BEYOND REST AND HYDRATION

When is the last time you heard a PCP counsel patients on exercise recommendations when ill?

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1. Counselling Conundrum: a real question from a patient

2. Concise Conclusion: a straight-forward patient-friendly answer 

3. Quick Wrap-up 

Clearly, there are nuances that may not be captured in this format. The goal here is to provide you with helpful counselling tips which often draw from multiple sources or those which are not commonly accessed by busy healthcare providers serving the community.

Counselling Conundrum: "I normally exercise every single day; exercise is my number one priority for health. I had diarrhea and a fever last night. Is it ok to do some light exercise today?"

Concise Conclusion: Since you've had a fever and upset stomach, total rest is generally the best option at least for the first 24 hours. After that, slowly reintroduce light exercise until you're back to normal.

Quick Wrap-up: Anything like mild cold symptoms (sneezing, mild dry cough, runny nose, etc.), continue light exercise (though scaling back is likely still ideal) and active recovery modalities like saunas or cold plunges. Any systemic symptoms like fever, or gastrointestinal symptoms like vomiting or diarrhea, total rest is usually ideal for the first 24 hours, along with passive recovery modalities like breath work and meditation. In the case of mild symptoms, light exercise can aid recovery via improved blood flow, sleep, and encourage parasympathetic activity ("rest and digest" mode).

Dive Deeper

1) Should You Really Work Out When You're Sick?

We hope you have found this useful. A reply to this email with any feedback or topic suggestion you may have would be greatly appreciated. Your input will be the key to making this newsletter the best it can be.