Health and fitness: Something for the weakend

You've struggled through the week, meeting impossible deadlines, and now is your chance to relax.

But what happens? You realise you're not only tired, but ill. The cold you've been warding off for days grabs you by the throat and the weekend passes in a haze of paracetemol. It's as if you've given yourself permission to be ill.

Can we really affect the onset of illness like this? Research in the past ten years has shown that there are indeed chemical links between the brain, the nervous system and the immune system, but exactly how it all fits together is unknown.

''It's very difficult to design experiments to test the hypothesis that our state of mind impacts on the immune system," says Simon Carding, professor of molecular immunology at Leeds University.

What we do know is that stress can eventually suppress the immune system. It's all a question of bodily priorities. Sometimes our defence against disease takes a back seat to more important functions, like fighting or running away.
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As Robert Sapolsky, professor of biology and neurology at Stanford University, says in his classic 'Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers', if a tornado is approaching the house, you don't worry about repainting the garage.

If that's the case, though, why don't you get ill during the period of stress itself, when you're up all night nursing a child through a fever, or burning the midnight oil to finish a report? It may be, says Professor Ron Eccles, director of the Common Cold Centre at Cardiff University, that symptoms of illness are appearing, but we're too busy to take them seriously. ''You've got a bit of a sore throat, but you're so engrossed you don't notice it." Our emotional state has a huge impact on the way we perceive the severity of our symptoms.

Remember, too, that the horrible, gloopy cold symptoms we all know and love - runny nose, phlegm-filled cough - are the immune system's response to invasion. You may not have noticed the moment when defences were breached, but you will be horribly aware of the messy microbial battle that follows.

What's also possible at this time of year, as we huddle together in the warm, humid conditions that germs adore, is that the cold you successfully warded off when you were engrossed in your deadline isn't the same as the one that now has you wrapped round a beaker of Lemsip. You may have fought off Cold A, but after your stress-filled week of sleepless nights and missed meals, you have succumbed to Cold B.

As Tracy Hussell, professor of respiratory immunology at Imperial College, says, ''People often view their immune system as not having to make a great effort unless there's a particular problem. But you have to expend a huge amount of energy just to keep it topped up or on a level par." Create a chink in the armour by not looking after yourself and you're much more susceptible to infection.

On a psychological level, collapsing in a heap after a period of stress makes perfect sense. It's as if, after all that overload, the fuse blows. ''You need a break," says Cary Cooper, professor of organisational psychology and health at Lancaster University. 'It's burn-out.'

Rest and recuperation can mean renewed creativity. Gladstone, according to AN Wilson in 'The Victorians' (Arrow Books, £10.99), used periods of physical illness as a time of preparation for immense outpourings of energy. His political opponents must have been on tenterhooks when he took to his bed with lumbago.

Our curious habit of succumbing to illness once the pressure's off - a phenomenon well-known to students struggling through the last exam - is particularly interesting to Professor Ad Vingerhoets from Tilburg University in the Netherlands.

He has coined the term 'leisure sickness' to describe the way we fall ill at weekends or on holiday. Perhaps, he says, we're simply reacting physically to the changes we make when we're not in the nine-to-five routine - more or less sleep, more alcohol, less coffee. Perhaps we don't adapt quickly enough to the sudden loss of external pressure and, like an elephant on a seesaw, suddenly crash to earth.

But it's also possible, he says, that we're escaping into illness to avoid the weekend duties we don't really enjoy. After all, if you spend your week as a deskbound high-flyer with shedloads of responsibility, hours of unstructured activity (particularly the chaos that surrounds childcare) can be slightly overwhelming. The headache, the aching limbs, the exhaustion are all genuine. But maybe, just maybe, illness is the way our poor beleaguered minds make sure we finally take time off.

How to avoid weekend illness

Eat well, sleep well and exercise during the week

Resist impossible deadlines. Putting your body through long-term stress reduces your immunity

Take symptoms of illness seriously. Otherwise you're just storing up problems for later

Don't fill your days off with duty and DIY. The weekend is for pleasure.

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