Gold-medal health

The day after an airplane f light, you’re five times more likely than usual to get sick, and your risk of respiratory or gastrointestinal infection stays elevated for a week. That’s one of the key messages from a detailed analysis of the training and medical records of 37 world-class Norwegian cross-country skiers over a nine-year period, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine by researchers from Loughborough University and the Norwegian Olympic and Paralympic Committee.

Other key danger zones include the days following a race, when infection risk triples. For that reason, lead author Dr. Ida Svensen says, Norwegian athletes are now being advised to avoid heading to the airport immediately after a race whenever possible. Staying an extra night before f lying home should reduce the double impact of f lying when your immune system is still compromised by the stress of racing. Large f luctuations in training load from day to day or week to week were also associated with more sick days.

Does an occasional bout of sniff les or an upset stomach really matter? Among the 37 athletes studied, all of whom were among the best in the world, the 16 athletes who had won individual Olympic or World Championship medals suffered an average of 14 days per year with respiratory or gastrointestinal symptoms. The non-medallists, in contrast, reported 22 days – and that’s not a coincidence, Svensen says. “I think the very best athletes are typically the ones who are most meticulous about pretty much everything – training, sleep, nutrition, hygiene.”