Exercise can build a powerful immune system. The question is how intense you need to exercise to get the benefits? Moderate, aerobic or anaerobic?

We watch different sports and we realize how different is the body structure of a sprinter than form a marathon runner or a cyclist. Why is that? Some sports require more sacrifice than others and eventually more stress on the body.

Moderate intensity (55%-75% of your maximum hear rate range) has been associated to a very positive immune response and an improvement at least temporarily of the production of macrophages. The Whit cells are your real army and you need them to be ready for battle. Exercise Helps them as well This leads to agree with other doctors are saying that consistent exercise can lead to many benefits in the immune system in the short and long term.

In addition, exercise is a great regulator of stress. In stressful situations your whole body starts a very powerful mechanism, releasing cortisol. Exercise helps to regulate the body and calm it down. Numerous studies have shown that people with stressful lived have reported more colds than people with less stress. Stress is detrimental for your health.

However, if you train too hard you might not building a powerful immune system but destroying it. In simple words, to perform certain activities your body will have to use whatever it has. That’s not good for your health. In these situations your body will start producing catabolic hormones (destroying) such as cortisol and adrenaline. The consequences are an increased heart rate, general muscular fatigue, joints irritability and depression (ups and down in mood feeling sad after exercising).

Therefore we suggest monitoring your workouts, planning them and making sure you are not training too intense. A good way of monitoring this intensity is always training in the heart rate zone and make sure you are building that powerful system that all of us we have, THE IMMUNE SYSTEM