

Exercise 'can prevent a cold', a study shows - mayutana
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-11664660

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jasonkester
I've noticed the exact opposite myself, and I've actually managed to take
advantage of it sometimes.

I climb rocks, and a few times I've had days where, for no reason I could
explain, I have performed far above my normal abilities (1). Big days, where
I've sent routes that were way above my head. Routes that I couldn't pull
individual moves on when I came back to them a week later.

Then the next day I would be clobbered by a cold so violent that I'd be
bedridden for an entire day.

I chalk it up to the body knowing that a cold is on the way and storing up all
the immunities, defences, and reserve energy that it will need to fight it. If
you time it right, you can steal all that stuff and channel it into one day of
hard climbing. Of course then when the cold does come, the body has nothing to
fight it with so you get crushed.

Considering how good it feels to be _that_ on form, even just for a single
session, I think it's actually worth it.

(1) If you climb, you'll know that it's a very measurable sport. If you can
boulder a certain grade, you can get on a given problem and have a reasonable
expectation of being able to work it out. Or alternatively, you can know for a
fact that you could train on this one particular problem for an entire year
and never top out. So when you're having a day like the one I describe above,
it's the equivalent of showing up at the gym one day and finding you can
suddenly bench press 50 pounds more than yesterday.

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gaustin
> So when you're having a day like the one I describe above, it's the
> equivalent of showing up at the gym one day and finding you can suddenly
> bench press 50 pounds more than yesterday.

So it's not so far out of the ordinary to be unexpected?

In my experience, those sorts of variances are pretty common with lifting and
endurance running. Especially for non-professional level athletes.

~~~
jasonkester
I haven't lifted weights in probably 15 years, so you'll need to modify that
number to something that makes sense.

In Climbing, I know that when I'm on form I can generally get a route graded
7b+ after a couple hours of working it and a few redpoint attempts. The few 7c
routes I've done each took about a dozen days of work spread out over the
course of a month.

The route I did on one of my pre-cold days was rated 8a+ (though it was likely
a bit overgraded), and I got it second go. Like I said, I came back a week
later, and I couldn't even do the single hardest move in isolation.

So, that far out of the ordinary.

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JofArnold
Important caveats: 1/ Too much exercise increases the chances of catching a
cold as well as increasing the severity (there is research on this) 2/ Gyms
are full of people and you touch a lot of the surfaces - so that may offset
the effect (this I'm guessing)

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tomjen3
People who exercise are more likely to eat healthy and take care of their body
in other ways.

Did they people who made the study correlate for that?

~~~
lkozma
Also it says "those who merely think they are fit enjoy the same lower risk".
How fit I see myself has a lot to do with how often I fall ill.

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nithyad
I would personally vouch for it. Not just cold, I have got rid of nagging
headaches and other ailments too after starting on a regular exercise regime

~~~
chopsueyar
What about diet?

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gjm11
> Lead researcher Dr David Nieman and his team, from Appalachian State
> University in North Carolina, say bouts of exercise spark a temporary rise
> in immune system cells circulating around the body that can attack foreign
> invaders.

This makes an interesting contrast with other recent reporting on colds and
the immune system, such as
[http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/05/opinion/05ackerman.html?_r...](http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/05/opinion/05ackerman.html?_r=2&src=me&ref=general)
which says (correctly, AIUI) that the immediate cause of cold symptoms isn't
the infection itself but the body's immune response to it.

Resolution: [http://blogs.plos.org/bodypolitic/2010/10/06/how-not-to-
figh...](http://blogs.plos.org/bodypolitic/2010/10/06/how-not-to-fight-colds-
is-it-really-that-clear-cut/) \-- a more active immune system at the moment of
possible infection may help you not get infected, but a more active immune
system while you've got the infection may make things worse. (And: "the immune
system" is a complicated thing, and the bits of it that make a cold worse may
not be the same as the bits that make you less likely to get one.)

~~~
jonhendry
That probably means it's a good idea to _not_ exert yourself once the cold has
hit.

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duncanj
This is actually a little paradoxical, because numerous reports have shown
that strenuous exercise depresses the immune system by increasing
glucocorticoid levels. The odd thing is that glucocorticoids cause an increase
in circulating neutrophils, but some think that they are actually less
available to fight infection, because usable neutrophils are found lining the
postcapillary venules. All told, studies of the cold paint a complicated
picture.

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stellar678
Interestingly, the immediate aftermath of a workout is suppressed immune
function. (<http://jap.physiology.org/cgi/content/full/82/5/1385>)

But it does seem reasonable that someone living the broadly healthy lifestyle
of a person who gets a good amount of exercise would also find themselves less
susceptible to colds etc...

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epo
Seems kind of obvious, exercise strengthens the body and promotes general
health. What next? wrapping up warm can prevent a cold? Slow news day?

~~~
loewenskind
One of the most poorly named entities I know of is "common sense". It's
extremely uncommon. I can't tell you how many times I've went somewhere in
winter and seen idiot mothers with their baby sitting in the stroller with
it's belly showing. It's not a bad thing to keep repeating and demonstrating
these kinds of health facts no matter how obvious they _should_ be.

~~~
davidcann
While exposing a baby to cold certainly isn't a good thing to do, I think
colds spread in the winter by people being indoors so much. You catch a cold
from another human, not from the cold wind.

~~~
loewenskind
Of course but getting too cold weakens your body and makes you susceptible to
cold, etc. It can also lead to problems with the organs later.

~~~
mistermann
> Of course but getting too cold weakens your body and makes you susceptible
> to cold, etc.

I seem to recall a big discussion on this somewhere on the internet a few
years ago. From what I recall, there was very little science at all to back up
the theory that you catch the common cold from getting a chill. At least to
me, there doesn't seem to be a logical connection between the two.

The best reason I can think of is, when it is cold, everyone tends to spend
more time indoors with the doors closed, giving a virus much more opportunity
to spread amongst people. Another theory had something to do with nasal
linings drying up (?) in the winter, making one more susceptible to infection.

If the chill --> catching cold theory was correct, wouldn't it seem likely
that when you get really cold, as in shivering your ass off uncontrollably,
wouldn't you be extremely likely to catch a cold? And I know anecdotally that
that simply isn't true.

Is there even a reasonably logical physiological theory to backup the chill
--> catch a cold theory, or is it simply an old wives tale?

~~~
pstuart
There's also the issue of less sunlight in winter, therefore less Vitamin D.

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znt
I can verify this as I was the super sickly kid at high school. When winter
arrived, so did the illness period for me. Then I started practising some
martial arts in university and my immune system got pretty strong. Hardly had
any critical illnesses since then.

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wazoox
When I have a cold (sneezing, coughing), I go running anyway (like I do almost
every day) and I feel much better for the rest of the day; most of the
symptoms disappear, even when running in winter :)

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mayutana
Being healthy requires the combination of a good diet, adequate clothing that
suits the weather and exercise.

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InclinedPlane
To add my own anecdotal evidence: I have experienced the same relationship.

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hackermom
Cleaning your hands when you get back home after having been outdoors - a very
basic hygiene measure - does a WHOLE LOT more, I would say. Interestingly, in
contrast to the article, the direct effect of a session of physical activity
is a short suppression of the immuno system that leaves you temporarily more
sensitive to the rhinovirus, should you be carrying it at the time.

