People who tended to be sedentary were far more likely to be hospitalized, and to die, from Covid than those who exercised regularly.
More exercise means less risk of developing severe Covid, according to a compelling new study of physical activity and coronavirus hospitalizations. The study, which involved almost 50,000 Californians who developed Covid, found that those who had been the most active before falling ill were the least likely to be hospitalized or die as a result of their illness.
The data were gathered before Covid vaccines became available and do not suggest that exercise can substitute in any way for immunization. But they do intimate that regular exercise — whether it’s going for a swim, walk, run or bike ride — can substantially lower our chances of becoming seriously ill if we do become infected.
Scientists have known for some time that aerobically fit people are less likely to catch colds and other viral infections and recover more quickly than people who are out of shape, in part because exercise can amplify immune responses. Better fitness also heightens antibody responses to vaccines against influenza and other illnesses.
Researchers and physicians at Kaiser Permanente Southern California, the University of California, San Diego, and other institutions decided to compare information about how often people exercised with whether they wound up hospitalized this past year because of Covid.
The researchers grouped the men and women by workout routines, with the least active group exercising for 10 minutes or less most weeks; the most active for at least 150 minutes a week; and the somewhat active group occupying the territory in between.
People in the least-active group, who rarely exercised, wound up hospitalized because of Covid at twice the rate of people in the most active group and were subsequently about two-and-a-half times more likely to die.
Of course, this study, because it was observational, does not prove that exercise causes severe Covid risks to drop, but only that people who often exercise also are people with low risks of falling gravely ill. The study also did not delve into whether exercise reduces the risk of becoming infected with coronavirus in the first place.
The researchers recommended walking briskly for half an hour five times a week should help protect against severe Covid-19 and said exercise might be especially beneficial for people awaiting their first vaccine.
Doing regular exercise will likely be protective against any new variants, or the next new virus out there.
Source: The New York Times