Being diagnosed as HIV positive is tough. While advances in medication have meant that it is no longer necessarily a life-threatening virus, diagnosis can still result in substantial health, financial and social implications.

According to GMFA, the gay men's health charity, taking control of your general day-to-day health will give you the best chance of living healthily with HIV. GMFA’s work with HIV positive people has shown that a healthy lifestyle can help to keep your immune system strong, improve your mental health and enable you to maintain your quality of life.

‘If you are HIV positive participating in sport might be a challenge but one worth tackling and not just for your physical health’, suggests Nicholas Rose, a consultant counsellor and psychotherapist based at The Westover Clinic in West London.

‘There is a proven physiological link between exercise and psychological well-being. However a great benefit of sport is its potential for providing something in common with others; in other words a reason for being with others. We are social beings so opportunities that facilitate the use of our social potential are key to good mental health.

‘One of the problems with being HIV positive can be that the persons’ anxiety about finding a way to live with the condition leads them to make incorrect assumptions about what they can and cannot do. I always recommend taking time to identify and challenge these, for example, a popular wrong assumption is that someone who is HIV positive cannot play team sports such as football. In reality people living with HIV can and do play football.’

Garry Brough, from sexual health charity Terrence Higgins Trust, agrees: ‘Often people living with HIV are worried about joining a new gym or a sports club as they don’t want to disclose their status. The reality is that there is no obligation to disclose whether you are HIV positiver unless this may impact on your exercise or sport.

‘However if you are confident that you are dealing with fitness professionals that can maintain confidentiality, I would encourage people to share their HIV status so that any exercise or training programme can take into consideration any potential side effects (such as dizziness or tiredness) from your medication.’

Brough, who has been working with Terrence Higgins Trust for the last three years, is a good example of the benefits of exercise for HIV positive people: ‘In 1991, when I was diagnosed, I was 23 and I’d never been to a gym – my main exercise had been dancing on a night out.

‘At that time there wasn’t really any medication available and I was told that I had five years to live. I decided to do everything possible to prolong my life so I stopped drinking, stopped smoking and anything else that might damage my health. In time, as medication became available and my health improved I joined the Positive Health programme at the Central YMCA – this really helped to improve my health and confidence. Since then I’ve gone on to train as a pilates instructor and a personal trainer and I’m in pretty good shape!’

The Positive Health programme is one of the only UK initiatives designed to help HIV positive people increase healthy activity. Positive Health provides exercise options in a non-clinical setting. The 12 week programme includes an initial fitness assessment and an individual exercise plan which could include anything from gym-based resistance training, swimming and exercise classes. Importantly, Positive Health’s activities include a strong focus on interaction and social inclusion – helping participants to build support networks and self-confidence.

One of the must successful elements of Positive Health’s programme is the swimming group. Led by coaches Hilary Fassnidge and Martin Purcell, the work of the Positive Health Swim Group was recently recognised by the Amateur Swimming Association (the governing body for the sport in England). The ASA’s national awards in November 2011 selected Positive Health’s swim group as ‘Community Project of the Year’ for inspiring people to use swimming as an effective exercise.

For Fassnidge, who has been working with Positive Health for four years, seeing the personal benefits for participants in the programme is the reward: ‘We see great changes in our swimmers over the weeks, particularly so with those newly diagnosed, who are not in a very good place. As well as exercise, swimming gives them confidence – this is something they can do, and do well, and learn to do better.’

Fassnidge confirms the importance of the social aspect of the programme: ‘The swim group meets after the sessions for coffee and a chat. As well as giving us the opportunity to talk about swimming, it also give everyone an opportunity to talk freely and safely about problems they have as a result of having HIV – doctors, clinics, medication, side effects, etc.’

A number of swimmers with the Positive Health programme have progressed to join masters swimming clubs, competing in events and winning medals – a further boost to self-esteem.

Fassnidge believes that, for HIV positive people, participating in sport is not just about improving health and fitness ‘it’s also another step in helping people to take back control of their lives.’

Community groups are also make an important contribution: Gay aquatics club Out To Swim manages the Graham Pearlman bequest, providing financial support for HIV positive swimmers. Graham Pearlman died in 2007 but his bequest is helping people to maintain their health by participating in sport – paying the cost of training fees or being part of competitive events.

You can also find a range of information about health and fitness on the MyHIV website.

According to THT’s Garry Brough, advances in medication mean that people living with HIV can look as fit and as healthy as anyone else: ‘With today’s obsession with body image, somehow HIV has become a little invisible – it’s off the radar to a certain extent, but we can’t afford to be complacent.’