Exercising While Sick: Is It Safe to Work Out with a Cold?

Regular exercise is known to boost overall immune function. Studies have found that physically active people tend to have a lower risk of acute respiratory infections (ARIs) like the common coldpubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.govfrontiersin.org. In fact, meeting recommended physical activity guidelines (e.g. 150 minutes of moderate exercise per week) has been linked with significantly fewer colds and sick days compared to a sedentary lifestyleapcz.umk.pl. Moderate exercise may enhance immune defenses by increasing immune cell circulation and reducing chronic inflammationpubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. On the other hand, extremely intense or prolonged exercise can temporarily suppress certain immune responses, potentially creating an “open window” of lowered immunityapcz.umk.plemjreviews.com. (For example, marathon runners sometimes report higher rates of infection following races.) The bottom line is that an active lifestyle generally helps you get sick less often and recover faster when you do – as long as you avoid overdoing it.