Exercise Helps Keep Sickness at Bay

According to the results of a new study, maintaining a good level of physical fitness will reduce the chances that an individual has of falling sick due to a cold. The United States study was published in Tuesday’s issue of the British Journal of Sports Medicine, and followed 1,002 adults up to the age of 85.

The participants in the study were asked to report on how often they got aerobic exercise equivalent to the exertion of a brisk walk. The results reported that the participants who got aerobic exercise five days a week or more, spending at least 20 minutes on each exercise session, had more than a 40 percent reduction in days they were sick, when compared to the participants in the study that averaged one day of exercise a week or less. Study participants that did fall ill had much serious upper respiratory track infections, by up to 32 percent.

“Among the various demographic and lifestyle factors evaluated in this study of 1,002 men and women, perceived fitness and exercise frequency ranked second only to older age in the magnitude of reduction of days with [upper respiratory tract infections] during the winter and fall seasons,” wrote the study’s authors.

Participants were asked about their lifestyles, diets, and any recent stressful events. These factors can have a large impact on how well one’s immune system works. The study’s authors concluded that exercise reduced stress, helped the participants sleep better, and caused more immune cells to circulate through the body. As a result, there were more immune cells to fight off viruses that might otherwise have made the participants ill.

“You just have a better capability to detect pathogens and kill them, and then that adds up over time to reducing illness rates,” said study author David Nieman.

The effect of exercise on the immune system lasts only a few hours; the authors suggest this may be why the benefit was only noticeable in participants who exercised at least five days per week.

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