gerv 

This article is worth reading. I would have thought the opposite. However it claims a cold could be helped by exercise.

vol

This question should be posted on a medical forum. Hope you are feeling better.

Biketothestars

I would definitely strongly advise you NOT to cycle to work. I find that if I ride gently...I get cold, thus not helping my cold in any way, and if I ride fast, I get hot and exhausted...also not good if you're ill. Your body temperature is bound to increase, even with just a light form of exercise, and will then rapidly decrease once you're off your bike and inside at work. It's a lose-lose situation whether you go fast or slow, so just take the train. I ignored my own advice and am now paying for it...my cold is taking ages to go away!

chandltp

I rode all winter last year, and while I got sick, I never got as sick as the rest of my family. So the riding doesn't appear to have hurt, but I'm not sure if it was because I was healthier from regular exercise or if riding lessened the severity of my illness.

DX-MAN

I'm car-free, and ride the bus when the conditions are too nasty to ride to work. So I'm on the bus less than 8 weeks per year.

I get a cold/sniffles/congestion about mid-October, and more or less keep it until mid-March, and ride through it; the exercise promotes "productive expectoration", meaning I can spit it out and get rid of it. So a cold doesn't even faze me.

Fever, yes; generally, when I get a fever, I get a little vertigo in the bargain. But my last fever was... '05, maybe?

You could always do the "nipple test"; if the discomfort is above the nipples, ride; if it's below, drive or stay home.

slcbob

Freebase some Massengill, hike up your big girl pants, and get on your bike.

chrisb71

Sweating from exercise might be good because the only way anything can drain out of your lymph nodes is through sweat. At least that's my personal theory.

However if you feel fatigue then don't exercise, you could cause long term problems by exercising with sickness induced fatigue.

Note fatigue is not "cranky and tired": you will know it when it happens. Such as earlier this year I thought I was over my cold and tried to take public transportation to work; I got so tired just walking a few blocks I thought I would pass out. That is fatigue

ratell

There's no evidence that being chilled has any impact on a cold or flu (unless your cold to the level of hypothermia). Being hot probably actually helps your response to the cold.

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056...96810032791404

eddubal

I go by the neck rule with colds:

Neck or above, go ahead and exercise. Below the neck, rest.

daveF

I should follow your advice. I've driven to work on days that I didn't feel well enough to ride. Which probably wasn't a good idea since I wasn't alert either. Maybe a hazard to myself & others. There is not decent public transportation here, otherwise, I'd do that. Next time I don't feel well enough to ride, I'm staying home!

BroadSTPhilly

I typically ride through a cold unless it's really bad.

amit_shah25 

so what did you end up doing ?

How long is your ride ? What are temp's like at your place ? I say ride regardless

hubcap

If you are too sick to ride, you are too sick to be around your co-workers. Strap it up and get on your bike!

Never, ever, ever get in your car because you think you are too sick to ride.

JanMM

ummm.........the Times article says it's ok to exercise and that people feel ok or even better with exercise but not that they recover faster or that they are actually less ill. And they just looked at folks with colds, not with influenza.
That said, I am in favor of exercise if you feel up to it.

mgurtzweiler

if my cold is above the neckline i will ride in and still exercise. If it gets into the chest I will generally avoid everything until I am feeling better.

Artkansas 

They are stupid. If you get a cold, that's one unit of slack to be picked up. On the average, you can spread it to 5 people, that's 6 units of slack to be picked up. Do the math.

kmac27

When one is sick their immune system is being supressed at the same time. During exercise extra stress is put onto the body which further reduces the immune system leaving one to become more sick than they already are. It is how a two day cold turns into a month long cold. If you are sick you shouldn't be exercising simple as that. If your throat is sore you shouldn't bike at all.

kmac27

The new york times is garbage. They published that exercise makes people morefat because people who exercise more store more fat on the muscle cell for energy uptake. If anyone wants to read a reliable source and put it on this forum I'd be impressed. How about a study from American College of Sports Medicine, or someone who is reputable in the fitness field. Not some journalist..

ratell

So get on pubmed and look up the journal articles cited in the article.

Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise sounds exactly like the type of journal you are talking about...

rumrunn6

that depends but you should know, days off are always permissible

eddubal

+1

At least get in a short ride to "get feeling better!"