Not so close! How to work out in the coronavirus era
Joggers have never been so loathed. Here are the new rules for exercising so others don’t fear you.
Since gyms, pools and leisure centres closed their doors we’ve been left wondering how and where we should exercise, or, indeed, whether we should do it at all. While we are permitted one daily bout of solo activity, even that is causing controversy. With walkers in family groups that span the width of a footpath and runners being accused of hogging pavements - overtaking everyone in sight to keep pace and not willing to break their stride in the name of social distancing - antagonism is rife.
Yet for many of us outdoor exercise is our one remaining link to normality. Right now it’s perhaps even more important for our emotional health than for any fat-blasting we might ordinarily hope it achieves.
“Get out for a walk or a run, or hop on a bike or go to the park, provided you are following the advice on social distancing and you feel well enough,” Tim Hollingsworth, the chief executive of Sport England, says. “Keeping active is vital for our physical and mental health, for boosting our immune systems and helping us bounce back from being unwell and just generally for making us feel better.”
Indeed, in a recent interview in the Journal of Sport and Health Science Jeffrey A Woods, a professor of kinesiology and community health at the University of Illinois who studies exercise and immunity, outlined how exercise can help us through the coronavirus pandemic. “A single exercise bout can be beneficial, but regular exercise provides a much bigger benefit,” he says. “Molecular and cellular events take place within seconds to minutes following the beginning of an exercise bout or period of physical activity.”
So, what can (and can’t) we do?
Over 70 or pregnant? You should still get outside
UK government advice is that vulnerable groups should be “largely shielded from social contact for about 12 weeks” and that this social shielding “is especially important for the over-70s”. In Australia, vulnerable groups include the over-65s with chronic medical conditions, those with compromised immune systems, and Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders over 50. You should keep your windows open to let in fresh air, get some natural sunlight if you can, or get outside into the garden if you have one. Dogs need walking, and if you have one you will need to get outside.
However, you should try to avoid busy parks and other places where it is difficult to stay away from other dog owners and walkers. “The current (UK) advice is that, unless you are self-isolating or ill, you can go for a walk if you stay more than 2m from others,” says Dr John Campbell, a researcher in exercise immunity in the department for health at the University of Bath.
Rules if you are self-isolating
The Australian government advice is that if you have COVID-19, have been in contact with someone who has it, or have just arrived in Australia, you must self-isolate for 14 days. This means not leaving your home (or hotel room), except to go to your own garden or backyard. That includes for exercise. If someone else in your household falls ill, everyone must stay inside for a 14-day period starting from the day symptoms occurred.
Of course, if you are unwell, you might not feel up to exercising, but the official recommendation is that once you feel better “remember that physical exercise can be good for your wellbeing” and you should “look for online classes or courses that can help you take light exercise in your home” during the quarantine period. “You shouldn’t exercise at home or outdoors if you are feeling unwell,” Campbell says.
Is it OK to go cycling?
In France recreational cycling was effectively banned last week after the government imposed a 2km limit on how far people can leave home for exercise. It led to the French Cycling Federation announcing that “any practice of cycling sport, even individual, must therefore be temporarily prohibited”. Serious cycling restrictions are also in place in Spain, with the newspaper El Pais reporting that cyclists breaking the rules face fines of euros 100 or more, and in Italy outdoor exercise faced further draconian restrictions that effectively bans bike rides.
In addition to the risk of spreading infection through social contact, the moves are in part to avoid adding to the strain on emergency services in the event of accidents. In New York, where cycling is still permitted, cycling injuries surged by 43 per cent between March 9 and March 15, according to police statistics, as New Yorkers took to their bikes instead of using crowded public transport.
Cycling Australia notes that you can still cycle while adhering to the social distancing outlines - with one other person not from your household and at 1.5m apart - and on its website states that cycling in groups “is irresponsible and goes against all health expert recommendations”. It recommends solo cycling or indoor cycling.
Don’t walk or run in groups
The Australian Government advice limits outdoor exercise to your neighbourhood, either alone or with one other person, and social distance rules apply. The present advice is that you can walk, run or cycle outside provided that you maintain at least 1.5m of social distancing. You shouldn’t run with anyone who is not a member of your household, and even then with no more than one other person. It’s better to go alone. Current British advice from Campbell on this is particularly sensible: “The guidance is that you must run or walk at least a couple of metres apart from anyone else at all times and that you must avoid direct face-to-face contact.”
In France the sports ministry tweeted last week that jogging and other exercise should take place no farther than 2km from the home and that a 10km run was out of the question. In the latest restrictions imposed in Italy all parks are closed and walking and jogging for exercise are no longer allowed. England Athletics (along with Welsh Athletics, Athletics NI and Scottish Athletics) has stated that all running clubs should stop meeting and that group runs should be avoided.
Do not go in groups and do adhere to social distancing when you come across others. Sprinting to beat your records on a fitness app really is irrelevant right now.
How exercise affects immunity if you’re already fit
Whether or not intense training somehow hampers the immune system has been a subject of scientific debate for decades. In the 1980s and 1990s published papers suggested that the immune systems of athletes might suffer after a long, hard training session or race, with the body too fatigued to fight off infection. In marathon runners it was found that their self-reported incidence of colds and other viruses after the event was higher than in the general population, and some researchers suggested that the total number of immune cells in someone’s bloodstream plummeted after a challenging endurance event. In short, they believed there was a “window” of immune suppression after long, hard workouts that elevated the risk of catching an infection.
Yet in a review of all findings relating to athletes’ immune systems, published in the journal Frontiers In Immunology in 2018, Campbell and his colleagues found no overwhelming evidence that hard exercise hampers the immune system. In studies where marathon runners were tested in laboratories after finishing races, few were found to have colds and viruses. They were often experiencing non-infectious after-effects, such as irritated airways and dry throat.
“For 30 years I’d been told that arduous training suppresses the immune system,” Campbell says. “But our findings challenged that, and with the necessary precautions you can keep up some hard exercise if you are used to it.”
. . and if you’re not
Woods says that it is safe for sedentary individuals to exercise or to start an exercise regimen, provided that they have the green light from medical professionals, but now is not the time to launch into strenuous training. “If you are sedentary, it may be a good idea not to overdo it,” Woods says. “Research suggests that unaccustomed strenuous or prolonged exercise might reduce the function of your immune system defences.”
In his own studies on mice, Woods showed that if animals previously infected with a virulent strain of influenza jogged at a gentle pace for about 30 minutes a day over several weeks, they were more likely to survive than rodents that ran for up to two and a half hours daily, although the difference in death rate was marginal. “Moderate exercise is generally beneficial to the immune system,” Campbell says. “Just don’t overdo it if you are not used to it.”
Wipe down your home gym equipment
Gyms are a hotbed of germs, with shared equipment harbouring millions of bacteria that thrive in moist, sweaty environments. Your home workout equipment is not immune from risk, and if you have dumbbells, kettlebells and other home gym equipment, sensible precautions apply, particularly if you share them with others in your household.
Rub a sanitising wipe over gym accessories, including yoga mats, and wash your hands before using them. Wipe the seat and handlebars of treadmills and exercise bikes - in one test they came out worst in terms of the number of viable bacteria cells they harboured, although free weights weren’t too far behind. Don’t work out if you feel unwell, and keep windows open for ventilation.
The Times
Additional reporting by Glynis Traill-Nash