Fitness enthusiasts and elite athletes alike know that they need to look after their health. But how much exercise is enough? How much is too much? And how can you best support your immune system? To answer some of your most pressing questions, we’ll take a look at the effects of exercise on the immune system and key immune boosters for adults that can offer support.
How Exercise Can Boost the Immune System
You’re sure to have felt the lift that comes from starting a new exercise routine and sticking to it. You’ve likely enjoyed the heightened energy, the improved sleep, the greater muscle strength, and yes — perhaps even fewer colds and flus. However, it’s not until relatively recently that researchers have understood the effects of exercise on the immune system, and it’s a field that’s still developing even now.
Based on research published by various authors, we’re gaining a few clues into ways in which exercise might boost the immune system. However, as with most natural therapies, science has not yet conclusively proven that any of these factors will prevent any specific illness.
Check out the key research takeaways in regards to immunity:
- Moderate exercise can help your body to detect antigens sooner.
- Physically active and lean individuals tend to have less systemic inflammation.
- Regular exercise is associated with reduced chronic disease.
- Exercise reduces the effects of aging on immune function.
Intense Exercise is Another Story
Sounds great, right? The effects of exercise on the immune system appear overwhelmingly positive! Not so fast. While immune boosters for adults like moderate training, walking, or exercise can reduce inflammation and prime the immune system, more intense training can have the opposite effect. Remember we mentioned that moderate activity might reduce the severity of colds and flus? In contrast, heavy training has actually been associated with more upper respiratory infections (URIs) in athletes, as well as depressing the innate and acquired immune responses.
Whether the heavy exercise is entirely to blame is still a matter that’s up for debate. Other factors such as lack of sleep, psychological stress, anxiety, depression, and long-distance travel can also leave athletes especially vulnerable.
How to Optimize the Effects of Exercise on the Immune System
So you’re a regular gym-goer or a professional bodybuilder — how can you use exercise to boost your immune system? Here are some research-backed tips to help you get the best bang for your buck.
- Keep Your Training Moderate When Possible
Whether it’s the strenuous exercise or stress of the job that gets athletes down, you can’t go wrong with moderation. Unless you’ve got a marathon or triathlon coming up, create a regular routine you can stick to that’s suitably challenging without going overboard.
If you’re just starting out, 30 minutes of aerobic exercise is enough to enjoy the effects of exercise on the immune system. It could be a 30-minute brisk walk or jog, a dance class, or an upbeat session of strength or toning. Of course, if you’re going for weight loss, ramp this figure up to 1 hour and make sure to include plenty of cardio.
- Find a Gym Buddy
Sickness is closely tied to inflammation, a phenomenon that’s lowered with social support. The right kinds of social support could also lower your risk of serious illness. Hit both of these immune boosters for adults in one by training or exercising with a workout partner. It could be a gym buddy, your personal trainer, a group class, or a family member. Any regular social support increases the effects of exercise on the immune system, and it could even make your workout more effective.
- Take Fitness Outdoors
If there’s one thing that 2020’s quarantines achieved, it’s helping us to appreciate nature. At-home workouts might keep you fit but they sure can be soul-crushing once you get to day 100! Enjoy the effects of exercise on the immune system twice over by getting out into the great outdoors. Nature therapy not only contributes to boosting immunity and reducing stress, but it can also subjectively increase your personal sense of health and wellbeing.
- Get Enough R&R
You can do all the exercises you like to boost your immune system — adding in social support, nature, etc. — but if you don’t let your body recover, all that hard work might be in vain. Make the effects of exercise on the immune system count by letting your body recover at night. Set yourself a decent bedtime based on the hours of rest that you need, and start winding down an hour before. Burning the candle at both ends of the day might be productive in the short-term, but can end up setting you back in the end.
- Support Your System through Stressful Times
Realistically, we all go through times when we need a little extra immune support. A looming deadline, a virus, or a long-distance trip can also be good reasons to supplement with immune boosters.
For those times when the effects of exercise on the immune system are too much — or simply not enough — our Immunity Boost Vitamin C + Elderberry provides clean support. Combining immune boosters for adults like vitamins C+D, magnesium, and zinc with extracts of cordyceps, echinacea, and elderberry, these vegetarian capsules provide an all-in-one immunity supplement to help you get through your day with ease. For best results with our vitamin capsules, make sure that you’re still eating right, sleeping right, and keeping your mental health in check.
