Have you ever felt like exercising is just NOT for you, only to be told that you’re lazy? Ever been so out of breath after a workout that you genuinely felt like you were going to die? 😰 Well, you may not be far off!
Yes, it is ACTUALLY possible to be allergic to exercise. And though it sounds like a BS excuse to get out of gym class 🤥, in certain cases, a sweaty workout may even be enough to kill you! Exercise-induced anaphylaxis is a rare disorder in which anaphylaxis (i.e, an allergic reaction) occurs after physical activity. The symptoms can range from hives, fainting, vomiting to diarrhea, hypotension and even serious difficulty breathing. 😳 For some people, it can even be triggered by eating certain food before exercise, like peanuts, eggs, shellfish, or even celery.
How is this possible? Well, as you exercise and your heart rate speeds up, your blood starts rushing through your organs a lot faster than it normally does. 😯 And every time your blood travels through your stomach, it picks up the food that you’ve digested previously with it. As you can imagine, due to its speed, the blood takes up food bits at a higher rate than it normally would.
& for those with exercise-induced anaphylaxis, the extra food bits that their blood picks up are what causes the allergic reaction. Nevertheless, even if you are diagnosed with the allergy, swimming is the one and only form of exercise that has never caused a bad reaction 🏊♀️
However, your chances of having a valid reason to laze away are actually still pretty low. 🤦♀️ Since the 1970s, only 1,000 cases of exercise-induced anaphylaxis have been recorded. And among those cases, one death. Sadly enough, most medical experts recommend picking a less stressful workout rather than putting an end to the exercise altogether. 😭 A cooler place for exercise could also help prevent the allergic reaction. Since serious side effects are rare, experts believe that most individuals tend to dismiss exercise-induced anaphylaxis as normal effects of a workout and it often goes undiagnosed. 😮 So if you start to feel irritated or uncomfortable during a workout, you may want to watch out; Exercise truly is the mother of all evil. 😡
Written and Researched by Najah Bashir
