Hello and thanks for stopping by at greene edition in these scary times for some thoughts about exercise and its impact on our immune system.
The immune system does a remarkable job of defending us against disease-causing microorganisms. But sometimes it fails: A germ invades successfully and makes us sick. It is possible to intervene in this process and boost your immune system. Diet, lifestyle and supplement take a role, but exercise also does.
Regular exercising is one of the pillars of healthy living. It improves cardiovascular health, lowers blood pressure, helps control body weight, and protects against a variety of diseases. Keeping up regular, daily exercise at a time when much of the world is going into isolation will play an important role in helping to maintain a healthy immune system.
Does Exercise Help or Hurt Your Immune System?
When people think about exercising in order to help themselves be healthier, they are usually thinking about it in the context of weight loss and improved cardio health and fitness. As good as that may be, there is another component of exercise that you should think about: your immune system.
Exercising can actually directly improve your immune system in a few ways, meaning that while you lose weight you are also helping prevent yourself from getting sick. The first thing that exercise does to help prevent disease is raise your body’s temperature.
If you have exercised in the past, you have surely noticed that you get hot during a workout, as your blood is rushing faster and harder through your body. In some cases, this can be similar to a light fever, killing off certain diseases that are trying to get a foothold in your body.
Getting warm and sweaty is a quick way to burn some calories and to kill off some nasty bacteria. In a similar sense, getting your blood pumping adds another benefit. Your blood contains white blood cells, which are the cells responsible for fighting bacteria and diseases when they find them.
When you work out and really get your blood flowing faster, you have a better chance of your white blood cells picking up on a disease somewhere in your body, meaning that it will be caught sooner rather than later.
By catching it earlier, your body can more effectively attack the infection. The heavy breathing associated with cardio can help rid your respiratory system of unwanted bacteria.
While you are calmly breathing as you do normally, any bacteria that have found their way in there can sort of settle in. However, by getting your lungs working hard doing cardio, they have a lower chance of being able to establish themselves and give you a cough.
While exercise is beneficial to your immune system, this doesn’t mean that you suddenly have to become a gym rat just to stay healthy. You can reap the benefits of exercise on your immune system by simply going on a brisk walk or jog every day or so.
You don’t have to go running a marathon, just a quick 15-20 minute fast walk is sufficient. In some cases, people can overwork themselves to the point that they actually end up compromising their immune systems more than they help them, so just take it lightly.
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