Did you find you got ill more often after starting cycling?

[Hyslop]

Ive hardly been out for some weeks,partly weather,partly other factors.But its interesting,Im just recovering from a cold,something I haven't suffered from for quite some years.A number of factors may be responsible of course,but I'm putting it down to the fact that most of my riding has been on the turbo,in other words......the sauna effect! Generally,I ride throughout the winter and ail nothing.Proves nothing of course

 

[400bhp]

I see a trend here.

 

[Ian H]

It might be a symptom of over-training, if you're not giving yourself some time off. But it could be something unrelated: has anything else changed in your life?

 

[dim]

It might be a symptom of over-training, if you're not giving yourself some time off. But it could be something unrelated: has anything else changed in your life?

yea .... I've got 1 year older, my hair on my head has started to stop growing, but it's now starting to grow internally (out of my ears and nose)

 

[uclown2002]

No

 

[raleighnut]

I think that is true!

I used to go on a cycling training camp in Spain every March. I would do a total of (say) only 100 miles from December to February but then do 750 hilly/mountainous miles in 13 rides over the course of the holiday. I'd come back to the UK at the end of March and every single time I caught a bad cold within days and then spent a couple of weeks feeling awful.

I didn't get ill in March very often before I started taking those holidays, and I haven't very often since I stopped.

(One year I only lasted 4 days on the holiday before getting ill. I felt really rough for a couple of days but I recovered quickly by resting in the sun, eating lots of fruit and not touching the bike.)

PS I'm not suggesting that moderate exercise causes problems. I just completely overdid things on those holidays. I'd hammer myself the first week and get stronger and stronger but then the fatigue would set in during week 2 and that must have been when my immune system was struggling.

The organisers suggested taking easier rest and recovery days but I wanted to make the most of my time in the sun so I usually ignored the advice. The holidays were great, but there was a price to pay for a few weeks after I got home.

More likely to have picked up the bug on the flight back.

 

[summerdays]

I think I have caught fewer colds, now I'm used to it. But my children are also older so picking up less bugs so it could be down to both factors.

 

[derrick]

Opposite here.

 

[galaxy]

May seem silly, but try drinking more water.

 

[Crackle]

Vitamin C and Zinc.

 

[vickster]

Fruit and veg

 

[HLaB]

If there's a cold or similar going round I tend to get it quite easily (no idea if thats cycling related) but whilst other folk are crippled with it as it goes deep in their lungs, I shrug it off over night. I believe the latter is cycling related

 

[ColinJ]

More likely to have picked up the bug on the flight back.

It is quite possible that I picked up the bugs on the crowded return flights, but I think my immune system was suppressed by riding too hard too many days without adequate recovery. If the cycling had not weakened me, then it was a HUGE coincidence that I got ill 8 times out of 8!

(Incidentally, I had already searched for research on aircraft-acquired infections. Apparently, passenger aircraft air conditioning systems have filters which will stop bacteria and viruses being recirculated with the air.)

 

[Pat "5mph"]

Opposite for me too: started cycle commuting in 2011, used to get really bad bronchitis twice a year, completely stopped.

 

[400bhp]

If there's a cold or similar going round I tend to get it quite easily (no idea if thats cycling related) but whilst other folk are crippled with it as it goes deep in their lungs, I shrug it off over night. I believe the latter is cycling related

Usually it's the same for me too, albeit it lingered for a month this November.