Moderate exercise is beneficial to physical and mental health, which is a conclusion confirmed by scientific research. After the recent relaxation of epidemic control, some people have become "positive", some have severe symptoms, and the various discomforts are difficult to describe; some have mild symptoms and recover within two or three days. Some analysts believe that for people with mild symptoms and those who recover quickly, it is very important to continue to exercise, have good physical fitness, and have excellent immunity.
Coincidentally, on December 15 this year, the "American Journal of Preventive Medicine" published a paper showing that there is a correlation between the amount of exercise and the severity of COVID-19 symptoms. The more exercise, the lower the risk of severe illness, hospitalization and death after being infected with COVID-19.
The paper collected data on nearly 200,000 adult patients diagnosed with COVID-19 in the United States from January 2020 to May 2021, and divided them into 3 groups:
The never exercise group, which exercised no more than 10 minutes per week.
Occasional exercise group, the weekly exercise time is less than 150 minutes.
adheres to the exercise group and exercises for more than 150 minutes per week.
Comparison shows that the risk of death after infection with COVID-19 in the "never exercise group" is 2.5 times that of the "continue to exercise group", and the risk of death in the "occasional exercise group" is nearly 1.9 times that of the "adhere to exercise group".
The conclusion of this study is that exercise is beneficial to the human body. It can not only resist the new coronavirus, but also defend against other viruses . Exercise can reduce the risk of systemic inflammation, benefit cardiovascular health, and increase muscle strength, which are great ways to fight disease and recover as quickly as possible.
The basic logical relationship is: keep exercising - your body becomes stronger - your disease resistance is improved - the symptoms of COVID-19 infection are much milder.
However, the research in the paper has several shortcomings:
First, the research period is from 2020 to 2021 . At this time, the new coronavirus is dominated by the original strain and the alpha strain. Its spread is not as good as that of and Omicron , and the original strain has a much more serious illness rate than Omicron.
Second, the vaccination rate at that time was very low, which ruled out the role of vaccine in reducing severe illness and death.
It has been three years since the COVID-19 epidemic. The age of patients has always been the most critical factor affecting the rate of severe illness and mortality. The older the age when infected with COVID-19, the higher the probability of severe illness and death. However, the elderly are obviously not as active as young people.
So, how much does the severity of symptoms after COVID-19 infection have to do with long-term exercise? It should be viewed from two aspects:
1. Long-term proper exercise can strengthen the body and enhance " resistance ".
Resistance is controlled by the central nervous system . The various systems of the human body work together and cooperate with each other to prevent disease invasion or recover quickly. It includes immunity, repair ability, disease resistance and other aspects.
The basis of resistance is muscle level. Muscles are an important part of the exercise system and the "warehouse" of protein reserves in the human body. Continuous loss of muscles means that people will age and resistance will decrease.
Exercises focused on increasing muscles and maintaining muscle vitality can not only exercise muscles, but also maintain high protein levels, becoming a strong backing for resistance.
2. After the new coronavirus infects the human body, the severity of the disease is closely related to "immunity."
Immunity is controlled and regulated by immune system , including five lines of defense: physical protection, complement , cell tissue , innate immunity, and acquired immunity. The strength of immunity is inseparable from the synergistic effect of the immune defense line. It can kill invading viruses, bacteria, parasites, etc. externally, and it can eliminate tumor cells internally.
It is not good for immunity to be too high or too low. If it is too high, it will cause autoimmune system diseases, such as lupus erythematosus, , rheumatoid arthritis, etc.; when it is too low, viruses can easily enter, causing adverse effects.
The new coronavirus enters the body, replicates and reproduces in large quantities, and waits for opportunities to attack the human body. If the virus is recognized and eliminated by the immune system in time, nothing will happen later. The person concerned can at most be regarded as an " asymptomatic infection "; but conversely, the later the new coronavirus is discovered, the more severe the symptoms will be.
Therefore, whether the symptoms of the new coronavirus infection are severe or not is closely related to the response of the immune system. Even if some people exercise every day, they will have severe symptoms after becoming "yang", such as joint swelling and pain, high fever, and fatigue for several days; some people who seldom exercise will have mild symptoms and body pain after becoming "yang"; on the contrary, some elderly people will not feel any discomfort after becoming "yang".
Regular exercise is helpful to enhance resistance, but exercise is a step-by-step process. Do not do it too hard all at once, otherwise it will affect the original intention of exercise, cause immunity to decline, and create gaps.
Under the current epidemic situation, people who have just passed or recovered are in the recovery period. To prevent accidents such as myocarditis , they should not exercise for the time being, especially strenuous exercise. After a week, you can exercise moderately at home and do not go to gyms and other places for the time being. People with basic and chronic diseases should exercise according to their ability.
