With the flu including the swine flu ripping through the country many people are looking for ways to boost their immune systems. Did you know that exercise can actually boost your immunity? Studies have concluded that exercise can enhance the immune system.

While researchers haven’t studied exercise and swine flu specifically, they have explored whether physical activity can enhance immunity and combat colds and, to a lesser extent, seasonal flu. Their findings suggest that moderate physical activity can help boost immunity but that extreme exercise can weaken the body’s defenses.

“There is evidence that moderate exercise or physical activity can be beneficial in terms of reducing the incidence and severity of upper respiratory tract infections from all causes,” says Jeffrey Woods, a professor of kinesiology and community health at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “And at least one report … has shown that exercise may be protective against influenza-associated [deaths] in the elderly.”
Woods recently published an article in the journal Exercise and Sport Sciences Reviews that summarized the research to date on the impact of exercise on the common cold and flu.

One study, for instance, followed 547 healthy adults ages 20 to 70 over the course of a year and found that compared with sedentary individuals, those who engaged in moderate to vigorous physical activity reduced their risk of upper respiratory tract infections by almost a quarter.

Don’t overexert yourself

That being said you don’t want to overdo it either, in fact those people who train extremely hard, to the point of overtraining, or who compete in grueling endurance events such as marathons, might actually be more susceptible to respiratory infections, at least temporarily.

In fact if you feel a cold coming on it best to stay away from cardiovascular workouts until you start feeling better. If you jump back in too quickly you might actually relapse back into your cold.

Who’s most at Risk?

If it’s healthy and fit people will recover more quickly from flu, is it also correct to think that unhealthy people might be more susceptible? Perhaps, some doctors feel that the obese seem more at risk for flu-related pneumonia and other complications and slower recoveries, says Dr. William Schaffner, chair of the department of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University in Nashville.

Exercise should never replaces proper medical care, but in this day and age of the super bug shouldn’t we doing everything we can to boost up our naturally immunity?

Give us a call today to see how you can get yourself into the best shape of your life!