by 50%;
do a warm-up by doing simple exercises;
give preference to yoga, Pilates, slow stretching on the floor;
drink water during exercise.
During the recovery of the body, the same rules should be followed. Too intense loads during the rehabilitation period can provoke a new surge in the disease.
When exercising in the gym surrounded by large quantity People should refrain from activities for up to 2 weeks to eliminate the risk of re-infection through airborne droplets.
It is important to understand that if you have a cold without any special symptoms, you can run and do all possible sports, but if you have the flu, it is important to stay at home and stay in bed. Unfortunately, you did not indicate how long the cold lasts. Perhaps these are the initial signs of ARVI or influenza. To avoid complications and aggravate the clinical situation, it is better to refrain from visiting the gym.
Also, subsequent sessions should be postponed if significant deterioration occurs during training. The body requires sufficient resources and energy expenditure during illness, directing all efforts to eliminate pathogenic pathogens. During a cold, you need to drink enough fluids. The ideal option would be decoctions based on berries, herbs, and dried fruits.
It is important to follow a diet, quit smoking and alcohol. For quick recovery You should take vitamin complexes, freshly squeezed juices, fresh vegetables and fruits. Saturating the body with vitamins has a beneficial effect on general condition, improves mood, increases resistance to pathogenic microflora.
If children are given an exemption from physical education during the period of a cold and its complications, then adults should independently assess their own well-being and make a decision. It is better to give the body the opportunity to rest and recover than to provoke an increase in temperature and the occurrence of various complications after training.
Save:Is exercise good for colds? This question was answered by scientists in a study conducted by the College of Sports Medicine in the USA. Those who conducted the study found that exercising when you have a mild cold helps reduce symptoms.
And, conversely, strength training can completely unsettle a person during a cold or, even more so, the flu. Strength training in strenuous sports such as powerlifting, arm wrestling and bodybuilding, showed a significant worsening of cold symptoms in people who did not stop exercising.
Sports can help you recover faster
Scientists came to this conclusion during their research. But only if, scientists believe, physical activity does not deplete the body. After all, what a healthy person can do is sometimes beyond the capabilities of a sick person. A cold weakens the human immune system, and with it all other systems of the body.
Therefore, even with relatively normal health and a cold in the initial stage, intense exercise can only make cold symptoms worse. But in more severe conditions, but with optimal load (simple exercises and healthy diet, plenty of water throughout the day), sports can shorten the duration of the disease and alleviate its symptoms.
Even taking into account the fact that the average person gets a cold up to 5 times a year and this person is an athlete, a cold can prevent him from exercising. But you shouldn’t sacrifice your health for sports. If you get sick, reduce your exercise load and you will recover much faster.
What happened in the groups of subjects during the experiment?
Scientists at the American University of Indiana conducted a study of 50 people under the leadership of Professor Weidneris, MD. These 50 people - students - agreed to be injected with virus-infected serum, and then scientists observed them for 10 days. At the same time, 25 students were actively involved in sports during this entire period, while others practiced only light exercises.
After 10 days, it turned out that those students who did not expose their bodies to too much physical stress when they had a cold recovered more quickly. Their cold symptoms were not as severe as those who did extreme strength training. You can draw your own conclusion.
Reality and the cold experiment
Experiment with students - this needs to be taken into account! - Conducted under mild laboratory conditions. The virus he introduced was not severe and did not cause very serious cold symptoms, as often happens in real life. But those who periodically suffer from colds should know that in ordinary life a person suffers from many strains of viruses against which immune system It can be very difficult for a person to fight.
In addition, unrecognized viruses can cause serious complications: disruption of the heart, blood vessels, respiratory system, kidneys, liver, cause intoxication of the whole body, which causes unbearable pain in the muscles and head. And then it can be quite difficult to distinguish the flu from a cold, choose the right treatment, and even calculate the duration and intensity of physical activity. Your doctor will help you with all this.
If you are sick, do not torture yourself, but get plenty of rest, and do the exercises that you can do. This way you will recover faster and there will be less chance that the cold will return soon.
