In Sickness or in Health

It's OK to exercise at a moderate intensity if your symptoms are above the neck--runny nose, sneezing, or throat-- reports IronmanLive.com. But "if you have below-the-neck symptoms--chills, fever of 100 degrees or higher, diarrhea, hacking cough, muscle aches or vomiting--take time off to let your body recover."

In a study at Ball State, 50 healthy students were given an upper-respiratory virus. Half then were completely sedentary, while the others exercised at a moderate pace for 40 minutes a day. After 10 days, there were no differences between the groups. The conclusion: exercise didn't speed or slow recovery.

Who volunteers to be injected with an upper respiratory virus?