The Food Medic - S9 Ask Dr Hazel: Should you exercise when you’re sick?

Starting point is 00:00:00 What's better than a well-marbled ribeye sizzling on the barbecue? A well-marbled ribeye sizzling on the barbecue that was carefully selected by an Instacart shopper and delivered to your door. A well-marbled ribeye you ordered without even leaving the kiddie pool. Whatever groceries your summer calls for, Instacart has you covered. Download the Instacart app and enjoy $0 delivery fees on your first three orders. Service fees, exclusions, and terms apply. Instacart. Grocer $0 delivery fees on your first three orders. Service fees, exclusions and terms apply. Instacart, groceries that over-deliver. Hello and welcome back to Ask Dr. Hazel, our mini episodes that drop each week in between our main episodes. I'm your host, Dr. Hazel, and I'll be answering all your burning questions.

Starting point is 00:00:44 Thank you to everyone who sent in a question already and if you would like to submit a question of your own to the podcast on any topic related to health, fitness, nutrition please send your voice recorded questions to info at thefoodmedic.co.uk. So let's jump into this week's question. Hi Hazel, do you have any advice for staying fit and straight training during long periods of illness? Because I love strength training but I'm a student and it's winter and I feel like it's just one cold after the other. And I really want to continue strength training and I'm really worried that if I don't I'll lose all my progress. So if you have any advice I'd really appreciate it. Thank you so much for your question.

Starting point is 00:01:24 So when people ask me if they should exercise when they're sick my answer is always it depends. so if you have the advice I'd really appreciate it. Thank you so much for your question so when people ask me if they should exercise when they're sick my answer is always it depends. It depends on a how sick you are and this will require a little bit of intuition on your part if you're struggling to get out of bed or simply carry out your normal day-to-day activities then I would rest up but if the biggest limiting factor is just a runny nose then some gentle exercise should be okay. Generally if your symptoms are above your neck you should be fine and not in your chest but also using parameters like your resting heart rate can be helpful as well. The second thing it depends on is the type of exercise. If you're not well now is not the time

Starting point is 00:02:00 to try run your best 5k or do any heavy lifting. Any illness causes a stress on the body which kicks our immune system into action to fight it off. Exercise also causes a stress on our body which isn't always a bad thing. It helps us to grow, adapt and become stronger but when we're sick the stress of a tough workout can be more than our immune system can handle. You mentioned weight lifting which should be fine but I would keep the volume and load low and opt for other forms of movement like walking, body weight training and gentle yoga. Also ensure you're getting enough calories and protein as that's really important to maintain your muscle mass. I also want to flag that constantly getting colds or falling ill can be a sign that you're over training or under fueling so I would ask you

Starting point is 00:02:44 to also take a step back and look at your training and your nutrition and make sure they're matching up and you're not compromising your immune system. Other things like sleep, stress management, taking a vitamin D supplement during the winter months can also support your immune system too. I hope that answers your question. Best of luck and I'll see you again next time.

The Food Medic - S9 Ask Dr Hazel: Should you exercise when you’re sick?

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