EXERCISING CAUTION AGAINST GYM GERMS
Workout facilities are teeming with bacteria, but you can avoid the risks
After swimming one day at the Chelsea Recreation Center in New York, Allison Goldstein noticed that the walls in the shower were starting to buckle inward. “It looked like a giant air bubble was pushing out of the wall,” she said. “Over time, the section where the wall met the ceiling started to peel back, and lo and behold, there was some delicious-looking brown and black sludge back there.”
Granted, this is an extremely visual example of the grossness that can grow in gyms. But studies have found that the surfaces of treadmills, weight machines and other typical gym equipment are teeming with bacteria and other infectious germs.
If asked where you’re most likely to encounter infectious agents such as staphylococcus (a.k.a. staph, responsible for a range of potentially fatal infections) or salmonella (which infect the intestinal tract), you would probably think of public bathrooms, hospitals or office kitchens.
You might be surprised to learn just how many germs are in gyms.
Consider research published in 2014 on fitness centres in Memphis. Staph bacteria were found on the surface of every piece of exercise equipment tested, including free weights, weight machines, ellipticals, stationary bikes and treadmills. In all, 25 types of bacteria were found in the four gyms tested.
In this study and others, staph stands out as the bacteria with the most potent prevalence-danger combination.
A 2019 study of 16 gyms in northeast Ohio focused on one strain of staph bacteria, S. aureus, and its variant, methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA), which is resistant to antibiotics and is estimated to result in 11,000 deaths a year in the U.S. Of 288 samples taken in the gyms, 38 per cent contained S. aureus. Medicine balls (62.5 per cent), CrossFit boxes (also 62.5 per cent), weight plates (56.3 per cent) and treadmill handles (50 per cent) were the most common sites. Of areas tested, toilet handles had the lowest incidence, 18.8 per cent.
How does bacterial presence in gyms compare to other public settings? “I would say these rates are potentially higher or on par with most surface contamination,” says Mark Dalman of Kent State University, the lead researcher on the Ohio study.
One reason: S. aureus and other bacteria thrive in “warm, moist, nutrient-plenty areas,” Dalman says.
Combine that with their ability to withstand what researchers call “high saline environments” and the rest of us call pools of sweat, and it’s not surprising that bacteria like hanging out in gyms at least as much as exercise addicts do.
But here’s a little perspective: “We are a symbiont of bacteria, fungi and human cells all hanging out together,” Dalman says. Indeed, a third of the population carries S. aureus; most people become aware of it only when their immune system is compromised or they have surgery.
Although a 2006 study found viruses on almost two-thirds of hand-contact surfaces in a military gym, most were rhinovirus, the main source of the common cold.
A Canadian study found that rhinovirus placed on surfaces in a 50 per cent humidity environment (typical for gyms) can begin to disappear within minutes. Combine that with the fact that rhinovirus is usually transmitted person to person, and your chance of catching a cold at the gym is low.
Also, though the high prevalence of bacteria in gyms certainly suggests the possibility of widespread infection, there are no data showing a direct cause-and-effect relationship between gym attendance and illness in individuals, says Nabanita Mukherjee of the University of Memphis, who led the Memphis gym study.
Mukherjee and Dalman agree that a little effort can go a long way toward reducing your risk of infection — and without freaking out so much that you stop going to the gym altogether. For your and others people’s sakes, clean all equipment before and after you use it with the gym’s provided materials, either wipes or sprays.
In the sauna, sit on a (clean!) towel and wear sandals to lower your exposure to others’ dripped sweat. Opt for a dry (low-humidity) sauna if you have a choice.
More steps: Chris Pribish, owner of Momentum Performance and Wellness in South Portland, Maine, encourages his patrons to use the hand sanitizer near the entrance on their way in and out.
As Goldstein’s shower-wall story indicates, the need for vigilance doesn’t stop just because your workout is over. “There is virtually no circulation,” she says of her gym’s locker-room, “so it always feels damp and sticky, and there are perpetually pools of water everywhere on the floor, with globs of hair and other unidentifiable detritus floating in them. I developed a very complex way of putting on pants so as not to ever let them touch the ground.”
Brian Fullem, a sport podiatrist in Clearwater, Fla., says bacterial infection via feet is unlikely unless you have an opening in the skin, such as a blister.
Fungal infections, however, are another matter.
“Fungus needs three things to grow — darkness, warmth and moisture,” he says, making both your workout shoes and a typical gym locker-room perfect environments.
Appropriately enough, tinea pedis, or athlete’s foot, is the most common fungal infection picked up in gyms, according to Fullem.
“It’s a good idea to wear some sort of foot gear at a public pool or locker-room,” he says.
As an extra precaution, apply an over-the-counter antifungal spray to your shoes and feet after gym workouts.
For The Washington Post
Over time, the section where the wall met the ceiling started to peel back, and lo and behold, there was some delicious-looking brown and black sludge ...