kb0tnv

Don't know if this thread has been created or not.... ? Just an observation. I have heard so many people getting sick wherever I turn (work, friends, church etc...). All have a common similarity... they are cagers... I am a cyclist. I ride in the cold and whenever I can. All the cagers (my wife included) are sick now or have been sick these past few weeks. I am so thankful I don't have to deal with being sick... I know I will get it sometime but will probably "bounce back" faster than the avg. driver. Am I alone with seeing this?

Keep Cycling,

kb0tnv

noisebeam

When you are healthy/fit and with lower stress you will have a stronger immune system. But on the flip if you overtrain and push too much that will weaken it.

I too am sick much less than before I cycled as much and if I do get a cold I recover quicker.

Al

Helmet-Head

Only cyclists who are pro racers get "the stomach virus".

Seriously, what a bunch of sickies, those guys in the peloton.

Of course, that's probably a lot about taking your body to the extreme...

jimhens714

Ditto that. I'm not sick as often either. I agree with the overtraining thoughts too though.

al-wagner

Same here a lot of my coworkers got colds/flu you name it they got it, including my wife. All of them missed time from work. Here I am the "What are you NUTS riding a bike in this weather" guy that rides the bike to work in the snow below zero weather. Most of them had to use there personal time or vacation time for the work they missed not me. I still got ALL my time. Who is "NUTS" now.

Dchiefransom

Do the "cagers" that get 30 minutes or more of hard cardio 3 or more times a week also sick? I noticed(when my knees would take it) that when I was running every night for 40 minutes, that I was very rarely sick. Of course, injuries from exercise are also "being sick".

Noif666

yep, very rarely sick (these days, I was a bit poorly when I was a young whipper-snapper). Last year I took a total of 2 days off sick

wahoonc

Personally I think a couple of items come into play here. One as already pointed out is the health factor brought on by exercise, the other is being out in the fresh air. I work outside and myself along with my crew have about 1/4 the absence rate of the office people. Just not being around sickies helps IMHO

Aaron

moxfyre

I think cycling on an everday basis makes you psychologically resistant to illness as well. I ride when it's cold, when it's snowing, when I'm sore and hungry from other exercise... so a little cold or fever just isn't that noticeable to me. Basically, since I'm used to feeling extra strain on my body on a regular basis, a little more doesn't bother me much.

FXjohn

That's not much to brag about. I have only taken 2 days off sick in 4 years

ivan_yulaev

This is obvious. When you're excersising, your body is placed under stress. If you excersise frequently, your body builds up to handle this stress. Therefore, when you're not excersising, your stress level is lower, therefore increasing your body's ability to fight disease, etc.

Noif666

It's better than my work collegues who take up to 2-3 weeks off annually for illnesses. I didn't think this was a competition, but good on you for having such a strong immune system.

FXjohn

2-3weeks annually...WOW...that's totally ridiculous...You are golden by comparison..my bad

JohnBrooking

I haven't really noticed a lot less sickness since I started commuting, but I've always had a pretty good immune system anyway. I will say that I did get a pretty good cold in December which caused me to not cycle for a few days, and when I tried, before I was completely up to snuff, I had to turn around and nearly collapsed from exhaustion when I got back home. (But there were other factors too -- inadequate gloves for the temperature, inoperative gears...)

Ironically, I developed high blood pressure after I started commuting. But it runs in my family and I'm in my late 30's, so my doctor and I are chalking it up to coincidence.

Noif666

No probs mate, they're all cagers - and smokers to boot (chest infections are rampant with these guys, yuck)

andygates

I stopped regular commuting this winter after a couple of spills on the ice. Drove in, after a couple of weeks, got a cold. A month later, got another. I'm back on the bike now and clear as a bell. Plenty of healthy exercise and fresh air is good for a body!

closetbiker

Not only are bike commuters sick with colds and the flu less often than cagers, guess who gets heart disease far more often than cyclists?

#1 killer by far. Most effective preventative measure. Why don't more ride?

cerewa

cuz they think they're going to die in traffic when you don't give em a steel cage to protect em.

on the other hand... my dad's cousin died in traffic, in a car, because he had a heart attack and crashed into a concrete wall dividing the offramp from the main freeway.

on the other other hand, he was one of the few car-commuters who WAS in shape. Maybe he ate too much trans fat (margarine, vegetable shortening, etc.)

christie133

Definately an accurate observation. I only had one minor cold last year, and I rode in just about everyday. Then this fall I was injuried pretty badly and couldn't ride. I got sick three times!! I've also noticed that my pastey overweight co-workers talk a lot about things like cluster headaches and migranes and anti-depressants--all foriegn to me. And they make fun of me for riding so much...

FXjohn

Look at me, I am soo smug,
I ride my bike and I'm superior to those who don't.

dbg

Over 20 years of exercise with on and off periods for various reasons I don't think I could correlate high exercise with fewer colds and flu. The eb and flow of those illnesses have their own agenda, seemingly. BUT, I recently had an angiogram (long story) and was told my arteries are remarkably clear. THAT I would definitley suspect is partially due to frequent exercise since heart disease has been in my family.

Rowan

Well, we've known that all along from the tone of your posts.