In this week's episode, Brad speaks to the large body of research that has been done in the exercise immunology field and the great promise the field has to uncover with future research focal points. He highlights Dr. Richard Simpson PHD's article Titled: Exercise, Immunity, and the COVID-19 Pandemic. Dr. Simpson’s research interests are concerned with the effects of aging, stress and exercise on the immune system. He is an associate professor in the Departments of Nutritional Sciences, Pediatrics and Immunobiology at the University of Arizona.
You can read it in it's entirety here. https://www.acsm.org/blog-detail/acsm-blog/2020/03/30/exercise-immunity-covid-19-pandemic.
It is a good read that lays out in layman's terms the impact that exercise has on our immune function.
Simpson writes in his blog, "Having higher age and sex-adjusted scores for cardiorespiratory fitness and performing regular exercise of moderate- to vigorous-intensity exercise that fall within ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine) guidelines has been shown to improve immune responses to vaccination, lower chronic low-grade inflammation, and improve various immune markers in several disease states including cancer, HIV, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cognitive impairment and obesity. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has raised a lot of questions regarding how exercise can protect us from infection by boosting immunity.”
The blog also goes on to highlight: “Compounding this problem are the known negative effects of social isolation and confinement on immunity. Glucocorticoids such as cortisol are elevated during periods of isolation and confinement and can inhibit many critical functions of our immune system. When we are stressed, the ability of our T-cells to multiply in response to infectious agents is markedly reduced, as is the ability of certain effector lymphocytes (e.g., NK-cells and CD8+ T-cells) to recognize and kill cells in our body that have become cancerous or have been infected with viruses. It is also vitally important that our immune cells maintain their ability to redeploy so that they may ‘patrol’ vulnerable areas in or body (e.g., the upper respiratory tract and the lungs) to prevent viruses and other pathogens from gaining a foothold. This process is also important to minimize the impact of the virus and to expedite viral resolution should we become infected.
Brad gives tips to improving your cardiorespiratory fitness by getting your heart rate within 50-65% of your target heart rate max for 30-45 minutes for 3-5x/wk if not all days. If you are not sure how to calculate this, see the SportSquire Episode, The Benefits of Training Within Your Different Target Heart Rates.
Brad continues to encourage the SportSquire Community to explore, engage, and learn as this is foundational to empowering real behavioral change on your wellness journey. He encourages those who are interested to look into some of the scholarly articles to read about the progressive research findings specifically related to Exercise Immunology.
I hope you find this as a PROACTIVE tool during this time and meet your knowledge with your action! Be well!
