Why You Need To Rest When You’re Sick
Flu season is upon us and you may already be feeling under the weather. With germs being spread around you at work, on public transport and even at the gym, it’s often easy to pick up the flu bug and find yourself surrounded by tissues and lozenges.
When you’re sick, your immune system is fighting off the germs that are affecting your body and you need to allow it to do so. Engaging in your usual activities when your sick will make your body weaker and make you even more susceptible to the germs that you have caught.
Exercising when you’re sick is generally a no-no because you are working your body too hard and as a result making yourself sicker. Letting yourself recover from the illness and then easing yourself back into exercise is the best way to listen to your body and know your limits.
If you’re a member of the gym, it’s your duty of care to the people around you to not attend when you are sick. Spreading germs at the gym is very easy to do as you are in close vicinity with others and touching many of the same things they are. You’re also in a closed environment, so if you’re coughing and sneezing everywhere your germs have many things to cling to.
Public transport should also be out – you’ll just be making other people around you sick and you’re also in an environment where you yourself can catch more germs. Have you ever been on the train or bus and someone is sneezing or coughing behind you or next to you and not covering their mouth? I can feel you shuddering at the grossness right now.
Don’t be afraid to take some time off when you’re sick, either, because work and work stresses have the ability to make that flu worse by wearing down your immune system even more. Your productivity levels are generally going to be lower when you’re sick and you’re more likely to spread the sickness around your workplace, as a result lowering the productivity and morale of your whole team. It’s also harder to get better if you’re in a workplace where others are sick as well.
So, during a sick period it is okay to take time off from your usual commitments and allow yourself to rest. Resting and taking care of yourself should be number one on your priority list so you can get better quickly and get back to enjoying life.
Image via mcneese.edu
