Fitness Archives

A new study from researchers at the University of Bath supports the theory that keeping up regular, daily exercise plays an important role in helping you to maintain a healthy immune system.

Protecting our immune system is something we all want to take care not only during the normal flu and cold season but even more so now that we have been experiencing a global pandemic.

They reported that there is limited reliable evidence that exercise suppresses immunity, Instead they found that exercise is beneficial for your immune function.

Exercise can help your immune system find and deal with pathogens, and in the long term, regular exercise slows down changes that happen to your immune system with ageing, therefore reducing your risk of infections.

They conclude that infections are more likely to be linked to inadequate diet, psychological stress, insufficient sleep, travel and importantly, pathogen exposure at social gathering events like marathons — rather than the act of exercising itself.

Make time for fitness

Engaging in regular physical activity is one of the best ways to help manage stress and maintain your immune system.

According to the National Library of Medicine, people who engage in regular physical activity have a lower incidence of infection compared to inactive and sedentary individuals.

This supports both their research and the study from the University of bath.

What’s more, being physically active and lowering your weight helps to strengthen your immune system and lower your risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

Find creative ways to get moving at home and if at all possible get out outside and take a walk. It can be as simple as walking the stairs, jumping rope or turning on the music and dancing.

Practice Meditation

If you haven’t tried mediation, now might be a good time to start. Studies were done where they held 20 randomized, controlled trials including more than 1,600 participants and the findings supported that meditation helped to keep immune systems functioning optimally.

Neuroscience experts, such as Dr Joe Dispenza have huge followings and international researchers who study participants in his events measuring brain wave and heart coherence to see the effects of meditation on the body. Many of his followers/participants have reported improved health from chronic conditions after practicing his style of meditation.

Manage Your Stress Levels

Research from the past 25+ years revealed that psychological stress increases susceptibility to the common cold

Being exposed to prolonged or chronic stress can negatively impact your immune system by reducing your body’s ability to defend against viruses and bacteria.

And when we find ourselves under stress we tend to engage in coping strategies such as unhealthy eating, drinking more alcohol, smoking cigarettes, finding difficulty getting to sleep, all of which have a negative impact on your immune system.

Stay Connected

It’s okay to acknowledge that you feel stressed, anxious and afraid. But look for better ways to care for yourself. Staying connected during times of stress with friends and loved ones is a good way to help yourself feel like you aren’t all alone.

Email, call or FaceTime relatives, get creative and have live-streaming virtual get togethers with your friends.

Get Your Beauty Rest

Don’t skimp on sleep. Ideally you want to get seven to eight hours of sleep each night. If you find that it is hard to get your full night’s rest, be okay to fill in the deficit with a (or two) nap during the day.

Just make sure you don’t sleep too long during the day or too late as that will disrupt your sleep cycle. Just a short 20-30 minute nap can work wonders for your body.

Exercising will improve your health especially as you age. Not only that it will keep your body in better shape making it easier to get around especially in your 70’s and beyond.

Being consistent and taking the time to exercise pays off by helping you to reduce the risks of having heart diseases, cancers, and diabetes. As you get older, what you are capable of doing changes.

Your age determines the amount and type of exercise you should be doing.

We’ve created this simple guide to help you figure this out:

Childhood and adolescence:

For children, regular amounts of exercise and activity will help build healthy bones, give kids more self-confidence, controls weight, and keeps kids in healthy sleep patterns.

Children should be active for at least an hour per day. This can be hard in the winter months, you’ll have to get creative and find fun ways to engage your child in activity when it isn’t possible to get outside and move.

You want to encourage your child to participate in a variety of sports which can help them develop certain skills. They can also do non-scheduled physical activities, like going to playgrounds.

During adolescence, teenagers may not become as physically active as before, especially for girls. Managing anxiety and stress and having a healthy body image can be achieved by exercising moderately.

To keep teenagers physically active, parents can persuade them to join at least one sport, regardless if it is with a team or not as long as it can help them stay fit.

20s:

People who are in their 20s are usually the most active. At this stage, VO2 max, which measures the rate at which oxygen can be pumped into the muscles, is at its peak and their reaction times are the fastest. However, every year, up to 1% of the VO2 max decreases and one’s reaction time tends to slow down. Here’s the thing, exercising regularly aids in slowing down this decline.

Retaining the optimum VO2 max and reaction in your system can be achieved by increasing your bone density and lean muscle mass.

To keep yourself fit, you can choose various physical activities while having fun. Rowing, boot camp or tag rugby are great examples for this.

If you work out regularly, you can ask a professional to help you establish periodization while you are training. With this, you can divide your activities into different aspects, like volume, intensity and type of exercise. Doing so allows you to boost your performance and prepares you for any exercise events.

30s:

Focusing on your cardiovascular strength and fitness is essential when you are in your 30s. With your career and your family as your priorities, a sedentary lifestyle might not be avoided. Always remember to have a good posture and refrain from sitting for long periods of time. Even while you are at your home, you can always use household chores as reasons for you to move around.

At this stage, HIIT or high-intensity interval training is something you can try. This involves high-intensity activities that are divided into lower intensity exercise periods which would only take 20 minutes for you to finish.

Pelvic floor exercises can be done by women, especially after giving birth. These activities, often called as Kegel exercises help in the prevention of incontinence.

If you want to explore more, you can also try yoga, boot camp, or spin class.

40s:

As people tend to start gaining more weight as they turn 40, resistance exercise is recommended to burn calories and prevent the accumulation of fat. Resistance training for ten weeks can help gain lean weight, increase metabolic rate, and decrease fat weight.

You can go to the nearest gym and follow a weight training program. Instead of walking as an exercise, running would be better. If you want to reduce back pain, build your core strength by doing pilates too.

50s:

At this age, you are at a greater risk of developing chronic conditions like cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes.

Weight-bearing and strength training exercises can help you stay fit and robust. You may also try activities that promote balance and provide relaxation.

60s:

As you get older, you are more prone to various chronic conditions, even cancer. To avoid such, people at this age should engage in a high level of physical activity.

Even if aging declines physical activity, it is your mission to stay fit and active.

Exercises that improve strength and flexibility should be done at least twice a week. You may also engage in various forms of dancing, like ballroom dancing. Aqua aerobics and brisk walking can help you, too.

70s:

As cognitive functioning starts to decline at the age of 70 and above, exercising is very crucial as it improves your brain’s health. Keep yourself mobile, especially if you experienced being ill before.

To keep yourself fit, talking walks with family members and friends when they visit would be a great idea. Cardiovascular, balance, and strength exercises should also be a part of your exercise regime, as of course, with the approval of a professional.

Regardless of what age you are, exercising indeed is beneficial and essential in achieving good health.

How to Strengthen Your Immunity