Thursday, January 27, 2011

Road Bumps on the Way to Better Health

Our family has recently taken the step of joining a local health organization, which has several benefits.  Chief among them is the opportunity for my husband and I to go swimming a few times a week.  When we first joined at the end of October, we were motivated and found the time to swim about three times a week, which was pretty impressive.  Then my husband fell and sprained his wrist in the great ice storm of November 2010, and a few days later I caught a cold, and suddenly, we were out of the habit of regular exercise.

But after a brief span of backsliding, we determined to get back into the habit, despite the cold weather and our busy schedules.  (my evening work schedule makes scheduling pool time challenging at times.)  I got a bad cold right after Christmas, but I was feeling a bit better after a few days, so we headed back to the "Y" to swim.

The next morning, I was all stuffed up and sneezing again. 

I thought I was suffering a relapse of my cold, and fussed and fumed a bit, and took an antihistamine, which cleared up the problem, but made me feel as if I had been hit over the head with a sledge hammer.

However, I've had the same exact thing happen every single time we've gone swimming. 

Since high school, swimming has been my favorite form of exercise.  I'll admit it has its drawbacks -- especially when it's about 20 below zero.  But I've enjoyed the water ever since lake swimming as a little girl, and when I'm swimming in the pool, I'm only competing with myself.  Unlike most competitive sports, I feel like I'm good at swimming.

(I've also walked for exercise, but plantar faschiatis has cut into that in the last year or so.)

I've spent a couple of middle-of-the-night computer sessions looking into the swimming/sneezing connection, and discovered that I am not alone. 

Some people wear nose clips.
Others rinse with saline.
Some people take an antihistamine.
(I suppose there are others who use a combination of all three solutions.)

I guess that getting healthy is not for sissies, especially if you are over fifty.

1 comment:

Terri said...

I hope you find a solution to your swim/congestion issue so you can really enjoy your exercise. Also, there are treatments for plantar faschitis...deep tissue massage therapy and other approaches to work with the pain and strain...