Your body works hard to help you feel better when you get sick. The reason why you feel body aches when you’re fighting off an illness is due to a process called inflammation. When your body encounters a virus, it activates your immune system and sends out inflammatory cells and cytokines to fight it. The attacking cells work to fight the virus and heal any damaged tissue, which can result in pain, swelling and redness. The type of inflammation that occurs when you’re sick is called acute inflammation. Acute inflammation is the body’s natural response to a virus or injury, but chronic inflammation is when your body continuously sends inflammatory cells and damages cells that help your body. Chronic inflammation is much more serious, but the risk of getting it can be reduced through healthy lifestyle habits. When your body is fighting a virus, you may either experience myositis (muscle inflammation and weakness) or myalgia (joint and muscle pain). There is no cure for the flu or cold, but there are treatments that can help most symptoms subside with time. The pain that you feel is caused by your body’s immune response instead of the virus itself, so body aches and pains should start to go away once the body fights off the infection.