Sustaining efficient immune functions with regular physical exercise in the COVID‐19 era and beyond

Abstract

The new coronavirus (SARS‐CoV‐2) appearance in Wuhan, China, did rise the new virus disease (COVID‐19), which spread globally in a short time, leading the World Health Organization to declare a new global pandemic. To contain and mitigate the spread of SARS‐CoV‐2, specific public health procedures were implemented in virtually all countries, with a significant impact on society, making it difficult to keep the regular practice of physical activity. It is widely accepted that an active lifestyle contributes to the improvement of general health and preservation of cardiovascular, respiratory, osteo‐muscular and immune system capacities. The positive effects of regular physical activity on the immune system have emerged as a pivotal trigger of general health, underlying the beneficial effects of physical activity on multiple physiological systems. Accordingly, recent studies have already pointed out the negative impact of physical inactivity caused by the social isolation imposed by the public sanitary authorities due to COVID‐19. Nevertheless, there are still no current narrative reviews evaluating the real impact of COVID‐19 on active lifestyle or even discussing the possible beneficial effects of exercise‐promoted immune upgrade against the severity or progression of COVID‐19. Based on the consensus in the scientific literature, in this review, we discuss how an exercise adherence could adequately improve immune responses in times of the ‘COVID‐19 Era and beyond’.

Better Response to Influenza Virus Vaccination in Physically Trained Older Adults Is Associated With Reductions of Cytomegalovirus-Specific Immunoglobulins as Well as Improvements in the Inflammatory and CD8+ T-Cell Profiles

“…Among some of the issues concerning the aging process, the reduction of immunological activities, a phenomenon named immunosenescence, is considered a corollary factor that leads the older population to present decreased responses to vaccination. Even though vaccination is a safe intervention that, in a general way, can elicit an immunological protective response from infants to older people, the literature highlights the immunogenicity in vaccination, especially to the influenza virus vaccination (IVV), which is influenced negatively by age since individuals aged 50-54 years show vaccine effectiveness of around 52% vs. only 40% in older adults aged ≥65 years (1,2).…”

“…Even though vaccination is a safe intervention that, in a general way, can elicit an immunological protective response from infants to older people, the literature highlights the immunogenicity in vaccination, especially to the influenza virus vaccination (IVV), which is influenced negatively by age since individuals aged 50–54 years show vaccine effectiveness of around 52% vs . only 40% in older adults aged ≥65 years ( 1 , 2 ).…”

“…Respiratory viruses are closely associated with severe diseases in the older population; particularly, the influenza virus is the main cause of the increased age-related hospitalization and death. In this sense, it is widely accepted that the annual vaccination campaign for the influenza virus, mainly for the older population, can avoid, or at least minimize, the severity of this infection ( 1 ).…”

Elderly Subjects Supplemented with L-Glutamine Shows an Improvement of Mucosal Immunity in the Upper Airways in Response to Influenza Virus Vaccination

“…Furthermore, although it has been observed that elderly women present a better antibody response in terms of the influenza virus vaccine, in this study, we did not find significant differences in the levels of total SIgA nor specific-SIgA for the influenza virus vaccine in the saliva of elderly women and men. In this respect, we can putatively suggest that the fact that all volunteer participants in this study had a physically active lifestyle could mitigate the differences of gender in the vaccine-induced immunogenicity [53], leading to an improvement of the immune response against influenza vaccination both in elderly women and men. Moreover, it is of utmost importance to mention that the salivary levels of specific-SIgA found here were not impacted by the presence of the influenza virus, since the qRT-PCR analysis did not show the infection by this virus in the sampling collection.…”

Beyond the Finish Line: The Impact and Dynamics of Biomarkers in Physical Exercise—A Narrative Review

“…Nevertheless, given the pandemic period, it is worth mentioning that regular physical exercise proved to be useful in maintaining a strong immune function during the SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks [ 137 ].…”