Complications due to physical overload
It is quite obvious that even a mild cold is a burden on all body systems. It suppresses anabolic processes in muscles, activates the production of the stress hormone cortisol, which poisons your tissues and puts muscles in a painful state, destroying them. If a person does not give himself a break by actively playing sports, these processes are accelerated and aggravated. And then you will not only get no benefit from the training, it will significantly harm you.
Do not play sports or give yourself strenuous exercise if:
- You're in the midst of a cold
- Your symptoms are getting worse
- You feel increased weakness and fatigue
- You don't get enough sleep
- You have an elevated body temperature - over 38 degrees Celsius
- Your muscles and head hurt
- You are coughing and wheezing
- It's hard for you to breathe
If the disease is severe, it is better to avoid physical activity for about 3-4 days after recovery - this will guarantee you best effect getting rid of colds.
What remedies will help you cope with a cold?
Please note that these remedies will not shorten the duration of your cold, but they may reduce the severity of cold symptoms
- Taking antipyretic medications, such as Theraflu
- Sucking on cough drops with a pain-relieving effect, such as Travesil
- For severe cough symptoms, take antitussive syrups, such as Tussin or Travesil
- To reduce irritation and dry throat, you can use sprays such as lugol, kameton or inhalipt
Preventing colds in combination with exercise
Even if you are actively involved in physical activity and sports, do not forget about the following methods of preventing colds:
- Be sure to take your vitamins about a month before the onset of cold seasons - in October and April. As recommended by your doctor, you should take vitamin complexes at least twice a year – in spring and autumn.
- Rest and get enough sleep - this will reduce the risk of illness
- Take vitamin C and glutamine as recommended by your doctor, especially before seasonal flu epidemics
- Boost your immunity with echinacea extract (unless you have high blood pressure - echinacea will increase it even more).
- Temper yourself at any time of the year, but gradually.
So, physical activity during a cold, as we have seen, depends on the state of health and the severity of the disease. Therefore, when deciding on sports during a cold, you need to be guided by your doctor’s prescriptions and your own common sense.
The diagnosis of diffuse inflammatory disease of the bronchi in the medical history of an active person is not a death sentence; he is interested in whether it is possible to play sports with bronchitis or is physical exercise completely contraindicated? From time immemorial, experts unanimously assert that it is strictly forbidden to endure the disease “on your feet”; in this case, aggravation of the situation cannot be avoided. The patient is prescribed rest and drug therapy. After recovery, on the contrary, it is recommended to actively engage in sports activities, as ventilation of the lungs increases and a therapeutic drainage effect occurs. But is this really so?
A disease called bronchitis is accompanied by very unpleasant symptoms in the form of high body temperature, regular sore throat, a debilitating dry cough or a wet cough with sputum. The disease occurs and develops in patients of any age category: from young to old and regardless of social status.
Science has calculated that approximately 90% of the world's population have suffered from bronchitis at least once in their lives. Therefore, whether physical activity is allowed during inflammatory processes occurring in the respiratory tract is a question that is relevant in the modern world, where sport comes first for many.
There are risk groups when the disease is more severe.
These include:
- smokers;
- allergy sufferers;
- elderly patients.
Sometimes the inflammatory component is an independent part of the pathology, and sometimes the development of the disease is facilitated by an infection, virus, or bacteria that has entered the body of a healthy person.
Bronchitis, no matter how curable it may seem at first glance, carries a danger: if you ignore its treatment at the first stage, it will develop into an acute form, spreading to the lungs and pleura, which will subsequently lead to infectious pneumonia or pleurisy. If you are completely unlucky, the complication will be death.
According to the medical classification, bronchial disease is divided into two stages:- Spicy. Symptomatic manifestations are expressed in the form of cough, general malaise, the muscle base weakens, and body temperature rises. Doctors and medications successfully cope with it.
- Chronic. There are possible problems with treating cough due to irreversible processes in the bronchi. Exacerbations are recorded twice a year.
For this disease, drug therapy is prescribed based on the severity level, of which there are three: mild, moderate and severe. In what cases is sport not a contraindication for bronchitis?
Should you exercise or not if you have bronchitis?
No one will say unequivocally. All questions related to drug therapy and physical therapy, must be agreed with the attending physician.
