| A 90-minute walk, jog, or bike ride after your next Covid or flu vaccine should enhance the benefits of the shot, according to a new study of exercise and immunization. The study, which involved 70 people and about 80 mice, measures antibody responses after a jab with the influenza vaccine or both rounds of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine. It found that people who exercised for 90 minutes right after their shot subsequently produced more antibodies than people who did not. The extra immune boost, which should help reduce their risk of falling seriously ill from those diseases, did not seem to trigger an increase in side effects. The study’s results are preliminary and need to be evaluated in larger numbers of people. But the findings add to mounting evidence that being fit and physically active may prime our bodies to respond with extra robustness to flu and Covid vaccines. Moreover, exercise alters almost all our immune cells. The relationship between exercise and immunity is, in general, well established. Most studies show that being physically active helps protect us against catching colds and other mild, upper-respiratory tract infections. Being fit may also ease the severity of an infection if we do get sick. In a previous study of almost 50,000 Californians who developed Covid, for example, those who had been exercising regularly before their diagnosis were about half as likely to wind up hospitalized as people who rarely worked out. On the other hand, extreme exercise might undermine our immunity. Marathon runners often report getting sick after races, and lab mice that run to utter exhaustion tend to become more susceptible to the flu than sedentary animals. Overall, though, exercise offers a potent boost to our immune systems. According to a recent review, enhanced behavior of almost all immune cell populations in the bloodstream occurs in some way during and after exercise. So, it should not be surprising that exercise might also affect vaccine response. In a 2020 study, elite competitive athletes in the middle of their training seasons generated more antibodies and immune cells after a flu shot than a control group of healthy young people. But few of these earlier studies aimed to determine the best timing and amounts of exercise to amplify vaccine effects, and none evaluated Covid shots, which have only been available since late 2020. So, more recently, a group of exercise scientists at Iowa State University studied the issue in greater detail, concluding that 45 minutes is not enough. After a month, everyone’s antibody levels to the flu or Covid shot rose, as expected after getting a vaccine. But they were highest in the people who had exercised for 90 minutes afterward. This antibody bonus was not huge, but was significant. Interestingly, 45 minutes of exercise in this study was not enough to bump up antibodies. The upshot of the results, then, is that a moderate 90-minute exercise session may make your vaccine response greater without adding to side effects. But an hour and a half is also a lot of exercise. So, the researchers hope to study whether 60 minutes or other duration or intensities of exercise might be helpful — or the reverse — after vaccinations, and how long antibody responses might linger. They already are enrolling people for a longer-term study of the effects of exercise on Covid booster shots. But for now, if you schedule a flu or Covid shot, you might block off an extra 90 minutes to briskly explore the nearby neighborhood on foot or on your bike. It just may provide an extra immune boost from your vaccine. Being fit in general is also a means to improve responses to all kinds of infections and other maladies! Below is a link to access to my books available for purchase (digital or print versions): https://www.amazon.com/s?k=morton+e+tavel&crid=2VZYYAPPD8OE1&sprefix=morton+e+tavel%2Caps%2C224&ref=nb_sb_noss Website: https://radiantmortontavel.com/ Previous Posts: https://wordpress.com/posts/radiantmortontavel.com To receive regular updates, contact me at tavelmorton@gmail.com |
MORE POSITIVE NEWS FOR EXERCISE: IT CAN CONTRIBUTE TO THE IMMUNE RESPONSE!
3–4 minutes