An American study has demonstrated a direct link between practicing regular physical activity and better defense of our immune system.
More motivation to move, with an American discovery on the links between physical activity and immune defenses, the body’s natural defenses. Here are the explanations from Géraldine Zamansky, journalist at Health Magazine on France 5 and at weekends on Franceinfo.
franceinfo: Would working your muscles trigger a particular stimulation of our immunity?
Exactly. But, I have to start with a little bad news and a slightly complicated decryption. When we strongly activate our muscle cells, with brisk walking for example, this can create microdamage. And this can produce “waste” from intense energy consumption. The appearance, sometimes, of inflammation would be the body’s first response to clean and repair this damage. The good news is the discovery by an American team of the very rapid appearance and action of little-known players in our immune defenses: cells capable of calming things down once the inflammatory reflex has played its role. .
Why is this regulatory discovery so important?
The researchers showed how the presence of these regulators was almost vital for the muscles. This is what Professor Diane Mathis, who heads this work at Harvard Medical School, explains. These “brakes” to inflammation then protect the motors of the muscle cells. They even become, if I take the example above, capable of producing more energy to walk even faster. Without these shields, the team observes the opposite: engines deformed, weakened, as if drowned by inflammation.
So the virtuous circle generated by physical activity, with the improvement of our muscular micromotors, takes place under the high protection of our immune defenses?
Exactly. And for Professor Mathis, this decryption shows to what extent physical activity is truly therapeutic, particularly among older people. Because their muscles suffer from permanent low inflammation. They would be rid of it by these cells which calm things down, these “super-regulators” triggered by physical activity. The result is a virtuous circle: better muscular condition, better balance, fewer falls, more healthy living.
For further : the Harvard University study (in English).