Marion Freijsen A blog about Sports, Fitness & Health

In sickness….

Here I am writing a blog about health… and end up talking about illness. However it’s the natural other side of being healthy and worth spending a few words on. And those words are “don’t let being sick stop you from being healthy!”. What I mean is that too often a slight cold, or even light flu does not mean you have to stop exercising (obviously you need to consider how sick you are! I am only talking about minor illnesses here). As with all things though, you have to weigh up HOW you exercise under these different circumstances.

If you have a slight temperature, but your lungs are clear – you can still do cardio – just lower the pace, shorten the distance and you will be fine. If you notice however, that your lungs are not functioning and you are breathing really hard or your heart is pounding way above it’s normal heartrate when you are doing some moderate exercise – ease off.

Did you know that doing light exercise actually will boost your immune system? So light work-outs actually can help you get back to full fitness sooner then sitting on the couch. Not to mention the mental effect and the release of endorphins that make you feel better immediately when you are exercising. All that positive feeling will definitely help you overcome your cold or flu sooner.

If you do have a real fever, you might want to switch your work-out from cardio to some stretching and weights exercising that won’t tax your heart and lungs too much. If you listen – your body will tell you what it can cope with – all you need to do is listen to it! I am sure you will feel healthier doing something then lying on the couch feeling sorry for yourself.