Rest period: If you have taken antibiotics, you should wait a few days before your first exercise session. (Source: Tobias Hase/dpa-tmn-bilder)
Antibiotics help fight germs. But even if you feel better quickly, it’s better to wait a while before exercising. But for how long?
Anyone taking antibiotics should avoid sporting activities during this period – and take a break afterwards. The internist and cardiologist Heribert Brück advises this. “The drug itself works against the germs. But the body also needs a lot of energy to cope with the inflammatory processes that occur,” he explains. Sport robs him of the strength he needs .
How long should you avoid exercise?
Even after you stop taking it, a certain period of rest is recommended. How long this lasts depends, among other things, on the illness. According to Brück, if you have a urinary tract infection , you could definitely start exercising again two to three days after you stop taking the medication.
“If you have taken antibiotics because of pneumonia or purulent tonsillitis , for example, I would be more careful,” says the doctor and press spokesman for the Federal Association of Resident Cardiologists. He would recommend a rule that is also recommended for fever and says: For every day of fever, take a day off. Transferred to antibiotics: For each day of intake, after the end, take a break for one day.Anyone who has taken antibiotics for a week should wait another week before slowly starting to exercise again. “It’s really important to start very carefully and not at the level you had before,” emphasizes Brück. After a bacterial illness like this, the body needs time to get back to normal.