Regular exercise is good for your immune system-there are some studies that suggest that it may further reduce your risk of developing an upper respiratory tract infection such as a common cold. Even moderate exercise for 30 minutes five times a week is enough to make a profit.
Exercise is good for our immune system, so one might think that exercising when sick can “sweat”. Unfortunately, for the common cold, there is no evidence of exercising when the illness can shorten or reduce the severity of the illness.
There are several reasons why exercise is beneficial to our immune system.
The first may be partially explained by the hormones released when we exercise. These are called catecholamines and are well known as adrenaline and noradrenaline.
These hormones play an important role in the functioning of the immune system by inducing the rapid release of important immune cells that help detect the presence of viruses and other pathogens in the body.
It also increases the migration of immune cells between blood and tissue. This is important because it helps immune cells detect and prevent diseases caused by viruses and other pathogens. Studies show that exercise is one way we can raise the levels of these important hormones in our body.
When we exercise, it also increases blood flow to help our body keep up with the increased demands of exercise. This increase in blood flow puts a great deal of stress on the blood vessels, releasing specific immune cells called natural killer cells and T cells sleeping on the walls of the blood vessels. Both natural killer cells and T cells play important roles in killing virus-infected cells.
Exercise may also help fight infections in other ways.
For example, older people who exercise regularly for a month have been shown to heal faster skin wounds than non-exercise controls. This faster healing process reduces the risk of viruses and bacteria entering the body through wounds on the skin.
All of these mechanisms, together, have the potential to improve our immune system and reduce the risk of getting sick from a viral infection. You don’t have to go to the gym regularly to see the benefits.
Three studies show that non-exercise people who regularly start walking actively for 40-45 minutes, 5 days a week, have 40-50% less symptoms of upper respiratory tract infections compared to controls. I did.
Despite the benefits of exercising on our immune system, it is difficult to know if exercising while you have a cold will help you overcome your illness faster than if you did not.
Currently, no studies have investigated this. This is mainly because of how difficult it is to carry out this type of research. Mainly because some of the participants need to be intentionally infected with the virus in order to compare whether exercise affects them. Not only is this difficult to do, it can also be unethical.
So why is exercise good for the immune system, but why does exercising when sick not improve the immune system’s response to infection?
Now, it’s important to remember that exercise can be stressful to the body. This stress can reduce the ability of immune cells to respond to pathogens. This can be partly due to the fact that the body needs more oxygen and stored energy (in the form of glucose) when we exercise-our immune cells too. You need to help fight the virus.
If the body is fighting an existing infection and is exposed to exercise stress, this may not benefit the immune response.
However, there is currently no evidence that exercising when you have a cold can cure your cold faster, but that doesn’t mean you can’t exercise if you want. If your symptoms are primarily above your neck (such as a runny nose or stuffy nose), start by exercising at a lower intensity than usual to check your mood. If you feel okay, you can gradually increase the strength.
However, if exercising makes you feel sick, take a break. Exercise is also not recommended if you are experiencing fever, skeletal muscle pain, or vomiting.
If you want to exercise when you are sick, be careful, especially if you are exercising around other people. Colds are infectious, so it may be best to skip the gymnasium and exercise outdoors or at home to avoid catching a cold.
Regular exercise is an excellent way to help stimulate the immune system to fight various types of infections, including common colds and possibly COVID-19. But don’t think you need to exercise if you’re sick.
The best treatment for a cold is to take a rest, rehydrate, and take pain-relieving medications as needed. 
John Huff, Senior Lecturer of Exercise Physiology, Nottingham Trent University.
This article has been republished from Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Please read the original article.
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