Regular Exercise Cuts Colds and Improves Mental Health

When you’re slaving at the gym, you may wonder if it’s all worthwhile.  Here are two reports that will add to the obvious benefits – a trim body, lower blood pressure, increased longevity, and so on.

The first report is published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.  North Carolina scientists recruited 1,002 adults aged 18 to 85; 60% of them were women.  Upper respiratory tract infections were monitored for frequency and severity over a 12-week period during the fall/winter season in 2008.  A questionnaire asked the participants to rate their level of fitness using a 10-point scale, along with information on diet, lifestyle, and recent stressful occurrences.

Cold symptoms were reported for an average of 13 days during the winter and 8 days during the fall.  Those participants who were physically fit and exercised 5 times a week had a 43% to 46% lower frequency of colds, compared to those who only exercised once or never each week.  Moreover, the fittest 1/3 of participants had a 41% lower symptom severity score, while regular exercisers had a 31% reduction in severity of cold symptoms.

The second report concerned mental health, and is a publication by UK and Norwegian scientis in the tsBritish Journal  of Psychiatry.  It involved a clinical examination of 40,401 Norwegians, who answered questions about their leisure time and workplace activities.  Depression and anxiety were assessed using recognized scales, and lifestyles and health data were recorded. 

The results of analyses clearly showed that the more people engaged in physical activity during their spare time, the less likely they were to be depressed.  In fact, those who were not active at all were almost twice as likely have symptoms of depression. Intensity of the exercise taken didn’t seem important; even people who took light exercise were less likely to have symptoms of depression.  However, there was no such correlation between activity at work and depressive symptoms, and anxiety was not related to activity – at leisure or at work – either.

These findings help to make the point – exercise is good for you, so get to the gym!  You may well avoid getting a cold, or, if you do, successfully manage the accompanying depression.