Vegan Mofo 2.1: Exercise May Reduce Upper Respiratory Infections

This is an interesting article so I wanted to share it. It indicates that people who exercise 5 days a week have 43% fewer days with an upper respiratory infection. Of course this was only for that specific group of 1,002 people and over 12 weeks but it is still impressive.

Here are a few salient points from the article in case you don’t want to follow the link:

The findings are consistent with previous epidemiologic and randomized studies, they wrote. Although the underlying mechanism remains unclear, the relationship might be explained by the effect of exercise on the body's immune response.

"Each aerobic exercise bout causes a transient increase in the recirculation of immunoglobulins and neutrophils and natural killer cells, two cells involved in innate immune defenses. Animal data indicate that lung macrophages play an important role in mediating the beneficial effects of moderate exercise on lowered susceptibility to infection," Nieman and his colleagues wrote.

"Stress hormones, which can suppress immunity, and pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines, indicative of intense metabolic activity, are not elevated during moderate aerobic exercise," they continued.

"Although the immune system returns to pre-exercise levels within a few hours after the exercise session is over, each session may improve immunosurveillance against pathogens that reduce overall upper respiratory tract infection incidence and symptomatology."

I underlined moderate exercise to make certain you didn’t miss that point. According to what I have read why moderate exercise increases the immune system strenuous exercise depresses it. I try to remember that moderate or strenuous is different for everyone depending on their level of conditioning.

I know personally that when I am exercising regularly I also get fewer colds. If exercise alone can have this much impact imagine what a combination of exercise and good nutrition (a healthy vegan diet obviously) can do. It may explain why I haven’t had a cold in the last couple of years.

Happy Tuesday:

It is a cold one this morning, 39 degrees Fahrenheit when I first looked. Clearly I need to wait for my hair to dry completely before walking to the polls this morning.  I haven't missed voting since I turned 18.

Last night I scheduled the first two fur babies for their dental procedures. One of the boys goes this Thursday and the other one next Thursday. Knowing there will be a week of antibiotics after the surgery we decided taking them a week apart was the best plan. For those of you that have cats you know the joys of trying to give them medication. I am really looking forward to that, NOT. ;-)

I will be back later with another post with a recipe. I hope everyone is staying warm.