New Study Indicates Moderate Exercise May Protect Against Colds

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New Study Indicates Moderate Exercise May Protect Against Colds

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=55068

A moderate exercise program may reduce the incidence of colds. A

study published in the November issue of The American Journal of

Medicine, led by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research

Center, found that otherwise sedentary women who engaged in moderate

exercise had fewer colds over a one year period than a control

group.

Subjects in a group of 115 overweight and obese, sedentary,

postmenopausal women were randomly assigned to either a moderate

exercise program (45 minutes per day, five days per week and

comprised of mostly brisk walking) or to a once-weekly 45 minute

stretching session. Both the exercisers and the stretchers filled

out questionnaires every 3 months on the number of episodes of

allergies, upper respiratory tract infections (colds and flu) and

other infections. Subjects were taught how to distinguish various

forms of infections and were followed for one year.

Over 12 months, the risk of colds decreased modestly in exercisers

and increased modestly in stretchers. In the final three months of

the study, the risk of colds in stretchers was more than 3-fold

higher than that of exercisers. More stretchers than exercisers had

at least one cold during the 12-month study period (48.4% vs 30.2%),

and among women reporting at least one cold, stretchers tended to

report colds more frequently than exercisers.

Senior author Cornelia M. Ulrich, PhD, of the Hutchinson Center,

writes, " Our trial is the first to report on the effects of a year-

long, moderate-intensity exercise training program on the incidence

of upper respiratory tract infections. Although we did not find an

effect overall on upper respiratory tract infections, our study

suggests that moderate-intensity training can reduce the risk of

colds in postmenopausal, nonsmoking, overweight or obese women. This

finding is of clinical relevance and adds a new facet to the growing

literature on the health benefits of moderate exercise. "