Is there magic in jogging?

[budgiefan]

I've been fighting the symptoms of a chest cold for 7 days now. I said to my wife today "Looks like I've got my annual upper resperatory issue" because it seems like every year for the past ...however many, I've gotten some hacking, coughing, flu/bad cold/pneumonia-like thing that has caused me to go to the doctor and get antibiotics.

She said " you never used to get sick" . She is of course referring to 20 years ago when we first got married. I went about 5 years without getting sick at all - nothing. No cold, no flu, nothing.

The only difference between now and then is that back then I was jogging 3.5 to 5 miles three or four days a week.

That and the fact that I was in my twentys instead of my late 40s.

So, do you think it's the running, or tha aging? Or something else?

[John Peterson]

Hey Budgiefan,

I don't have a definitive answer to your question. But I do remember that back in about 1978 Dr. Hans Selye was quoted in Runners World as saying running/jogging created an artificial fever which he believed prevented disease from taking hold. Was he right? I don't really know but what he said made sense to me. At ant rate, it sure won't hurt anything.

---John Peterson

[Royce]

Speaking from experience, I have to say that I was a lot more prone to sickness when I was jogging. I always found that jogging tended to weaken my immune system.

On the other hand, Qi Gong and self resistance exercises greatly boost the immune system. That is my experience.

I would say more, but I need to get back to work. What a fine sunny day for walk! Unfortunately, I’m stuck with a meeting……………………oh well!

[gruntbrain]

I'd say joint issues presented by jogging/running would be more of a threat; for a strength cardio workout perform upperbody DVRs as you walk.