Can cycling boost your immunity?

Also pay attention to these Can cycling boost your immune system? How to enhance? We consulted scientists in related fields to see whether long-term adherence to cycling has an impact on our body’s immune system.

Professor Geraint Florida-James (Florida) is the research director of sports, Health and exercise Science at Napier University in Edinburgh and the academic director of the Scottish Mountain Bike Centre. At the Scottish Mountain Bike Centre, where he guides and trains endurance racing mountain riders, he insists that cycling is a great activity for those who wish to boost their body’s immune system.

“In the history of human evolution, we have never been sedentary, and again and again research have shown that exercise has great benefits, including improving your immune system. As we age, our body declines, and the immune system is no exception. What we need to do is to slow this decline as much as possible. How to slow down the decline of the body function? Biking is a good way to go. Because the correct cycling posture keeps the body supported during exercise, it has little impact on the musculoskeletal system. Of course, we should look to the balance of exercise (intensity / duration / frequency) and rest / recovery to maximize the benefits of exercise to enhance the immune system.

Do’t exercise, but be careful to wash your hands Florida-James professor main training elite mountain drivers at ordinary times, but his insights also applies to only in the weekend such as leisure time cyclists, he said the key is how to keep balance: ” like all the training, if you step by step, let the body slowly adapt to increase the pressure, the effect will be better. If you rush to succeed and exercise excessively, your recovery will slow down, and your immunity will decline to a certain extent, making it easier for bacteria and viruses to invade your body. However, bacteria and viruses can not be avoided, so contact with patients should be avoided during exercise.”

“If the epidemic teaches us anything, it is that good hygiene is the key to keeping healthy.”He added,” For years, I’ve instilled this information in athletes, and although sometimes it’s hard to stick to it, it matters whether you stay healthy or get the virus. For example, wash your hands frequently; if possible, stay away from the stranger, as simple as not crowding into a cafe during a long cycling break; avoid your face, mouth, and eyes. —— Do these sound familiar? In fact, we all know, but some people will always unconsciously do this kind of unnecessary thing. While we all want to return to our previous normal life as soon as possible, these precautions as possible, these precautions can bring us into the ‘new normal’ of the future to stay healthy.”

If you ride less in winter, how can you boost your immunity?

Due to the short sunshine hours, less good weather, and it is difficult to get rid of the care of bedding on weekends, cycling in winter is a big challenge. In addition to the hygiene measures mentioned above, Professor Florida-James said that “balance”. He said: ” You need to eat a balanced diet, with calorie intake matches consumption, especially after a long ride. Sleep is also very important, a necessary step for active body recovery, and another element of maintaining health and exercise capacity.

Methods has never been simply stated “There has never been a panacea to keep our immune system at its best, but we need to pay constant attention to the impact of various factors on the immune system in different situations. In addition, psychological stress is an important factor that is often overlooked.” Long riders often get sick during mood events (such as bereavement, moving, failing exams, or a broken love / friendship relationship). “The extra pressure on the immune system may be enough to push them to the edge of illness, so that’s when we need to be more vigilant. But to be optimistic, we can also try to make ourselves happy, a good way is to ride a happy, a good way is to ride a bike outdoors, a variety of pleasure factors produced by sports will make the whole person radiant.”Florida-Professor James added.

What do you think?

Another expert in exercise and immunology, Dr. John Campbell (John Campbell) of the University of Bath in Health, published a study in 2018 with his colleague James Turner (James Turner): ” Does running a marathon increase the risk of infection?”Yes, yes. Their studies looked at results from the 1980s and 1990s, which led to widespread belief that some forms of exercise (such as endurance exercise) reduced immunity and increased the risk of illness (such as the common cold). This fallacy has been largely proven as false, but it continues to this day.

Dr Campbell said why running a marathon or riding a long distance bike may be harmful to you can be analyzed in three ways. Dr Campbell explained: ” First, there are reports that runners are more likely to be infected with the virus after running a marathon than those who do not exercise (those who do not take a marathon). However, the problem with these studies is that marathon runners are likely to be exposed to more infectious pathogens than non-exercise controls. Therefore, it is not exercise that causes immunosuppression, but exercise participation (marathon) that increases the exposure risk.

“Second, it has been speculated for some time that the main antibody type used up in saliva, ——, is called ‘IgA’ (IgA is one of the main immune defenses in the mouth). Indeed, some studies in the 1980s and 1990s pointed to reduced IgA content in saliva after prolonged exercise. However, many studies have already shown the opposite effect. It is now clear that other factors —— such as dental health, sleep, anxiety / stress —— are more powerful mediators of IgA and are more effects than endurance exercise.

“Third, experiments have repeatedly shown that the number of immune cells in the blood decreases in a few hours after strenuous exercise (and increases during exercise). It used to be assumed that depletion of immune cells in turn decrease immune function and increase body susceptibility. This theory is actually problematic, because immune cell counts tend to normalize quickly after a few hours (and ‘replicate’ faster than new immune cells). What may happen within hours of exercise is that immune cells are redistributed to different parts of the body, such as the lungs and intestines, for immune surveillance of pathogens.

surveillance of pathogens. Therefore, a lower WBC count after exercise does not seem to be a bad thing.”

That same year, another study from King’s College London and the University of Birmingham found that regular exercise could prevent immune system decline and protect people from infection with ——, although the study was conducted before the novel coronavirus appeared. The study, published in the journal Aging Cell (Aging Cell), tracked 125 long-distance cyclists ——, some of whom are now in their 60s and —— found their immune systems as 20-year-olds. The researchers believe that physical exercise in old age helps people respond better to vaccines and thus better prevent infectious diseases such as influenza.