How Often Should You Exercise or Workout?
Recommendations for healthy adults are that cardio and resistance training should be a regular part of the week. The recommended amount of exercise per week for healthy adults is 150 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise and 2 or more days of at least 20 minute sessions of resistance training. While this is a guideline, you may be able to do more or less for the most benefit for you.
However, there are some periods in our life when we are not feeling very healthy. This article will take a look at how often you should exercise during different times in your life and why.
When You Are Sick?
If you have a cold, should you exercise often? There is a thought that exercising can help you sweat out the cold, but the fact is that exercising too hard is not recommended.
If you are sick, exercising too hard or too much can actually put too much strain on your body. When you are healthy, a hard workout puts stress on the body and your body can normally handle the stress. But when your immune system is already working hard to tackle a cold, it is not able to handle the extra stress that comes from working out. That means that it will take you will take longer to get better, and you could even make things worse.
But, if you can, you should still try to do some mild physical activity when you are sick, such as walking, working in the garden, or doing yoga. These non-stressful movements can help boost your immunity and get you better faster.
“When workouts become stressful or excessive, there can be decreased amounts of white blood cells circulating throughout your body and increased amounts of the stress hormone cortisol.” – WebMD
When You Have A Chronic Illness?
If you are an adult with a chronic illness, exercise should be a part of your life. It has benefits such as improved mental health, stronger heart, stronger lungs, and stronger muscles. Moreover, exercise has a positive effect on the immune system, which is good for any chronic illness.
But, as said above, depending on your symptoms and body, you may want to limit your exercise to a low-intensity exercise to help boost your immune system instead of stressing it out. It all depends on you and your ability.
Also, adding resistance training into your daily life can help boost your immune system even more. But, it has to be a consistent thing.
Note: There are some workout programs like the DUP Method Workout that promote working out very regularly. This doesn’t always have to be the case. Even working out 2-3 days per week will produce benefits.
Research has found that strength training for the first time can elevate the stress response in the body and lower the immune system. However, after consistent training for months, a session of resistance training can help to boost the immune system after the workout. Therefore, if your body allows, start slowly adding light-weight resistance training into your week and be consistent with your training.
When You Have An Injury?
If you have an injury, it is important to get rest, ice the injury to reduce inflammation, and if needed elevate it. If you don’t take the time to heal, then you will do further damage to your injury and experience long-term complications.
That said, you can still be active if you don’t put too much strain on the particular injury. For instance, if you hurt your shoulder, you can still exercise your legs. Most injuries will heal within a month, so doing some alternative exercise for that duration can help give you all of the benefits of exercise without hurting yourself further.
If In Doubt, Talk To Your Doctor
While these are guidelines, everyone has different issues with their body, and what works for one person may not work for another. If exercise feels too strenuous for you, or if you feel like you can push yourself harder, talk to your doctor to ensure that you are doing more good than harm on yourself.