How Exercise Affects Your Immune System
This week, we will look at how exercise affects our immune system. The study of how exercise affects the immune system and the consequences in terms of disease is called exercise immunology. Moderate exercise, and vigorous exercise less than 60 minutes, has been found to increase immune function. Exercise activates the sympathetic nervous system which leads to increased heartrate, blood pressure and the release of hormones such as epinephrine and norepinephrine. So moderate exercise can improve your immune system and improve your ability to fight off illness. Why not give some exercise and go and boost your immune system?
Can Exercise Make You Smarter?
When you ask someone why they are exercising they’ll tell you, they want to look good in a bikini or lose weight or get buff.
But what about our brains?
When was the last time you heard someone say they are exercising to get a bigger brain?!
Can exercise actually make us smarter?
Well, research has found that exercise can enhance how we think and improve our memory.
The Benefits of Green Exercise
When compared to exercising indoors, exercising in nature has been found to generate feelings of positive engagement, greater feelings of revitalisation, reduced tension, decreased anger and depression and increased energy.
One of the more amazing findings was that for improvements in self-esteem and mood, the greatest improvement occurred in the first 5 minutes…yes FIVE MINUTES! This suggests that the effects are almost immediate.
So ditch the gym or yoga studio and try an outdoor class
Combine the benefits of exercise or yoga with being outdoors. Join a group and socialise, too
Feeing tired? Having trouble sleeping? Exercise could be the answer.
In Australia, a study found sleep difficulties, including issues falling asleep, issues staying asleep, lack of sleep, daytime fatigue and irritability, was found in 20-35% of people.
This is a significant public health concern and insufficient sleep can have come severe consequences.
Recent trials have found exercise is associated with improved sleep quality, longer sleep times, more efficient sleep and a reduced time to fall asleep.
So, if you are feeling tired or having trouble sleeping, after checking with your health professional, perhaps try getting your sweat on. It may just help you get the sleep you need and crave.
The Autonomic Nervous System: The body's accelerator and brake
The Sympathetic Nervous System is our accelerator and was originally responsible for reacting to threats such as lions. These threats were often temporary and the reaction to fight or flight was only needed for short amounts of time. However, the nervous system treats today’s modern threats of stress the same way leaving us with our accelerator left jammed on. This can cause many health issues such as sleep problems, memory issues, anxiety and depression. Exercise, yoga and meditation have all been found to reduce stress by releasing the accelerator and applying the brakes.