Introduction
Anyone who regularly does sports gets used to the recurring stress and strain over time and does not want to do without it under any circumstances. This willingness is even more pronounced among competitive athletes. Especially in the transitional seasons, such as spring and autumn, it can happen that athletes catch a cough while doing sports. Now the question of how to proceed arises for many. Should a break be taken, or is it possible to do the usual amount of sport with a cold?
Is it allowed to do sports with a cough?
When you have caught a cough, many athletes ask themselves whether they want to cure it or whether they can simply continue with their sports activities. Coughing is a defence mechanism of the human body, which is supposed to expel mucus, foreign bodies or dust. Above all, the respiratory tract is cleaned and freed by the cough.
However, coughing has another function. It is a symptom of various diseases such as a cold, whooping cough, bronchitis or asthma. Since an athlete does not always notice directly whether the cough is only a protective mechanism or a symptom of an illness, this should always be clarified with a doctor.
The doctor will identify the cause of the cough and at the same time can give advice on whether or not to continue with the sport:
- If the cough is only a protective mechanism of the body, then you may continue with the sport. However, it is advisable to reduce the intensity slightly during the next one to three sports sessions to be on the safe side and not to overload the body.
- However, if the cough is a symptom of an illness, the doctor’s advice should definitely be followed. Depending on the underlying disease, the pause should be shorter or longer.
What are the risks of doing sports with a cough?
Anyone who ignores all warnings from their own body, from the doctor or from friends and acquaintances, and despite an illness with a cough, continues to do the usual amount of sport, exposes themselves to a certain risk. Due to the strain of sports activities, the cough can become chronic and thus remain acute for much longer. A chronic cough is also much more difficult to cure than a “normal” cough.
Depending on how severe the cough is, the health can be put at risk by continuing the sport. The illness, such as a cold or bronchitis, can become worse because the body does not have enough energy to fight it due to the high stress. The healing process is prolonged and the cough can be delayed.
Especially in combination with a cold, the mixture of coughing and sports activities can in rare individual cases lead to heart muscle inflammation. If recognized too late, an inflammation of the heart muscle can, in exceptional cases, also lead to death. However, an athlete would have to ignore all the body’s warning signals to get to this point. and symptoms of myocarditis
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