Running With A Cold: Impact Of Exercise On Sickness



The question of whether to exercise when ill has perplexed physicians for years. There has not been a tremendous amount of research on the topic. Luckily, in the past decade there have been several studies that address how being sick with a cold affects one's ability to exercise as well as how exercising affects the longevity of illness.

The following studies were both completed at Ball State and were led by Thomas Weidner. One study began by injecting 45 college students with a virus that gave the subjects a head cold. Once the cold reached its peak, the subjects were asked to run on treadmills at moderate to intense levels. Incredibly the study found that the illness had no effect on their lung function or exercise capacity.

The group next created a study to discover whether moderate exercise had any effect on the longevity or severity of illness. Once again, the Weidner group infected 34 individuals with a virus that resulted in a head cold. The subjects were then asked to run on a treadmill every other day for 40 minutes. The researchers also infected 16 additional individuals who were asked not to exercise, but simply recover by resting. The results showed that there was no difference in the severity of symptoms or longevity of illness between the exercise group and the inactive group.

These studies indicate that for individuals with a head cold (runny nose/sneezing), exercising at a moderate level is not detrimental. For a person with a more serious illness, though, running is not advisable. As a rule, if the symptoms are below the neck (chest congestion, fever, achy muscles) running should be avoided, because your body must use a lot of energy to fight serious illness and heavy exercise can deplete those energy reserves.

If you do have a head cold and want to exercise, there are a few things to remember. Even though your exercise capacity may not be affected by the illness, you might feel more fatigued than usual. If this is the case, slow down your runs a bit and if you feel excessively tired then do not do a hard workout until you are healthy. If you don't know whether you are too ill to run, it is better to be safe and take a day or two off. Taking a rest day won't negatively impact your level of fitness and could actually be helpful in the long run as it will leave you feeling fresher. If you choose to take a day off, do not try to make up that lost mileage when you return to running, because that could lead to a relapse into illness.



The most important thing when you are sick is getting better. If you have a light cold, it is alright to run if you want to, but taking a day off isn't a horrible idea either. Whatever makes you feel better is what is the correct thing to do. Make sure to take care of yourself, stay hydrated, eat well and get healthy so you can get out and continue training as soon as possible.