Self-medication is a forced form that occurs in extreme situations.
Exercise therapy for bronchitis is developed by a specialist, taking into account the individual characteristics of the patient, his current condition and the course of the disease itself. Gymnastics is an integral part of general therapeutic treatment.
What does physical education give to the body?
It solves the following problems:
- Restores breathing. Makes it right. Performs a drainage function.
- Stimulates tract patency. Strengthens muscles that are actively involved in respiratory activity.
- Eliminates inflammatory processes in the bronchi. Accelerates lymph flow and normalizes blood circulation.
- It has a preventive effect on complications after bronchitis and blocks its progressive onset.
- Minimizes attacks of spasms in the bronchi and bronchioles.
- Increases immunity. The body becomes more resistant to colds.
The therapeutic complex includes static and dynamic movements, during which you should not forget about breathing:
- Walking. Its healing properties lie in the fact that a gradually increasing pace stimulates the functioning of the respiratory system, when vigorous exercise is difficult and difficult to perform. Daily techniques should begin with a slow step, increasing the load over time. Allowed to run. Don't forget about breathing. Every second and fourth step is accompanied by an inhalation; on the fourth and seventh steps, an exhalation is made. Required condition- monitor your condition; as soon as you feel tired, it is recommended to slow down or even take a smoke break.
Regular increase in load is allowed in case of chronic bronchitis. During periods of severe exacerbation, physical education is contraindicated.
- Sound gymnastics. Sputum is well cleared from the bronchi during the pronunciation of certain sounds. This method is especially productive for purulent bronchitis in chronic patients. The implementation scheme here is as follows and is very simple. First, you need to sit comfortably. Bend slightly forward. Take a deep breath with as much air as possible. Then exhale slowly and slowly, pronouncing the sound combination “p-f-f”. At this moment, the articulatory apparatus vibrates, which greatly helps to remove sputum. You can also use other vibration sounds: “r”, “zh”, “s”.
- Massage chest. Every capable patient is able to do it independently. Here the only simple movement is to carefully rub the sternum area with your palm in the direction from its center to the armpits. The duration of the session does not exceed 10 minutes. During this time, mucus production is stimulated and respiratory ability improves.
Moderate exercise during bronchitis helps the patient overcome the disease. Active sports activity during the period of exacerbation is not allowed.
Protecting yourself from colds is quite difficult. This process leads to weakening of the body, discomfort and loss of strength. The disease can affect even those people who perform daily physical exercise. This begs the question: is it possible to exercise when you have a cold?
Experts conducted an experiment on fifty volunteers, half of whom were forcibly infected with a viral infection. The duration of the study was ten days. During illness, one part of the subjects engaged in weightlifting. The rest jogged and worked out on exercise machines.
The group that was infected with the virus and engaged in light sports recovered in seven days without any damage to their health. Bodybuilders and weightlifters began to recover only by the tenth day.
After this, experts concluded that those who undergo light training when they have a cold recover normally and do not cause complications.
Of course this method there were many opponents to the check. After all, the infection did not occur under natural conditions, and the virus strains were too weak. In the natural environment, everything proceeds differently.
Some contraindications to exercise when you have a cold
Professionals say that all diseases that occur above the neck are not a restriction on playing sports during a cold. If you have mild nasal congestion, runny nose and sore throat, you can exercise.
When the disease affects joint and muscle tissue, colds and sports become incompatible.
An absolute limitation to any exercise is to raise the temperature above 37 degrees. Also, a professional does not engage in sports training in case of various inflammatory processes, pain, cough, difficulty breathing, heaviness in the arms and legs, and muscle pain.
Sports for colds among non-professionals
Training during a cold or lack thereof by professionals takes place under the strict supervision of specialists. It is the doctors who determine the patient’s condition and make a verdict on whether it is possible or impossible to perform the exercises in this case.
But what about those who play sports on their own? Are they allowed to exercise when they have a cold? How to correctly determine your condition? People who have exercised can do light exercises. But there are two opinions on this matter.
The first is that any exercise is contraindicated even at the first manifestations of a cold. These include sneezing, coughing, mild malaise, weakness, and runny nose.
