ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT SWIMMING

Swimming Colds and flu

This was written for me by a swimming coach and a very good friend of ours Juicy Lucy from the UK swimclub

It’s that time of year again … Colds and Flu

Do you often catch a cold during periods of training? I’m sure you do. Research has shown that while swimmers who train moderately get fewer viral infections (colds and flu) than non-swimmers, those in heavy training become sick as often as those who don’t train. This is because prolonged workouts suppress certain immune system functions for a period lasting between a few hours and a few days, creating a window of opportunity for viruses to invade the body. While not as directly related to performance as the cardiovascular, metabolic and muscular systems, the immune system is vitally important for every swimmer. When it is weakened, swimmers tend to catch colds and flu, and when they are sick, they cannot train or race optimally, if at all. Fortunately, however, there are several measures you can take to drastically reduce the amount of illness downtime you must endure. The immune system is deeply dependent on dietary nutrients. The best swimmers in the world know that they must eat sensibly. There isn’t a swimmer alive who has achieved at the highest level who doesn’t eat lots of fruit and vegetables. Such a balanced diet will provide all of the immune system-supporting nutrition you need. Go to bed! Sleep is also important for immune system support. Even mild sleep deprivation reduces your effective activity levels. The average person needs eight hours of sleep per night and swimmers in hard training need a little extra. Grant Hackett, Australia’s Olympic 1500m freestyle champion is always in bed by 9.00pm every night. Germ Hygiene Most people think airborne germs are the leading cause of infection. Actually it’s self-inoculation, such as when you grab a germ-infested doorknob and then rub your eye with the same hand. The good news is that self-inoculations is largely avoidable: just keep your hands away from your nose and eyes, and wash them frequently. Use a sports drink You will ask, “How can a sports drink prevent colds and flu in swimmers?” Hard training depletes the body’s stores of glycogen fuel. When this happens, the stress hormone, cortisol, is released in order to breakdown muscle proteins so that their constituent amino acids can be used for energy. Swimmers can greatly reduce exercise-related immune system suppression by consuming a carbohydrate sports drink during and after workouts, thereby slowing glycogen depletion and minimising the release of cortisol and other stress hormones. A second advantage of greater glycogen conservation is, of course, better endurance performance. When you, as a swimmer, become ill, you have two main objectives: recovering quickly and minimising lost training time. Swimming with cold symptoms is not a problem. Head colds generally do not hamper exercise performance significantly and exercise does not increase the duration or severity of colds. However, I would always recommend staying away from the pool until you feel better. Keep those germs to yourself. Don’t feel the need to pass them around. When symptoms move into the chest and lungs, a swimmer needs to be cautious. It is good advice to take a precautionary day off and follow up with a ‘test session’ the next day. When flu symptoms such as fever and body aches are present, don’t exercise at all – you should not resume exercise until a day or two after the symptoms have vanished. This is not what you want to hear, but………your mother knows best. If she tells you to eat sensibly and to get enough sleep, she’s probably right!