Couch potatoes are nearly twice as likely to catch a cold, and a third likelier to suffer bad symptoms of a cold, compared with those who keep fit, American researchers reported last week.
They tracked 1,002 adults in Wisconsin aged 18-85 for 12 weeks in the autumn and winter of 2008, monitoring them for respiratory illness and weight and quizzing them about diet, lifestyle and aerobic exercise.
People who described themselves as fit or who exercised up to five days a week or more, had between 4.4 and 4.9 “cold” days on average.
Photo: Reuters
For those who fell in the middle category of fitness, and exercised between one and four days a week, this was 4.9-5.5 days.
But among counterparts who said they were of low fitness and who exercised only one day a week or less, the tally was between 8.2 and 8.6 days.
Good fitness also caused the severity of cold symptoms to fall by between 31 and 41 percent compared with the most sedentary lifestyle.
Bouts of exercise unleash a temporary rise in immune defenses, helping to boost preparedness against viral intruders, the study suggested.
It cited figures saying that the average adult in the US can expect to have a cold two to four times a year, and children between half a dozen and 10 colds a year. The cost to the US economy is put at around US$40 billion annually.
The report, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, was directed by David Nieman, director of the Human Performance Laboratory at the Appalachian State University in North Carolina.(AFP)
美國研究人員上週發表的報告表示,跟強健的人相比,懶骨頭感冒的機率為兩倍,且發生感冒症狀的機率也多三分之一。
研究員於二零零八年秋冬兩季,連續十二週追蹤了威斯康辛州年齡從十八到八十五歲的一千零二位成年者。他們監控這些成年人的呼吸疾病與體重,並詢問他們關於飲食、生活方式,與有氧運動的問題。
自稱健美或每週運動達五日或以上的人,平均「感冒日」有四點四到四點九日。
至於介於健美與懶骨頭之間的人,意即每週運動一到四天者,感冒天數居於四點九到五點五日。
但是稱自己不健康,並且一週只運動一天或更少的人,這數據就升高到八點二到八點六日之間。
跟習慣久坐的生活方式相比,身體強健者也使感冒症狀的程度下降百分之三十一到四十一。
該報告顯示,運動能夠暫時地提升免疫力,使身體準備好對抗病毒的入侵。
報告也顯示美國成人平均每年會感冒二到四次,而孩童則是六到十次。感冒並造成美國經濟約每年四百億美元的損失。
這份刊登於英國運動醫學雜誌的報告,由北卡羅來納州阿帕拉契州立大學人體運動實驗室的大衛‧涅曼主導。
(法新社/翻譯:吳岱璟)
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