Doctor Shares Advice For Knowing When You're Too Sick To Exercise
By Lynne Adkins
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- It's cold and flu season, and you made a new year's resolution to exercise. Should you stay home, or hit the gym?
Do you get a pass from your workout, just because you're not feeling well?
It depends, says Karin Richards, acting Chair of Kinesiology at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia. She says to do a head check.
"Is it just a sniffle, a little bit of a runny nose? You can actually make it through your workout -- maybe you have to lower the intensity a little bit, but you can do it. Now, on the other hand, if you have a fever, symptoms of the flu -- we're talking the aches, chills -- stay home rest, rest, rest your body."
Richards says exercise puts stress on the body, and if you're achy with the flu, your form will suffer and you could injure yourself.