Can Exercising Help You Get Over a Cold Faster?

It’s clear that exercise has long-term benefits, from strengthening bones and muscles to managing chronic disease. Research even suggests that staying active may make you less likely to get sick. But what about when you’re already feeling a tickle in your throat?

In the United States, most adults get two or three colds a year. Some people believe that exercising or “working up a sweat” when sick can actually speed up your recovery time.

Here, experts weigh in on working out in inclement weather and whether it really shortens the duration of a cold.

Does exercise alleviate cold symptoms or speed recovery?

There is no evidence to suggest that exercising while sick speeds recovery or improves symptoms. Dr. Elena Zamoraa family medicine physician at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston told Berrywell in an email.

Depending on the severity of your symptoms, exercising when you have a cold can put additional stress on your immune system and make it harder to breathe, especially if you have asthma or other underlying health conditions.

“If you have asthma, certain viruses and colds can make your asthma worse, and exercise doesn’t improve your wheezing,” Dr. Zamora says.

However, exercise can reduce your chances of getting sick in the future. Regular exercise strengthens and improves immunity, lower the risk of infectionaccording to Inderpal Randhawa, Marylandis a board-certified internist, pediatrician, pediatric pulmonologist, and medical director of the Pediatric Pulmonary Institute at MemorialCare Miller Children’s and Women’s Hospital in Long Beach.

Exercise is a type of activity that puts stress on the body. Randhawa says exercising regularly can help you manage stress. Over time, he added, this helps “the immune system become stronger and more stable.”

However, pushing yourself too hard through intense exercise (known as overtraining) is not a good idea. This can overwhelm the body and weaken the immune system, Randhawa said.

Is it best to do low-intensity exercise or skip it entirely?

Exercising when you have a cold won’t make you feel better quickly, but that doesn’t mean you can’t exercise and use your best judgment, Randhawa says.

If you’re healthy and exercise regularly, it’s usually safe to continue exercising at a low intensity, Randhawa says. However, if you are not very active or are overweight or obese, it is better to rest. He added that when the disease is progressing, the body is under stress and overexerting yourself with exercise can make your symptoms worse.

why? It involves the immune system. When you get sick, your immune cells need to reach the site of infection, such as your sinuses or lungs. When you’re healthy, blood flows more efficiently, helping immune cells reach the site of infection faster, Randhawa said. If you’re in poor health and your blood flow isn’t efficient, your immune cells may take longer to reach an infection, and “exercising can increase stress on your body and make the situation worse.” ‘ he added.

Your symptoms are also important. If you have mild symptoms such as a runny or stuffy nose, walking or doing yoga may be fine, Zamora says. If you have symptoms below the neck, such as fever, fatigue, body aches, or cough, Zamora recommends avoiding exercise altogether. (This is often called the “neck test.”)

“If you have a lower respiratory tract infection like pneumonia, you want to avoid exercise,” Zamora says. Additionally, fever and exercise increase your heart rate, so it’s best to rest.

When is it safe to exercise again?

Once symptoms occur above the neck, it is usually safe to exercise. Do so gradually, Zamora added.

Randhawa said it’s best to stop training if you still have a cough or fever, and it’s best not to exercise at all if you’re feeling tired from normal daily activities. “If you are unable to exercise for several weeks after recovering from a cold, you should see your doctor as this may indicate a more serious problem.”