Research published in Scientific Reports has found that exercise could help with preventing colds and infections from developing. While the study was conducted on mice, it does have implications for human health too.

The study involved 28 lab mice with an average body weight who were given tests to determine their blood and fat cell inflammation levels. The mice were divided into two groups and of them started a swimming workout routine where they swam in a pool for 10 minutes, 5 days a week. As mice aren’t natural swimmers, the workout is the equivalent of jogging for half an hour in human terms. The second group of mice didn’t do any exercise and their inflammation levels were monitored carefully over three weeks.

Researchers predicted the mice swimming would have higher levels of inflammation and the theory was that their bodies needed to work to heal any minimally damaged tissue that normally occurs after working out and this is the way that the muscles gain strength. The researchers were right, the mice that were exercising had high levels of inflammation than the sedentary mice.

To test the mice’s immunity, half of each group were injected with Staphylococcus germs after the three weeks finished. This is known as a Staph infection and the germs can lead to severe lung problems resembling pneumonia. While both injrected groups got ill, their bodies responded very differently to germs and this depended on if they had been exercising or not. The swimming mice also had more active immune systems and lower inflammation levels than the sedentary mice. The sedentary mice also didn’t get as ill and experienced far less lung damage.

The research concluded that exercise strengthens the immune system and helps the body to recover faster following an illness. How this works exactly isn’t certain but the two observable effects were fat reduction and regular stress. This is because fat is associated with inflammation so while the mice lowered their size and the number of fat cells, it also decreased the inflammation level in the body. Exercise also causes small trauma to the body tissue, forcing the body into the healing process. According to research, this might act as a kind of practice for the body to draw experience from when dealing with unwanted illness or trauma. The process can cause mice to develop a stronger immune system and be able to better regulate inflammatory levels, keeping any infections at bay.

While the study on mice may not be able to draw precise parallels with humans, many of the results can be applied to humans according to the leaders of the research. It’s therefore a great idea to exercise regularly if you want to avoid the symptoms of a cold. The best exercise is fast walking to improve total circulation and oxygen uptake.

The symptoms of a cold can also be eased by taking enzymes like Serrapeptase such as Serra Enzyme 250,000IU, a good probiotic like Prescript-Biotics and even using acupressure in the form of the HealthPoint™ device, all of which are the recommendations and can be purchased from Good Health Naturally and can help with easing inflammation and pain.