In uncommon circumstances, the virus can instantly infect and inflame your ticker. That’s the “myocarditis” you most likely heard of us discuss at first of the pandemic. (However that is tremendous uncommon, particularly in athletes; even within the earlier days of the pandemic, researchers estimated the speed of COVID-related myocarditis to be round 1%, in line with a 2022 assessment and meta-analysis.)

However even when we’re not speaking precise injury, the an infection can nonetheless have an effect on your coronary heart.

“The opposite concern is there can typically be just a few irritability of the center after COVID,” Dr. Erlandson says. “[You] could also be extra prone to have irregular coronary heart price or extra prone to have a fast coronary heart price response with train once you’re nonetheless type of sick or not feeling effectively.” And that may play a job in your efficiency by rising fatigue and reducing endurance—and having all the pieces simply flat-out really feel tougher.

We nonetheless don’t understand how dangerous the combo of exertion and acute COVID is likely to be to your cardiovascular system, says Dr. Erlandson. Like we stated, there’s simply not plenty of information to attract from. Nevertheless, “we’re involved about potential injury to the center or placing somebody prone to going right into a harmful coronary heart rhythm or inflicting extra ache and inflicting signs to last more,” she says.

3. You may stress your system on the very time it wants relaxation.

Each COVID and train—particularly the extraordinary form—individually can improve irritation. This double whammy might, in principle, make restoration from the virus harder, Hector Bonilla, MD, a scientific affiliate professor of medicine-infectious illness at Stanford College and codirector of Stanford’s Put up-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome Clinic, tells SELF.

There’s not sufficient scientific proof to say for certain whether or not exercising intensely with COVID could make you’re feeling worse, sluggish your restoration, or improve your threat of lengthy COVID, which is outlined by signs that persist for at the least three months. However one 2023 assessment in Frontiers in Physiology does counsel that even delicate to average train through the acute levels of COVID might “irritate the inflammatory response and additional worsen the COVID-19 signs.” And based mostly on Dr. Bonilla’s expertise treating sufferers, his recommendation is “don’t add further stress to your physique.”

Whereas typically wholesome folks have a decrease threat of lengthy COVID, Dr. Bonilla says it’s believable stressing your system with laborious train, like a marathon, ultramarathon, or century bike experience, might contribute to lengthy COVID. He has seen some athletes get COVID, get well, after which develop lengthy COVID signs a couple of weeks later once they begin understanding once more.

With all of the unknowns nonetheless on the market with COVID, it’s safer to drag again once you’re sick.

There’s simply not plenty of strong analysis on the market exhibiting that exercising with COVID is protected—not to mention pushing at your max, 100%, win-me-a-medal-please effort.

“I believe anytime we’re sick, we have now to simply give pause,” Dr. Abeles says. This holds much more true you probably have a fever. That ought to be thought of a flat-out dealbreaker, she says.