Reminder: Exercising with the flu could raise body temperature to a dangerous level

To stay healthy, some go for supplements or various vitamins. But exercise and rest are actually the best and free ways to keep our bodies and minds in check. So can exercise prevent sickness caused by pathogenic bacteria which exist everywhere?

When we do aerobic exercises, our heartbeat speeds up and body temperature rises. This accelerates our metabolism rate and blood circulation, while immunocytes are also activated to better fight harmful bacteria. It’s suggested to do aerobic exercises 3 times a week for a minimum of half an hour each time, such as swimming, running, hiking and cycling. On a scale of 1 to 10, the ideal intensity is between 5 and 8.

Can we still exercise when we have the flu?

It depends on what type of flu we have:

One of which includes symptoms like slight runny nose and sore throat, but your mental state is unaffected. In this condition, you can do some low-intensity exercises for a short duration. But stop whenever you start to feel tired, even if you’re in a normal mental state.

Another includes symptoms such as fever, vomiting and diarrhea. In this condition, don’t even think about it and taking more rest is your only option. This is because exercises would increase your metabolism rate, which in turn increases body temperature. It’s apparently dangerous to exercise with fever which puts you at risk for increasing your temperature even further.

In general, the more exercises you do, the healthier you get. But we also have to listen to our body’s signals and adjust our exercises to our physical condition.