A Sick Women’s Guide To Working Out
Category : Women Health
When sneezing and sniffles overtake you, it’s hard to know if maintaining your regular workout schedule will hurt you more than help you. You don’t want to break this good habit, yet you might feel too awful to go through the motions for a few days. It’s likely that you will fall prey to a respiratory infection during the year; the average adult gets two to four such illnesses annually.
Many people confuse colds with influenza. The flu is a respiratory illness caused by a specific virus. It is characterized by fever and cough, often accompanied by a headache, congestion, fatigue, body aches or a sore throat. Also a respiratory illness, the “common cold†can be caused by one of 200 different viruses. Cold symptoms may include nasal congestion, sneezing, runny nose and a scratchy throat, and 10 percent of colds are accompanied by fevers.
The type and severity of your infection is usually a good indicator of whether or not to exercise. So, when do you opt to curl up on the couch rather than curling up from your exercise mat? Many health experts use the neck up rule: If your symptoms are located from the neck up – runny nose, congestion, headache – go a head and exercise. Just take it easy, as you’re obviously not at your physical best. If your symptoms include body aches and fever, however, stay home and get some rest!
While you’re recuperating, drink plenty of fluids, down some Vitamin C and eat some well-balanced meals. Fluids help flush toxins from your system. Although research indicates that Vitamin C doesn’t do much to prevent colds and flu, taking 200 to 500 milligrams per day does appear to speed recovery, and healthy meals spur the body’s virus fighters into action.
Judi Sheppard Missett, Jazzercise founder and CEO, believes that your best defense against colds and flu is a good offense. Be sure to wash your hands frequently, at least five times a day, for minimum of 15 seconds each time. Germs are spread most often when people touch their own eyes or nose.
It’s also important to protect your immune system so it can best fight off the germs that cause colds and flu. Missett advises trying to avoid stress and loneliness, which appear to deplete disease-fighting reserves. She suggests giving your immune system a boost by:
• Getting plenty of sleep.
• Eating a well-balanced diet that is low in fat and high in fruits and vegetables.
• Drinking lots of water.
• Kicking the cigarette habit. Smokers are twice as likely to catch respiratory infections and take longer to recover than non-smokers.
• Taking time to relax and do activities that bring you pleasure.
• Keeping a positive outlook. A study at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center found that people who were negative, moody; nervous or easily stressed had a weaker immune response to a hepatitis vaccination than their more positive peers.
• Getting a flu shot.
• Exercising! Medical research supports the connection between regular exercise and improved immunity. One study found that active people have 25 percent fewer colds than inactive people.
Another found that sedentary women who began taking a brisk 45-minute walk five days a week cut their sick days from colds in half.
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