Should You Work Out When You Are Run Down?

One of the questions I get asked frequently is should I work out or do exercise when I am sick?

My theory is that if you are really sick and have the chills, a temperature, or the flu then I would not suggest you work out. So the way I measure that is how do I feel from the neck up? However if you are starting to feel better (even if not 100%) then I think moderate/easy exercise helps recovery and helps you to feel better mentally and physically.

While visiting our daughter Lauren in N.Y. city my theory once again proved to be true. I had been on a crazy busy schedule the few weeks prior including a lot of meetings, working out and business travel. I woke up early Monday morning and went for a hard swim and likely shouldn’t have pushed it as I was already feeling run down. Then I went for a weight workout Monday evening and got up early Tuesday before work and did a hard spin on my bike in the morning.

Later that day we drove to NY and everything started to catch up with me. On the way there, I started to get wicked cold like symptoms, the chills and did not feel well and my entire body ached. Therefore I took the day off and got to bed at a reasonable time and had a good sleep.

The next day I still felt “achy” but didn’t have the chills or a fever and was feeling much better. So Lauren and I went for an easy (Z2) 8 km run around Central Park. Besides feeling mentally invigorated by the gorgeous run in Central Park, I also felt physically invigorated as well. The Phlem and other stuff that gets trapped in our systems with a cold came up while I was running and got out of my system and as well my aches and pains went away.

HRV (Heart Rate Variability)

Since that time, I have purchased a Heart Rate Variability Monitor(HRV) which also assists me in determining whether I should work out and at what level. HRV measures both your sympathetic (stress) nervous system as well as your Parasympathetic(calm) Nervous system. It provides you with a score and also a color code that indicates whether you should work out and how hard. Green means go as hard as you want and Red means take the day off. This is a great tool for people like me that think they can “push through” feeling tired and work out anyways no matter how they feel. The one I and my children use is called Ithlete http://www.myithlete.com and it is simple finger measure that hooks up to your iPhone and only takes about a minute to take.

It is a great tool as it basically measures the “stress” of your system from all sources. This could be stress in all forms including physical stress (from exercise), emotional stress, sleep quality or Nutritional (Diet) stress. Many times I am surprised by the score one way or another. It also is great to see the patterns that develop based on the time of year or different stresses in our life. For more information, please refer to my prior blog: 5 Key Things I did To Prepare For Sardegna (http://kevinbradyhealth.ca/5-key-things-i-did-to-prepare-for-tour-sardegna/)‎

So to summarize, my takeaways are as follows:

1. If you have a temperature or feel “flu like symptoms” then you shouldn’t work out
2. “Listen” to your body and what it is telling you(a tough one for me)
3. Invest in an HRV monitor as it is a fantastic tool that measures the stress of your body.

Yours in great health, Kev