“Sickness rates on record” was the recent title of the health insurance company AOK in its current absenteeism report. Between January and August 2024 alone, as many people were sick as in the entire previous year – and the waves of illness in autumn and winter were still pending. Annoying for employers. Annoying for those affected. And annoying when the sporting form was just right. Because being sick means rest.

Or maybe not? Is a little exercise perhaps good when your neck starts to hurt? Can you “sweat out” the onset of a cold, as we often hear, and be fit again more quickly for work and pleasure or the upcoming sporting challenge?