Grab Best Fitness Blog Feed... by Karli Taylor
The proven benefits of regular exercise seem to multiply nearly every day! We already know that it can improve your mood, build your bones, help you lose weight, add years to your life and help you sleep better at night, but now there’s more! A recent study suggests that working out regularly helps ward off the common cold and even the flu!
In the study of 1,000 adults, . people who spent at least 20 minutes doing moderate aerobic exercise—such as jogging, biking, or swimming—on five or more days per week were sick with cold or flu symptoms, on average, half as often as people who exercised one day per week or less. When they did get ill, regular exercisers tended to have milder symptoms than the non-exercisers.
Exercise is thought to boost the circulation of the virus-fighting white blood cells which increases a person’s immunity for up to three hours. Though that may not seem like a long time, with consistency, those hours make a big difference.
It’s arguable that though the immune function increase is a valid point, people who exercise more frequently tend to lead healthy lifestyles in general, and are therefore less likely than couch potatoes to get sick. Either way, the study shows that those who exercise are sick less often- enough said!
