*A couple of days ago I had a conversation at the gym with two young men; we were in the sauna and one asked “I wonder if the sauna is good for my fever….” Um…what?!?! I had just seen them both working out in the Fitness Center. In the course of the very brief conversation, it came out that the other young man had only slept two hours the night before. Again…um…what?

I am as much of a workout/gym fanatic as the next guy/gal but there are times when I know I should not be at the gym–if not for my own well-being then for the well-being of others who come to workout to get healthy…not sick!

How do I know when to stay home? If I am contagious or otherwise have what appear to be infectious symptoms, I obviously stay home. Otherwise, usually my body tells me. Sometimes I am just so tired that I cannot drag myself out of bed or off the couch; this is my body telling me that it needs a break. Of course, I cannot do this every day, by every once in a while it does occur.

A recent article on http://www.nbcnews.com focused on times when we should stay home from the gym. SPOILER ALERT!!! Here are the subject headings, but it is worth reading the entire article: 1. When we are really stressed. 2. When we are sleep-deprived. 3. When we are feeling under the weather. 4. When we are really sore. 5. When we’ve just checked a marathon off our bucket list. The author, Stephanie Mansour, goes into depth and explains why we sometimes need to step back in order to be more effective when we step forward again.

Luckily I had read the article before the conversation and I told these two men (politely) that they might want to rethink their decision and wait until they are in the proper shape before they head back to the gym. Give this article a read: https://www.nbcnews.com/better/lifestyle/5-times-when-you-shouldn-t-work-out-ncna1068281–especially the next time you are not sure whether you should give it your all…or give it a rest.