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How Strenuous Exercise Affects Our Immune System

nytimes.com

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Re: How Strenuous Exercise Affects Our Immune System

#31

Post by Ancalagon »

amorphous wrote: post #26

I have one rule: I only ever do sports if I have rested well the night before. It took me until I reached my 40s to realise that lack of sleep + heavy exercise = high chance of catching a cold. Other sure ways how I can get sick: overdo sauna after exercising and, by far the worst, overdoing cold showers (Jim Hoff anyone? - I got seriously sick experimenting with that) I guess the overall strength of my immune system…

Interestingly Ive noticed the same thing in regards to exercise plus sleep. But instead of taking that as an indicator of my immune systems strength, I thoufht it was more an indicator of how absolutely filthy gym equipment is. I always shower IMMEDIATELY once Ive finished working out these days.

Re: How Strenuous Exercise Affects Our Immune System

#32

Post by sternocleidom »

This article could not be more wrong, and anyone who has been a truly serious athlete will agree with me.

There are perhaps a dozen times in my life when I was training with abnormally high intensity even for a very competitive endurance athlete and fell ill immediately afterward.

These range from 2 hr brutal races to 3-4 days of 5-7 hrs daily intense training or race efforts. I very rarely catch a cold, but it's more often than not after an effort that stands out to me as memorably difficult.

Any serious cyclist will agree with me. Even competitive high school athletes know that you are most likely to get sick right before taper.

This is an example of misinterpretation of scientific experiment, most likely by the journalists but possibly by the scientists themselves.

EDIT: I don't take issue with "immune response is heightened after exercise". I'm sure it is. I take issue with this quote: "But it is unlikely to have made you vulnerable to colds or other illnesses afterward, according to a myth-busting new review of the latest science about immunity and endurance exercise".

Re: How Strenuous Exercise Affects Our Immune System

#33

Post by mac01021 »

flcknzwrg wrote: post #17
mkirklions wrote: post #5

This article doesnt make mention of my workout where I lift something heavy 1 time. I had the idea that I wanted to reduce time in the gym, so I used the potential energy equation PE= M g h I'm not getting any taller, so the only thing I could change was either the reps or mass of weight moved. I made it my goal to lift heavy weights so I'd only need to deadlift 1 time and be able to pig out. TBH, it works, I lose 1…

Found the fatty ;) Ok, seriously.... math: if you eat 3000 kcal per day and lose 1 lb per week, you're burning 3500 kcal per day. This is quite a lot. It's near impossible unless you work out a lot and are veeeery muscular... or are impossibly tall... or, well, fat. (Or a combination of those.) Take me for comparison: I am 187cm (6'1ish) tall and weigh 75kg (165 lbs), pretty much smack in the middle of the "normal we…

How accurately/precisely can your wrist watch tell you what your energy expenditure is?

Re: How Strenuous Exercise Affects Our Immune System

#34

Post by jxcl »

sternocleidom wrote: post #32

This article could not be more wrong, and anyone who has been a truly serious athlete will agree with me. There are perhaps a dozen times in my life when I was training with abnormally high intensity even for a very competitive endurance athlete and fell ill immediately afterward. These range from 2 hr brutal races to 3-4 days of 5-7 hrs daily intense training or race efforts. I very rarely catch a cold, but it's mor…

This is all anecdotal evidence that's pretty well countered by this statement:

> Their first conclusion was that athletes are lousy at identifying whether and why they are sniffling. The original 1980s studies had relied on runners’ self-reports of illness. But newer experiments that actually tested saliva showed that less than a third of marathon runners who thought they had caught a cold actually had. Statistically, their odds of becoming sick were about the same as for anyone else in the race’s host city.