The second opinion is based on how well the patient feels. If a cold does not greatly affect his general condition and there is slight congestion in the nasal passages, runny nose and sore throat, then visit sports training Can.
Based on two opinions, experts determined the absolute limits.
- The patient has an elevated temperature. This process always indicates that an inflammatory process is occurring in the body. Engaging in any physical activity during inflammation is strictly prohibited.
- Influenza infection. When this disease occurs, the body is subjected to severe intoxication, as a result of which not only body temperature increases, but also weakening of the body occurs. The recovery period after suffering from the flu should be at least eight weeks. You cannot train during this process, since the flu carries many complications.
- Intense cough that comes from the chest area.
- Painful sensations in joints and muscle tissue, aching bones.
- Loss of strength. When the body is severely exhausted, it requires rest. Therefore, you should not overload it with physical activity.
Sport as a preventative measure for colds
It is believed that sports activities reduce the likelihood of developing a cold. Experts say that physical activity strengthens not only muscles and joints, but also immune function. Thanks to exercise, the level of leukocytes in the blood increases, which allows the body to better fight pathogenic microflora.
What can you do to avoid colds? It is not necessary to get involved in weightlifting and constantly torment yourself with loads. They should be moderate and go away in one or two days.
The patient can do:
- daily jogging in the fresh air for thirty minutes;
- aerobics every other day;
- yoga;
- stretching muscle fibers;
- aerobics combined with oriental martial arts;
- slow Chinese gymnastics;
- water aerobics.
During the period of colds, vitamin complexes and immunostimulating agents should be taken as additional therapy.
Proper exercise for colds
If the patient has no absolute restrictions, then training can begin. But for them to be beneficial, several rules must be followed.
- Reduce the duration of training by twenty to forty percent. If exercise usually lasts an hour and a half, then if you have a cold, it should last no more than forty minutes.
- Reduce intensity training process. During the period of a cold, the indicators decrease by fifty percent. That is, the number of exercises and approaches is reduced by about half.
It is enough to do a warm-up, run along the track and do simple exercises.
During the period of a cold, any strength exercise is contraindicated. - Observe the recovery period. After the patient has recovered, the intensity of exercise in the first days can increase to fifty percent. After a week they are raised to ninety percent. During the recovery period, doctors advise taking vitamin complexes.
- Drink plenty of fluids. During a cold, the body loses a lot of water. As a result, the muscles dry out and weaken. To restore balance, you need to drink up to two liters of fluid per day.
During the training process, the patient needs to drink water every fifteen minutes.
- Provide the body with proper rest. To recover quickly, the body needs to be given rest after physical activity.
It is worth noting that after training, the patient’s immunity drops significantly. Therefore, you should avoid large crowds of people.
It’s not just physical activity that strengthens immune function. In order for the body to recover and recover faster, you need to follow several recommendations.
- Does not refuse to take medications. For a viral infection, you need to take antiviral drugs, for a bacterial infection, antibiotics.
- Observe proper nutrition. During a cold, food should be gentle and soft. Hot, spicy and hot foods should be avoided. The diet should include cereals, soups, boiled meat and fish, vegetable and fruit dishes, and dairy products.
- Regularly ventilate the room and humidify the air.
- If possible, do not go outside for three days. The body needs to be given time to rest and recover.
- If there is no temperature, warming procedures can be performed.
- If the temperature is elevated, taking a bath or shower is strictly prohibited. It is enough to wipe with warm water.
Many colds are caused by a viral infection. When the patient is in acute period, it's better to skip the workout. This will become dangerous not only for the patient himself, but also for those around him.
Exercising indoors is dangerous, as the patient spreads viruses by sneezing, coughing and sweating. Therefore, everyone who is nearby has a chance of getting sick.
If it’s hard to give up sports, then it’s better not to attend gym, and conduct classes at home.
Influenza infection is especially dangerous. The thing is that this disease leads to various complications on the kidneys, heart, and brain. During the training process, blood circulation improves, all cells are enriched with oxygen. But if a person is infected, the viruses will spread throughout the body.
When the first symptoms appear, it is better to consult a doctor.
