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Exercise Hurts Immunity

AprecheApreche
edited October 2009 in Everything Else
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/14/phys-ed-does-exercise-boost-immunity/
In the second experiment, published in the same journal, scientists from the University of Illinois and other schools first infected laboratory mice with flu. One group then rested; a second group ran for a leisurely 20 or 30 minutes, an easy jog for a mouse; the third group ran for a taxing two and a half hours. Each group repeated this routine for three days, until they began to show flu symptoms. The flu bug used in this experiment is devastating to rodents, and more than half of the sedentary mice died. But only 12 percent of the gently jogging mice passed away. Meanwhile, an eye-popping 70 percent of the mice in the group that had run for hours died, and even those that survived were more debilitated and sick than the control group.
Summary: No exercise, not so good for immunity. Little bit of exercise, very good for immunity. Strenuous exercise, really really bad for immunity.

Anecdote: Rym is ill more often than I am.

Comments

  • TheWhaleSharkTheWhaleShark
    edited October 2009
    Well, exercising until exhaustion is certainly not good for immunity. They ran those mice for 2.5 hours every day for 3 days, which is a tremendous amount of activity for such a small creature. Note that the gentle jogging for 30 minutes (which is a solid amount of exercise to get) seemed to boost immunity tremendously (12% of jogging mice died vs. more than 50% of sedentary mice).

    Ergo, moderate exercise can boost immunity. Strenuous exercise is extremely taxing on the body and should only be attempted by those in good health.

    This is not surprising in the least.

    EDIT: That's what you just said. Never mind.

    It should be noted that exercising strenuously every day is bad for you, unless you're eating enough to support that. Michael Phelps is an example of this; yes, he trained strenuously for 5 years to become the fastest swimmer ever, but he also ate an average of 8 - 9,000 calories a day while doing so. How much did they feed these mice?
    Post edited by TheWhaleShark on
  • SailSail
    Your thread title is very misleading.
  • theknoxinatortheknoxinator
    Yeah, this isn't terribly surprising. A person's body can only do so much. I am glad that people are trying to get this information out there though because there is a lot of misinformation about exercise and how much benefit it actually has towards various things. If you are an athlete, then it's true that you will exercise a lot more than an average person, and if you've done it for a long time then your body should handle it fine. But if you're someone who is trying to gain some muscle or lose weight, you really don't need to do as much as you think you do. When it comes to immunity, having good circulation, which you can get through just some exercise every day, is key.
  • George PatchesGeorge Patches
    Your thread title is very misleading.
    I think he's just trying to justify his general lack of physical activity.
  • SailSail
    edited October 2009
    Sure but, as as a group, we gripe enough about the news misrepresenting scientific studies. Let's not do it ourselves. Exhaustion is bad for immunity, not exercise.
    Post edited by Sail on
  • CremlianCremlian
    Sure but, as as a group, we gripe enough about the news misrepresenting scientific studies. Let's not do it ourselves. Exhaustion is bad for immunity, not exercise.
    But But, Rubin never lies or misrepresents anything. To the irons Heretic!
  • ......
    I think he's just trying to justify his general lack of physical activity.
    Hypothesis, Scott would stop using his lung muscles if it didn't kill him.
  • HungryJoeHungryJoe
    I think he's just trying to justify his general lack of physical activity.
    Hypothesis, Scott would stop using his lung muscles if it didn't kill him.
    . . . and then he would say that anyone who actually does use their lungs is foolish.
  • AprecheApreche
    . . . and then he would say that anyone who actually does use their lungs is foolish.
    Indeed. It would be wasteful.
  • ......
    . . . and then he would say that anyone who actually does use their lungs is foolish.
    Ah, but he wouldn't be able to say it, without using his lungs. Sure, he could write it, but that's slightly different.
  • AprecheApreche
    Ah, but he wouldn't be able to say it, without using his lungs. Sure, he could write it, but that's slightly different.
    I think we should ban all forms of communication except semaphore since that is also mild exercise. Thus, it is the most efficient energy-wise as it kills two birds with one stone.
  • Kate MonsterKate Monster
    I think we should ban all forms of communication except semaphore since that is also mild exercise. Thus, it is the most efficient energy-wise as it kills two birds with one stone.
    Scott single handledly kills all language arts and music. ^_~
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