Saturday, December 11, 2010

Exercise and the Flu

Regular exercise may help ward off colds and flu.
The CNN (11/1, Gardner) "The Chart" blog reported, "Working out regularly helps ward off colds and flu," according to a study published online Nov. 1 in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
HealthDay (11/1, Reinberg) reported that after collecting "data on 1,002 men and women from ages 18 to 85," investigators "tracked the number of upper respiratory tract infections the participants suffered" over 12 weeks during the fall and winter of 2008. Study participants also "reported how much and what kinds of aerobic exercise they did weekly."
The study authors found that "people who were physically fit and who engaged in exercise five or more days per week were about half as likely to suffer cold symptoms compared to participants who reported less physical activity," WebMD (11/1, Hendrick) reported. "What is more, researchers say the severity of symptoms fell by 41% among those who felt fittest and by 31% among the most physically active."
According to MedPage Today (11/1, Neale), "In addition to the number of days spent with an upper respiratory tract infection, the severity and symptomatology of such infections was reduced as well, by 32% to 41% between the high versus low aerobic activity and physical fitness.

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