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

[Ben Reeve]

Hi,

This might be a bit of a strange question, however....

I've been cycling properly for 2 full years now (5000kmish per year).

In that time I have found I have been picking up illnesses more often. I am finding I am getting a cold of something similar around once a month now whereas before cycling I would get ill much less often.

Have you found you've got ill more often since starting cycling?

If so what do you think causes it? Is it long periods of time out in the cold etc?

Thanks,

Ben

 

[velovoice]

Quite the opposite as I'm no longer face-to-armpit with strangers on public transport.

 

[I like Skol]

The opposite for me. Once I started cycle commuting and doing 3-4k per year I got less ill and definitely get less colds and hardly any coughs at all. Before that, anytime I had a cold I would spend the next fortnight coughing.

 

[Reynard]

The opposite for me too, because I spend less time jammed on public transport. I also walk everywhere when I'm in the assorted urban areas I frequent (Cambridge / London) because I'm too tight to pay the bus fares.

 

[gbb]

I found the opposite, I think the physical activity flushes you out if that makes sense , purges you. I didn't really get long colds or viruses when I was fit, just a few days and then it passed.
There seems to be a particually nasty virus going round at the moment,, I've had mine since December and it's hanging onto me like glue, I've heard people had it for 6 weeks and more.

 

[Tenacious Sloth]

Opposite for me as well.

 

[Racing roadkill]

Exactly the opposite for me, I had 18 months with very little cycling, after a nasty bike crash, I've never had more colds, coughs and sniffles, than in that 18 months.

 

[screenman]

I seem to remember something along the lines of the immune system is lowered for 20 minutes after intensive effort. But it could be rubbish.

 

[vickster]

No just endless injuries, many thanks to being knocked off

I find avoiding children if at all possible effective in minimising colds and other viruses borne by the little plague carriers

 

[Drago]

I don't remember. It was four and a half decades since I started cycling.

 

[ColinJ]

I seem to remember something along the lines of the immune system is lowered for 20 minutes after intensive effort. But it could be rubbish.

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.

 

[dim]

I cycled close to 15 000 km last year, and never even had a cold up until Christmas day (I woke up with Bronchitis and a snot nose) ....

I've been suffering since then, and still have a snot nose and cough, so I'm taking it easy at the moment with cycling. (I still commute but I have not cycled long distances/fast rides on weekends)

but saying that, all my clients are sick at the moment, or have been sick in the past few days with similar symptoms as what I have (they most probably caught it from me)

 

[ianrauk]

Also the opposite. Many moons ago when I was train commuting I was getting colds on a very regular basis. Now the only reason I seem to get colds is when Ian jnr brings them home from school.

 

[Slick]

Opposite for me too I'm afraid. I worked hard most of my life outside and rarely suffered from the sniffles. I enjoyed a 12 month sabbatical, and always picked up whatever was floating around at the time. Back outside in all weather on the bike and touch wood no colds to date. Of course, stopping smoking within that same time frame would have had an impact too.

 

[classic33]

I'd say the opposite, but also count working outdoors in all weathers, as part of the reason.

I've never come down with any seasonal bugs either.