Posted on November 08, 2015 by Kate Halsall
Do you believe you should starve a fever feed a cold? Do you start cramming yourself with oranges and satsumas as soon as you start with a sniffle? Have people recommended that you should have complete rest when you have a cold because it’s dangerous to exercise? Well here are our top tips about how to fight a cold with nutrition and exercise.
Food & Drink
You do not need to eat stodge to fight a cold so do not use this as an excuse about why you have been on a carb binge! In fact, despite the usual lack of appetite, you need to ensure you are getting a balance of vitamins and minerals to help your immune system. Lots of green veg, protein and fruit will help to raise the antioxidants in your body to fight the infection. There are some schools of thought that suggest avoiding dairy whilst you have a cold/flu to help reduce mucus production – but this is more down to individuals rather than being a rule for all.
Something to remember is to drink lots of water to prevent you from becoming dehydrated. Often with flu or colds, we don’t feel thirsty, but you need water. Also keep in mind that a lot of “cold relief” contains lots of sugar and sweeteners so really aren’t the best things for your body.
Exercise
There are a number of pieces of research which suggest that regular moderate exercise will help to reduce the onset of colds and flu. Likewise, these studies indicate that moderate exercise whilst suffering from a cold or flu can help to boost your immune system and therefore help to fight it off sooner.
However, it’s probably not the best idea to suddenly decide to start exercising having not done very much before, whilst suffering from congestion! Likewise there are recommendations that if you have a heart condition, or suffer with asthma, that because of the stress to the cardiovascular systems, you should refrain from too much cardio and isolation moves.
Some studies say if you’re at the fever stage, to avoid exercise completely because your body is fighting the infection, whilst others suggest getting some light exercise like going for a walk would help. The key is to be sensible and listen to your body. Ideally you would avoid long bouts of endurance or HIIT/vigorous exercise, and it may not be the appropriate time to try your 1 rep max – moderate exercise remember!
Take a read of our previous blogs bout when you should and shouldn’t train with a cold (using the ‘neck up, neck down rule) and also about which vitamins and minerals are best to fight a cold.
So whilst you feel like you’re dying from man flu or need a few duvet days, the message here is to keep active and eat sensibly – that is the best way to not only prevent getting colds but to also fight them off quicker!