Just 20 minutes of exercise enough to reduce inflammation
The long-term health benefits of physical exercise are numerous; they include reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease, improving metabolism and weight control, as well as generally strengthening the heart, muscles, and bones.
According to the United States Department of Health and Human Services, a regular dose of physical activity also lowers blood pressure, and reduces the risk of type 2 diabetes and some forms of cancer.
New research, published in the journal Brain, Behavior and Immunity, investigates the benefits of 20-minute exercise sessions on the bodys immune system.
Researchers from the University of California-San Diego School of Medicine - led by Suzi Hong, Ph.D., from the Department of Psychiatry and the Department of Family Medicine and Public Health - hypothesized that exercise would improve the bodys anti-inflammatory response by activating the sympathetic nervous system.
The sympathetic nervous system helps to increase heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing rate. Physical exercise activates this system to help the body keep up. During this time, the body releases hormones such as epinephrine and norepinephrine into the bloodstream, which activate the adrenergic receptors of immune cells. Analyzing the bodys immune response to exercise. More specifically, the researchers tested the hypothesis that a single 20-minute session of exercise would be enough to trigger sympathoadrenergic activation, which, in turn, would suppress the production of monocytic cytokines.
Monocytes are a type of white blood cell, or immune cell, that help to fight off bacteria and infections. Cytokines are a type of protein that help other cells to become so-called effector cells, which, in turn, kill off cancerous or infected cells.
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