There is no lack of studies to remind us how much physical activity is good for our health: it reduces the effects of stress, promotes healing and, of course, it allows stay in shape.
A new study adds a new health virtue to this already long list: 20 minutes of moderate physical activity (for example 20 minutes of walking) each day stimulates the immune system and acts as an anti-inflammatory in patients who suffer from diseases chronicles like arthritisor the fibromyalgia.
Researchers from the University of San Diego School of Medicine (USA) suggest that physical exercise improves the anti-inflammatory response by activating the sympathetic nervous system. This helps, among other things, to increase heart rate and blood pressure. This process of activation during physical exercise produces immunological responses through the production of numerous proteins, one of which is TNF, a key regulator of local and systemic inflammation which also helps to increase responses. immune.
Exercise doesn’t have to be strenuous to be effective
To show that exercise doesn’t have to be intense to be effective, the 47 participants in this study, published online in Brain, Behavior and Immunity, walked for 20 minutes on a treadmill whose the intensity had been adjusted according to their physical condition.
“The idea of overextending can scare people with chronic inflammatory diseases who could greatly benefit from the benefits of moderate physical activity” said Dr. Suzi Hong, lead author of the study.
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