Exercise your Immunity

Exercise Immunity.

Both a label and an instruction.

But why? Well, why not?

We are hearing so much about immunity these post Covid days, and even before Covid, but that message is even more important now.

It is probably best to describe what immunity is, how it works and why we need it. Do not worry, this is not a biology lesson, nor will it become technical. Afterward, you will learn how your immunity is very dependent on exercise and why you should exercise your choice to exercise toward an improved immune system throughout your life.

Basically, immunity is what the body does to recognise threats to our health from foreign invaders and then to either control or fight off those invaders. The word immunisation (which is based on the word immunis, which means not susceptible or exempt) is used where various techniques are used to artificially stimulate our body machinery to be sensitive to a threat before that threat is present in a more dangerous way. Immunisation is a heads up pre-warning which helps boost our defence system.

Good, that bit is out of the way.

We have all had immune systems, first borrowed from our mothers, until we develop our own. During early childhood our developing immune systems become stronger when we are exposed to the world’s bugs, dirt and challenges, often assisted further by immunisation.

.With some exceptions (that may be understood and to be mentioned a little later on), those most susceptible to the more serious effects of Covid-19 are the elderly, and younger people with other health conditions. These groups are often mentioned in reports as those having co-morbidities, which means they have multiple health issues.

Let’s dig down a little more.

If somebody has an illness, they generally consider themselves to be less fit. In fact, the very thing that alerts most people to seek a medical opinion is that they do not feel like they used to in some way. If they are already diagnosed with a problem and begin to feel more unwell, the medical assessments may discover more problems unrelated to the first diagnosis. The more illness we have, the more likely we become susceptible to a collection of problems.

Often, an inflammatory response occurs in our bodies. Inflammation can be a positive thing if it happens in the short term, however, it becomes a negative if it hangs around for a long time. Short term (around 6 weeks) is referred to as an acute response, and longer term (six months) is designated as chronic. Some experts believe that most serious disease is due to chronic inflammation.

Now we are getting somewhere

One of the ways our immune system fights disease is to create short term inflammation, and another way is to increase the body temperature. An acute inflammation is present during healing and an increase in body temperature assists in killing bugs we may have before they overload us.

Exercise Immunity

We have arrived. Physical exercise, surprise surprise, when undertaken in a progreesive way stimulates and strengthens our immune system.

If you have ever exercised, you may remember a day or two later, the exercised area was a bit sore. This is called DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness). As it turns out, the exercise causes your muscles and circulatory system (veins and arteries) to rebuild themselves. Part of the DOMS soreness is acute inflammation – the good type of inflammation.

What is really clever, and fairly recently discovered, is that the overall effect of exercise is that it decreases the bad type of bodily inflammation associated with disease. Not only that, but ongoing exercise also acts as a pain suppressor.

Increasing exercise is a simple addition to life with a massive positive effect on wellbeing throughout our lives, reducing the chance of illness, improving the quality of life, and many other benefits. Check out the following surprising list of recent discoveries that caste a new light on what was previously believed. 

Exercise:

1. Strengthens our immune system
2. Decreases chronic inflammation
3. Suppresses pain
4. Improves joint health including arthritis
5. Reduces and may eliminate the need for joint and cartilage surgery
6. Improves lung function
7. Improves heart function in those with cardiomyopathy
8. Decreases high blood pressure (hypertension)
9. Improves function in those with Parkinson’s Disease
10. Decreases the risk of dementia (especially vascular dementia)
11. Maintains and improves muscle strength and condition throughout life
12. Decreases falls risk
13. Maintains or increases walking speed
14. Improves digestion and may assist in continence control
15. Assists people to maintain independence in their homes
16. Permits a reduction or elimination of medication as fitness increases (as prescribed)
17. Provides you with many more choices in life than sitting and looking at the wallIt is important to remember that exercise, as with everything else in life, needs to be undertaken with commonsense.If we understand that some things can be good for us in the correct amounts, then we can build up to a safe and effective level of exercise even from a very low starting level.
    Rome was not built in a day, and we only need to push ourselves a little bit on an ongoing basis to begin showing improvement, then keep at it.
    It is wise to check with your health professional before beginning an exercise program if you have had or suspect you may have an illness, before commencing higher level exertion.If you currently walk a little bit, then walking a small  extra amount each day is a worthwhile beginning and is something you can undertake on your own.
    Written above, there is a section that mentions a possible exception for exercise benefiting people. Those who are prone to overdo everything in the extreme (you know who you are and those around you tell you they know you are like this) may push themselves overly hard. Without recovery time the human body has insufficient time to rebuild itself before the next exertion.
    We hear about bad examples where people have not permitted adequate rebuild time and suffered problems.
    If we think of our bodies as a work in progress on a building being renovated, would we start building the second floor knowing the concrete in the foundations had not set? No, we would not because that does not make sense. We cannot see the foundation changes in our physiology as we exercise, but the principal is the same as that of the building remodel.
    Have a good foundation in your exercise progression, and you will build a much stronger and healthier you.
    Exercise immunity.                                                                    GeriTraK – Good To Know