Flu Shots

If you are young and healthy ... why?

Used to think the same thing until I got the flu a few years ago at age 28. Now I do not miss one. A serious case of the flu will wipe out several weeks worth of good training, there are times when you feel like dying. Besides as high mileage runners, most of us are actually more suseptible to getting sick, than 3 times a week joggers as we stress our body and push it to its limits.

I get one every year. I have small children in the house and everything that goes around ends up on my door step. If I can get a shot to preempt some of this I will definitely do this. For three or four years in a row in February or March I have had to take several weeks off because of flu, strep or some virus going around.

I've had one every year for the last 3-4 years and never had a problem with adverse reactions or anything like that.

I've actually found some interesting research on this topic. Apparently, a serious runner's immune system will be operating at a heightened level due to compensate for the fact that the body is expending a great deal of energy during the riggors of training. the benefit: a healthy, serious runner will enjoy a greater protection against pathogens than the average person assuming the increased nutritional demands are also met. the catch: when a runner takes a break from training, they may be even more susceptable to infectious pathogens than the average person. researchers hypothesize that the immunse system sort of "takes a break" during such periods and effectively lets its guard down. I don't know if this research is definitve, but my own experience certainly corroborates the theory. i can't remember where i saw the article though...

oh yeah, i guess i mean that you probably don't need it.

That was probably a Runnersworld article you read which would be true for the average jogger/recreational runner. Guys and gals practicing the Lydiard high mileage system are actually more likely to "catch something" since their bodies use all its reserves to rebuild muscle/capillaries, etc.

actually the article i was referring to concerned primary immunological research. i'd like to be sure and say that the researchers were from duke university, but i'm really not. my girlfriend's AMSA group discussed it at a meeting a while back...though i must say that the info in the article you mention makes intuitive sense. perhaps nutritional levels in the study i speak of were carefully monitored so as to prevent confounding of the true relationship between a high level of cardiovascular fitness and immunological defense.

This may not be a popular opinion, but here goes: I last got one about 15 years ago and got sick. I'll admit that it was probably not the result of the shot, but it got me thinking, why am I putting some foreign substance in my body when I feel fine? I think for your average couch potato or a senior citizen with a weaker immune system that it is probably a good idea to get the shot, but most people in shape don't need it. In those past fifteen years, I've missed maybe ten days of running due to illness and have not missed a single day of work or school. If I could make an analogy, the flu shot is like those clunky "motion-control" trainers they make for "clydesdale" (i.e., fat) runners. Good idea, but if you train the right muscles in your feet and legs and keep your immune system healthy, you don't need either.