Tomorrow morning I get my second Moderna shot. On the day of my first shot I felt fine and went hiking and had a grand time. On the day after the first shot I felt tired and went to bed early, and my arm had a little soreness.
Many find a bigger reaction to the second.
The thing is, my weekly hiking engagement happens to fall 30 hours after the second shot. If I feel so bad that I don’t want to go, I won’t. But my question is: if I feel somewhat bad but push myself to go because I really want to, will I in any way reduce the immunity I gain? Will I make it harder for my immune system to do what I want it to?
I’ve read that NSAIDs are a bad idea because in reducing inflammation they reduce the immune system response, thereby reducing the immunity gained. So, I’m opting out of taking any. But it makes me wonder what other little effects one’s behavior after a shot might have.
I’ll also point out that while it is recommended that you NOT “pre-medicate” with NSAIDS prior to getting the vaccine shot(s), if you do experience significant fever or body aches or headache as a side effect it’s fine to take a normal dose at that point as, very clearly, your immune system is reacting just fine.
I think I would take a lower level of exercise, nor for the blood clot issue but as a general matter, any infection - or rather immune reaction to infection just puts the heart under more stress than necessary.
Why do that when it isn’t an emergency - always another time. I’m virtually the same age as you and I’ve found it just takes longer to recover from any exercise that you are not fully fit enough to participate with ease.
If on the other hand you find that you can do your trek pretty much easily without pressing hard I would say your body is acclimatised to that level of effort, just don’t go for extending yourself.
If all you’re concerned about is vaccine effectiveness, then based on some studies, it appears unlikely that exercise post-vaccine will decrease effectiveness, and in fact might even increase it.
If you feel like crap after the shot, then exercise might not affect vaccine effectiveness, but it could be bad in other ways and is probably best avoided.
Overall, the historical data does not appear to indicate that physical training undertaken around the time of vaccination will reduce efficacy, and could in fact improve vaccination response.
There is a point at which exercise starts to depress the immune system rather than increase it. Most people don’t exercise to that level, you’d have to do something pretty intense.
Probably best not to rush out and do a marathon or Iron Man just after you get the vaccination. Especially if you’re feeling significant side effects from the shot like fever or severe body aches. Not everyone gets that, but some do.
But if you’re used to doing a certain amount of hiking every week, as the OP states, then you’re probably just fine doing it after a vaccination.
For what it’s worth, a couple weeks ago half of our MLB team got their second shot one day then played the next day, and the same went for the rest of the team a day later.
These people are really expensive assets and their really expensive medical team thought it was fine for them to exercise within 24 hours.
I just saw a feature on the news, yesterday or day before, saying research showed being in a good mood, or exercise, each increase immune response when getting the vaccine.
(Sorry, I wasn’t paying close enough attention to say where the study was out of!)
Thank you everybody! I now feel encouraged to enjoy my hiking as much as I feel like! What I’m used to is 1 or 2 hikes a week, 4 to 7 miles of hilly trails. My most excellent hiking partner is choosing a course with lots of options for making the hike longer or shorter. It’s as friendly a hike as I can get! And I got that shot about 90 minutes ago, so we’ll see…
FWIW, I got my 2nd dose on Friday 2pm-ish, went home and finished work, then went for an easy 18 mile bike ride in the evening before dinner and felt fine. Mind you, I only had a sore arm after the 1st dose, so I thought it would be OK. Also, I do this workout several times each week. Result: no issues that day or the next, but the 2nd day after the 2nd shot I was feeling a bit tired but not overly so, so just took the day off from any workouts.
I am not concerned at all with effectiveness of my 2nd shot. I eventually was going to start working-out again - the sooner the better IMHO. However, I agree with the thinking if you don’t feel great maybe just take a break.
For me, side effects didn’t start up until 12-16 hours after I got the shot. There is a bit of lag time.
I’ve largely been going by advice giving by folks like the American Heart Association:
Their recommendations are, basically, light symptoms above the neck it’s OK, but with symptoms below the neck like chest congestion, upset stomach, or fever you should take a break from exercise.
The Mayo clinic gives similar advice:
Now, if there has been some recent research indicating otherwise these organizations may not have caught up with it yet.
Fingers crossed here! It’s 22 hours right now and I feel like going - not 100%, but other than the arm soreness, close. If I still feel pretty good in another 8 hours, I will be VERY happy!
In any case, I’m fully vaccinated now except for the last 2 week passive waiting period. So I guess I’m very happy either way.