Regular exercise has many health benefits, both physically and mentally. Exercising regularly not only helps boost energy levels and enhance your mood, but it also helps in reducing the risk of chronic disease.
But does it also have any side effects? How much exercise is too much? A study has revealed that excessive vigorous exercise could be bad for your immune system.
“People who are very fit might be more prone to viral respiratory infection immediately after vigorous exercise. Having less inflammatory activity to fight off an infection could be one cause,” said Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) biomedical scientist Ernesto Nakayasu, as quoted by ScienceAlert.
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Nakayasu and his team tested the blood plasma, urine, and saliva, from 11 firefighters before and after 45 minutes of intense exercise hauling up to 20 kilograms (44 pounds) of gear over hilly terrain.
“We wanted to take an in-depth look at what’s happening in the body and see if we’re able to detect danger from exhaustion in its earliest stages,” explained PNNL bioanalytical chemist Kristin Burnum-Johnson. “Perhaps we can reduce the risk of strenuous exercise for first responders, athletes, and members of the military.”
Of course, exercise offers some incredible health benefits. However, this study found possible signs of immune suppression within the worked-out firefighters.
The researchers found that there was a decrease in molecules involved in inflammation. Additionally, there was an increase in opiorphin, a dilator of peripheral blood vessels.
“[Opiorphin] may increase blood flow to muscles during the exercise regimen to improve the delivery of oxygen and nutrients. We postulate that the decrease in inflammatory molecules we observed in the saliva after exercise might represent an adaptive mechanism to improve gas exchange in response to higher cellular oxygen demand,” the team wrote in their paper.
The researchers also found changes in the participants’ oral microbiome.
As the study included healthy and active participants, further research amongst a broader community is needed to confirm their findings, the researchers states.
“there is evidence supporting a relationship between physical demands and a higher incidence of respiratory infections,” Nakayasu and team conclude.
The findings of the study were published in the Military Medical Research journal.
