Can exercise reduce your risk of getting sick during this cold and flu season?

The weather outside is frightful, and all is not so delightful – amid all of the sneezing, sniffling and coughing, it is only a matter of time before you come down with that nasty cold, right?

Not if you are a regular exerciser!

We know that exercise can help relieve stress (which can lower the body’s ability to ward off infection). But exercise has also been shown to more directly assist in the prevention of the common cold.

One research team found that more active people can more easily resist the common cold. The study, published in the August 2002 journal of Medicine and Science in Sports and Medicine, confirmed what had long been assumed: consistent exercise can reduce the risk of catching a cold. After studying over 500 healthy men and women, the more active people average one cold (23% less than the average) over the course of the year long study, and they reduced their overall risk of catching a cold by 32%.

And it can reduce the duration of it if you do catch the dreading cold.

Another study, conducted by David Nieman of Appalachian State University, found that with women who had colds but still walked regularly had symptoms that lasted five days or less, while women who did not walk suffered through seven days of symptoms.

If you are sick, the American College of Sports Medicine recommends:

> Mild to moderate exercise only if your symptoms are from “the neck up”

> Taking a minimum of two weeks off from intensive training if you have more severe symptoms such as fever

> Reducing the level of intensity of your usual workouts until you have completely recovered

Exercise seems to stimulate immune cells that attack cold infections. While the heightened immunity stimulation lasts only about 1-3 hours, a regular workout routine may continue to increase immunity enough to lower overall risk and duration of colds. Don’t go overboard though, overtraining can suppress the immune system and actually make you more susceptible to getting sick. So use those sick days to squeeze in an extra workout, not to stay at home in bed suffering from that nasty cold that has going around the office.

SOURCES:
“Exercise may reduce risk of colds.” TB & Outbreaks Week; September 17, 2002, NewsRx.com.
“Statement on Exercise and the Common Cold.” Rose, Verna L. American Family Physician; June 1, 1998, Vol. 57 Issue 11.
“Exercise, Immunity, and Susceptibility to Infection.” Physician and Sportsmedicine: Exercise is Medicine; June 1999, Vol. 27, No. 6.