New York Times article: Will Exercising With a Cold Make You Sicker?

Sly Saint

Sly Saint

Senior Member (Voting Rights)
“There’s this myth that you can sweat out a virus, but that is a terrible thing to do,” said David Nieman, a professor of biology at Appalachian State University and director of the Human Performance Laboratory at the North Carolina Research Campus. If you’re not feeling well, heavy exercise can exacerbate your symptoms and increase your risk for complications, he said. “It has the potential to really bring you down.”

If your condition does deteriorate, it’s best to rest until the symptoms go away, Dr. Nieman said. “Then, gradually get back into the routine,” he added. “Relapse can be common if you get back too quickly and push hard.”

In rare cases, exercising intensely while you’re sick, or even shortly after you’ve recovered, could lead to new or lingering symptoms like exhaustion or unexplained pain. Researchers believe this phenomenon is similar to how some people develop long Covid or chronic fatigue syndrome (also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis, or ME/CFS), which are illnesses that can develop after an acute infection. “It can be serious for a small percentage of people if they push exercise too hard during the illness or soon thereafter,” Dr. Nieman said. “You may enter into this unexplained syndrome, and it’s not worth the risk.”
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https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/29/well/move/exercise-sick-cold.html
 
"Researchers believe this phenomenon is similar to how some people develop long Covid or chronic fatigue syndrome (also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis, or ME/CFS), which are illnesses that can develop after an acute infection. “It can be serious for a small percentage of people if they push exercise too hard during the illness or soon thereafter,” Dr. Nieman said. “You may enter into this unexplained syndrome, and it’s not worth the risk.”

No. Stop comparing the two. This is common in sickness behaviour, not ME.
 
relapse can be common if you get back too quickly and push hard
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This continues to understate just how low and varied that limit can be. People hear quickly and pushing hard and they think gym, high-intensity training. They will not make the connection that simply walking to the mailbox sent them into a relapse, or that the light cardio they did was simply way too much. It's still confusing the hell out of long haulers because it's framed incorrectly.

Making this all about exercise obfuscates that this is about exertion and that the level can be far lower than what is necessary for daily living. We need experts who can pay attention to details, damnit. It should not be hard to understand that if someone can't afford to buy a car, they obviously cannot afford to buy a mansion. It should not need to be reminded all the time.

There is a slow-growing message coming out that getting back to high-intensity exercise or working too much can cause LC, which is not entirely clear, as lots of people remain ill despite having never even had the opportunity to try, they were severely ill the whole time. Decades of wishy-washing hopium have completely warped perception here, leading to a profession that is supposed to be based on science to systematically dismiss reality and substitute their own. Needless to say this way of doing things is a complete disaster.
 
With gradual onset ME and multiple confirmed bouts of EBV, I was told I would recover. This advice kept me going. Resting, but not completely. And, working for several years until I became too debilitated.

An EBV diagnosis should come with a warning label. It should be taken more seriously, and in some quarters this is starting.
 
"relapse can be common if you get back too quickly and push hard"

I felt fully recovered after nine months of full time resting and had a relapse when I went back to doing normal things, like going back to work, cooking and short walks.
 
Mij said:
"relapse can be common if you get back too quickly and push hard"

I felt fully recovered after nine months of full time resting and had a relapse when I went back to doing normal things, like going back to work, cooking and short walks.
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Exactly!
 
rvallee said:
This continues to understate just how low and varied that limit can be. People hear quickly and pushing hard and they think gym, high-intensity training. They will not make the connection that simply walking to the mailbox sent them into a relapse, or that the light cardio they did was simply way too much. It's still confusing the hell out of long haulers because it's framed incorrectly.

Making this all about exercise obfuscates that this is about exertion and that the level can be far lower than what is necessary for daily living. We need experts who can pay attention to details, damnit. It should not be hard to understand that if someone can't afford to buy a car, they obviously cannot afford to buy a mansion. It should not need to be reminded all the time.

There is a slow-growing message coming out that getting back to high-intensity exercise or working too much can cause LC, which is not entirely clear, as lots of people remain ill despite having never even had the opportunity to try, they were severely ill the whole time. Decades of wishy-washing hopium have completely warped perception here, leading to a profession that is supposed to be based on science to systematically dismiss reality and substitute their own. Needless to say this way of doing things is a complete disaster.
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Agree it is more complex than this. I wouldn't want people to think/it wouldn't cure all ME/CFS to just put people on strict regimes of less exercise.

The whole illness messes about with all sorts, and I know that people have different types and some might be more straightforward in being 'need to do less, slowly etc' (once you get more severe and it goes on long term I think this applies to all) but there is also the lack of acknowledgement in the sleep reversal (a biggie where lots of us got devastated by the obsession of that being 'to be fixed/trained' and 'not medical'), the need for huge rests etc.

I'd be terrified if people thought going back to the days where people just thought we needed to live less 'burn the candle' lives was what the condition was. And I think that is what too many who think they are being 'accepting' or 'know it' imagine.

To be frank I really can't see how anyone who isn't a really really good listener - ie not what they think is a good listener (fop nodding their head) but someone who actually hears and seeks to understand, like someone who works in proper insight areas - can take helping the condition forwards instead of backwards. Those who assume before someone opens their mouth are looking at a counter-intuitive whilst being a simplistic easy-win type.

But I do give people their dues that things are so far off in the misinformation stakes added to a complex to explain illness that means knowing where to start in an article that communicates this to most people is an impossible task (you'd need 10 articles and people who wanted to pay attention and 'get it' to get there), so have to go with pinch of salt being involved in every piece of writing having to pitch to audience level and think from a message perspective 'if we can only get one penny-drop' etc.
 
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