Is it healthy to run when you are feeling sick?

You’re probably fine (maybe do some lighter workouts), unless you’ve got chest congestion (running could make it worse) or vomiting/diarrhea (staying hydrated is important for getting better and running will not help) in which case you should get better first.

Yeah, I think it’s okay. Your body would scream at you if you weren’t capable of doing it. Just take it easy.

I’d do it.It would take alot more than that to make me stop exercising.
Be strong,young sportsman! :)

I’d do it. I often feel better after exercising when I have a cold.

I think you should save your energy and take a nap.

If you still feel ok I’d do it. I find that when I have a cold, being outside often helps me feel better.

I offer a different take. I jogged religiously for 15 years, healthy and ill. Today, 15 years after I had to give it up because of two bum knees, I regret ever having run, much as I enjoyed it at the time.

@Austinlad Aww, I hate hearing stories like that. I say everythng in moderation. I try to alternate what type of exercise I choose.

I press on regardless, hasn’t hurt me. I find that doing the run often pushes away the sick feeling.

I read an article on this very thing a few months ago. Apparently somebody study people who took a break from running when they were sick with a cold and those that didn’t. The group of people who didn’t stop actually felt better faster than those that took a break.

I have always heard it is okay to run with a cold, but if you have flu symptoms, then DO NOT RUN. Apparently the virus causing the flu can enter your heart. That really sounds like an urban myth now that I read it, and I haven’t checked it in Snopes, but I am almost sure I read it in Runner’s World.

And I know a lot of folks with bad knees who never ran a day in their lives, so I think some people are just destined to have certain health problems and others not. I have been running all of my life (I am 65) and my knees are no achier than any other part of my body!

@rooeytoo I don’t see how someone with the flu could run? With the flu people can barely get out of bed.

My limits are breathing problems or chest pain. I ran 5k this past Monday with a recently set broken wrist and hand still throbbing. I don’t run on my hands.

@stranger_in_a_strange_land Maybe that’s what’s keeping me from really improving my times. Are you a foot runner?

The conventional wisdom I’ve heard is that if your symptoms are from the neck up (coughing, sneezing, sore throat vs. nausea, diarrhea, body aches) you’re good to go.

But as my running buddies have repeatedly reminded me, it is so important to learn how to listen to your body. If you’re not feeling it, there’s no reason to force yourself.

@cfrydj ROFL

I’ve found when I’m sweating & over heating after starting to get a cold that it pays to keep all clothes off till you cool off during this stage of the cold in bed & avoid going out till you get rid of the sickness if it’s that bad a fever… for a couple of days! Allow your skin to be opened to room temperature if over heating and sweating. If shivering sets in cover up immediately completely till you stop shivering and resume laying out in the air a bit later till the fever stops. T hen cover up again and rest.

Not covering up at times with a fever helps allow you body to overcome a cold’s fever!

Fight a cold from it’s very beginning & you’ll likely win using natural cold medicine & gargling regularly with salt & warm water. Once the virus moves into the throat fight it into your nasal passages & threaten it till it either gives up there or flees to you lungs.

Use cleanex stuffed in the nose to stop congestion. Congestion seems to make the virus last longer. Try to prevent this.

U could use a natural nasal spray designed for colds & spray this into the throat as well.

Prayer definitely helps/ Activated.org

Taking Vit C powder 2000 milligrams every half day helps also to reduce effects before the cold has taken full affect. Your in a war with the virus. Be a winnert! Try something like a healthy herbal tea like rose hips. Also try running at night in warm climates not in a humid sunny place at 95 degrees during the day.

@ericnueman Adults don’t get fevers with colds, unless their immune system is really whacked. You are thinking of the flu. Congestion rarely comes along with the flu. Bacterial infections can have fever and congestion, but again, that is not a cold.

@JLeslie – I just noticed your response. I agree, but I do know some total fanatics who will run as long as they are capable of crawling out of bed. I guess too there are different kinds and varying degrees of flu. I personally give myself time out when I don’t feel up to par, there is always tomorrow, well hopefully there is tomorrow, heheheh!

I think that it is good for you to do some running, jogging and or walking with a cold. Research has shown that a runner can double the number of white blood cells in the peripheral blood with just one hour of running. Also when you are physically active your intercellular and interstitial fluid compartments circulate much faster than when you are in bed or not doing anything. So with running you get extra white blood cells out and about and on the prowl for germs (viruses and bacteria) plus the increased movement of fluids helps you fight off a cold quicker than just taking it easy. In addition to jogging there is one other thing that I do that helps me to recover from a cold faster and that is to deny that I have a cold. I never admit it. If you admit and or complain about a cold, it give the cold power. What you think about comes about so if you do not admit that you have a cold, then you can rise above it. I never get colds, and I also spare people around me with complaining about it when a cold presents it self to me. Good health! Lon