Exercise and HIV
Exercise cannot control the HIV infection. However, exercise may help you feel better by reducing stress. Exercise may also help your immune system work better.
Exercise:
- Is safe.
- Improves strength and endurance.
- Improves heart and lung fitness.
- May help you feel less tired or fatigued.
- Enhances your sense of well-being.
- May help stabilize or prevent declines in CD4+ cell counts.
Start exercising while you are healthy, and do your best to find new ways to keep yourself motivated to maintain your exercise program.
The ability of a person who has HIV to improve his or her fitness through training is similar to that of a person who does not have HIV. However, people with HIV may find it harder to continue with a training program because of fatigue or muscle wasting.
Participation in competitive sports does not pose a risk of spreading HIV to other athletes or coaches. In sports in which exposure to blood can occur, the risk of spreading HIV is very small. However, if a person (HIV-infected or not) does start to bleed, he or she should be taken out of the game and the wounds should be covered before the person returns to the game.
| Author: | Douglas Dana Maria G. Essig, MS, ELS | Last Updated: October 10, 2007 |
| Medical Review: | Adam Husney, MD - Family Medicine Anne C. Poinier, MD - Internal Medicine W. David Colby IV, MSc, MD, FRCPC - Infectious Disease Peter Shalit, MD, PhD - Internal Medicine | |
 | ||
| |