Early Climbers Get The Germ...

Today's big health story is - apparently - that exercising early in the day can erm, 'make you ill' in the words of one web site.

What's really happened is that 'scientists' at Brunel University have conducted tests that show a of the chemical called IgA, which helps protect the against infections, are significantly lower in the morning than later in the day.

Hard training temporaily suppresses the immune system by itself, so the combination could make you more susceptible to infection if you train hard in the morning. In addition, other factors are at work including saliva production, which peaks in the evening and helps protect against infection.

Naturally just about every news medium worth its bacon and eggs has grabbed the story and run it with barely concealed glee, but the really bad news for mountaineers is that the morning effect combined with intense exercise could be made even worse by the documented immunosuppressive effect of high altitude...

So, sounds like a fast moving alpine start at high atltitude could be the worst of all worlds. There is however one saving grace, very few things live successfully at very high altitudes, and that includes micro-organisms.

Of course, the safest course would be to take no exercise at all, cue sigh of relief by corpulent journalists and tabloid readers everywhere...