Exercise is an important part of overall fitness. It keeps our weight at manageable levels, tones our muscles and best of all, it keeps our immune system healthy. Exercise has been shown to lower blood pressure and blood sugar levels and strengthen the immune system. Taking 10,000 steps a day has been shown to reduce one's risk of certain cancers. Children who were taught by their parents to lead a healthy and active lifestyle had better bone masses when they grew up compared to those who didn't engage in any form of exercise. Even older people who kept themselves physically active had lesser incidences of falls and fractures owing to more strengthened bones and more flexible muscles and joints.

But viruses and bacteria abound. Even the strongest person can get afflicted with the common cold sometimes. A runny nose can definitely hamper the activities scheduled for that particular day or week which includes, among others, your exercise routines. The question is: Can you still exercise even if you have colds? Before we go about answering this question, let's look at what happens to your body when you exercise. During a workout session, you push your muscles to function hard compared to when it is at rest or doing relaxed activities. During a workout, the different body systems work at higher capacities, engaging your heart, lungs, muscles and joints to their utmost limits. The moment of exercise, especially intense aerobic exercises, can be particularly stressful.

This is the reason why exercising with colds isn't such a good idea. You need to up your oxygen intake to fuel your body's cells in order to sustain the activity. With fever, chest pain, coughing and shortness of breath brought about by chest colds, increasing your oxygen intake can pose a challenge to your body. The mucus build-up in your airway passages including the nose, sinuses and lungs, have already congested your chest, making breathing difficult and labored. To put simply, while you are sick, your body is already taxed beyond measure. Adding another straining activity, like exercise, to an already stressed system would be asking for a little too much. Exercising with colds could worsen symptoms and make the recovery period take longer than necessary.

Instead of working out when you have a cold, then, it is much better to rest. This is even more important particularly if your chest congestion is accompanied by high temperatures. Exercising with colds and fever can lead to a relapse. The best course of action to take would be to rest, take plenty of fluids and drink your medicine if your doctor has prescribed one and resume normal body workouts only when the fever has subsided and the illness has healed. Learn to relax and never push your body too far. When you are sick, you need to put all your efforts towards recovery before getting any workout done. Once your feel strong enough to walk around, you can do simple stretching exercises to keep your muscles limbered up. Resume only normal workout sessions after you have fully recovered.