Exercise Helps Blunt the Effects of Covid-19, Study Suggests

Physical activity benefits even those at higher risk for complications

By Alex Janin of The WSJ. Excerpts:

"People who exercise regularly had lower rates of hospitalization and death from Covid-19 in a study published recently in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 

Regular exercise improves overall health and healthier people generally have fewer serious complications with Covid-19 infections. Earlier research has shown an association between exercise and better Covid-19 outcomes. This latest study goes a step further and suggests that even people whose age or health conditions make them higher-risk have better outcomes if they are regular exercisers. 

Higher amounts of physical activity were associated with lower rates of death and hospitalizations from Covid across nearly all demographics"

"A very active 70-year-old still had a higher risk of Covid-related complications than did a similarly active 40-year-old, but the exercisers in both groups had hospitalization rates lower than those who didn’t work out."

"You don’t have to run, you don’t have to sweat, you don’t have to do anything except get up and go out for a walk"

"physical activity provides several types of protection from severe illness. Exercise improves the body’s immune response by mobilizing and redistributing immune cells that can recognize and kill infected cells"

"Without exercise, viruses have more time to replicate inside our bodies, which can result in more severe symptoms"

"Physical activity can also help reduce inflammation, the body’s natural immune response to damage or pathogens. Chronic inflammation has been linked to more severe Covid-19 outcomes, especially in the lungs. Cytokines, small messenger proteins that help regulate inflammation, are released during exercise."

"“Exercise is as effective as many of the drugs that we use and has no side effects,” says Jordan Metzl, a sports medicine physician"

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