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ucsdstaff t1_j177vfw wrote

Reply to comment by Scooted112 in Physical activity before COVID-19 infection is associated with less severe outcomes. In a study of 194,191 adults with COVID-19, those who were consistently inactive were 191% more likely to be hospitalized and 391% more likely to die than those who were consistently active. by glawgii

I wonder if you were too active? The study defines high exercise as over 150 minutes a week. That's laughable for active people. I've heard references to the J shaped curve for exercise. Too little really bad, but too much can also have problems. Your 42 miles a week probably hits 400 minutes. On top of other activities maybe too much? Do you have a Garmin? Does it tell you to rest more?

Alternatively, the exercise effect is still a numbers game. Some folks still were hospitalized and died even with high exercise. You were just unlucky.

Regardless, hope you get better soon.

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Scooted112 t1_j17apb8 wrote

Thanks for your thoughts. I feel better now, but it was night and day the impact it had.

I don't feel I was too active. On rest days I would rest.

In general the vast majority of my workouts were zone 2 baseline training, rather than higher intensity workouts. I much prefer low and slow to build endurance for other sports. Occasionally when recommended by Garmin I will throw in an anerobic/threshold workout, but typically focus heavily on base load. I also train by heart rate rather than pace to ensure I don't overextend myself.

For an example - my "fitness" on training peaks is 38, and my Garmin load is ~450/week.

I am also quite sedintary most of the time (office job and likes reading/gaming/tv) so it is important I try to fit that much activity into my week.

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uninstallIE t1_j17tz65 wrote

Do you have any evidence that there is any exercise threshold, beyond say individuals sessions done to total physical collapse that may temporarily weaken the immune system, worsens the experience of covid?

I think it's more likely to say that there are outliers to norms, and that this person likely would have been worse off if they exercised less.

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ucsdstaff t1_j19n1j8 wrote

https://peterattiamd.com/jamesokeefe/

This is the podcast where i heard the expression:

"The danger in excessive exercise—a reverse J-shaped mortality curve [21:15]"

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HonestIbrahim t1_j19q1zs wrote

Thanks for sharing this. I’m in the “long covid” club despite mild acute covid infections. My pre covid exercise was pretty intense. BJJ 3-4 days a week and strength training 5 days per week… I was definitely overdoing it and tried to resume that activity immediately following my initial covid infection. Health just kept slipping downhill from there. Cardio was awful so I just kept pushing harder, trying to get back to where I was previously. Never thought exercise could be making me worse. Very tough lesson to learn.

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Tacos_truck t1_j1a7c11 wrote

400 minutes a week is less than an hour a day. I’d be very surprised if that’s “too active” for the average human body

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ucsdstaff t1_j1agdeg wrote

For sure, but if that is baseline and there are other activities.

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