Fight Colds with Fitness

Most adults get two to four colds a year, although the older you get, the fewer colds you have. That’s probably because you’ve been exposed already to most of the common cold viruses earlier in your life. Many clinical studies have been done with experimental drugs in the hope of finding one that will prevent, or even shorten, the common cold; none have met with success, so far. However, you can do something for yourself.

Scientists from Seattle assigned postmenopausal overweight women to one of two groups. The first undertook at least 45 minutes of moderate intensity exercise 5 days a week, for 12 months. The second group - controls - attended a 45-minute stretching session once weekly for the same period. Questionnaires reported the number of episodes of allergies and upper respiratory tract infections (colds and flu) at 3 month intervals.

Over 12 months, the number of colds decreased significantly in the exercisers compared with the controls. In the final 3 months of the study the risk of colds in the controls was more than 3-fold higher than in the exercisers. Previous work has reported that moderate exercise improves the immune response of the body. So, to cut out maybe one or two colds a year, get moving!