Re: How Strenuous Exercise Affects Our Immune System

#35

Post by [deleted] »

sternocleidom wrote: post #32

This article could not be more wrong, and anyone who has been a truly serious athlete will agree with me. There are perhaps a dozen times in my life when I was training with abnormally high intensity even for a very competitive endurance athlete and fell ill immediately afterward. These range from 2 hr brutal races to 3-4 days of 5-7 hrs daily intense training or race efforts. I very rarely catch a cold, but it's mor…

[deleted]

Re: How Strenuous Exercise Affects Our Immune System

#36

Post by donovanh »

DamnYuppie wrote: post #8
boris wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would you go run (hunt) if there is still stuff (food) in your gut.

Best to hunt when you are loaded up on fuel. Don't want to be hunting when energy is low as you will most likely be less successful as your focus, patience, and response times will all be lower. Hunting isn't like going to the store, success isn't guaranteed.

I think the opposite. People that fast for a period (> 16 hours) report improved energy levels. This may be because after a while the body enters a ketogenic state where it burns body fat, which is a great source of energy and perfect for when on the hunt.

Re: How Strenuous Exercise Affects Our Immune System

#37

Post by dorfsmay »

DamnYuppie wrote: post #8
boris wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would you go run (hunt) if there is still stuff (food) in your gut.

Best to hunt when you are loaded up on fuel. Don't want to be hunting when energy is low as you will most likely be less successful as your focus, patience, and response times will all be lower. Hunting isn't like going to the store, success isn't guaranteed.

Have you ever tried fasting? One of the biggest issue while fasting is too much energy and difficulty to fall asleep.

Have you ever tried to focus on a hard problem at work after a big lunch?

Re: How Strenuous Exercise Affects Our Immune System

#39

Post by sternocleidom »

flcknzwrg wrote: post #17
mkirklions wrote: post #5

This article doesnt make mention of my workout where I lift something heavy 1 time. I had the idea that I wanted to reduce time in the gym, so I used the potential energy equation PE= M g h I'm not getting any taller, so the only thing I could change was either the reps or mass of weight moved. I made it my goal to lift heavy weights so I'd only need to deadlift 1 time and be able to pig out. TBH, it works, I lose 1…

Found the fatty ;) Ok, seriously.... math: if you eat 3000 kcal per day and lose 1 lb per week, you're burning 3500 kcal per day. This is quite a lot. It's near impossible unless you work out a lot and are veeeery muscular... or are impossibly tall... or, well, fat. (Or a combination of those.) Take me for comparison: I am 187cm (6'1ish) tall and weigh 75kg (165 lbs), pretty much smack in the middle of the "normal we…

Running is probably the worst sport as far as caloric expenditure is concerned.

A serious endurance cyclist or swimmer will certainly go through 3000 kcal on a normal training day if not more.

I've burned an estimated 5000kcal daily on the bike for weeks. What's more is I know these numbers are very accurate as we train with power meters that record our energy expenditure with minimal error.

It's important to distinguish between serious athletes and average people who exercise. It's possible that truly competitive athletes - for instance, who run 120 miles a week to your 30 - will be much more likely to get ill from their efforts. It can take serious fitness - and a mentality acquired only by years of serious training - to push yourself to the extent that you fall ill, and maybe the recreational "athlete" described in this text can't reach that point.

Re: How Strenuous Exercise Affects Our Immune System

#40

Post by nimbius »

As a machinist and building maintenance engineer, I can almost guarantee any ill feeling you're experiencing after a trip to your local gym is due to the air quality.

Gyms are rarely purpose built facilities. Rather, theyre rented and renovated spaces. In turn, airflow in the structure is planned for light industrial or office space. Almost no thought goes into the fact that gyms are sometimes hundreds of occupants moving the air at two to three times what the OSHA or planning documents indicate. Paints with VoC's, sealants, and even offgassing plastics from gym mats or new equipment can turn the air quality from decent to garbage in a few hours.

I was once contracted to fix an air handler issue at a fitness center. The root cause was a set of 6 un-ventilated panini presses that were placed near the front desk as part of an effort to sell snacks and sandwiches. The added smoke and particulate had decreased the filter life and burned out a blower motor. The solution was either get rid of the electric grills, or start replacing 30 day filters every week.

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