Does Exercise Really Reduce Risk?

A New US study People with low physical activity have been shown to be more likely to be hospitalized and die of COVID-19. According to these new calculations, inactivity increases the risk of COVID-19 more than any other risk factor, except for age and having undergone an organ transplant. If this is correct, it’s a big deal.

In this study, healthcare providers asked people about how much they exercised in the two years before the pandemic. Using this information, people were divided into three groups. The first group, called “consistently inactive,” was exercise within 10 minutes a week. The second group engaged in “some activity” – between 11 and 149 minutes of exercise per week. The third group met consistently Physical activity guidelines, Exercise for more than 150 minutes a week. Exercise was defined as moderate to intense activity. An example is “active walking”.

People who were inactive consistently were more than twice as likely to be hospitalized and die of COVID-19 as those who were exercising for at least 150 minutes a week. They were also at higher risk of hospitalization and death than those with some physical activity.

There are many reasons to trust this study. We use data from about 50,000 people infected with COVID-19 between January and October 2020.Information about how much they exercised Collected before COVID-19 I came to the scene-that is, I wasn’t affected by the results of people’s COVID-19. Researchers also sought to take into account things that could distort the situation, for example, how old someone was and what other health conditions they had.

However, there are many reasons to be careful. First, instead of assessing exercise in an objective way, people themselves reported their activity.

However, the biggest problem is Confounding – That is, an unmeasured element that distorts the image. This occurs when exposure (in this case exercise) and outcome (in this case COVID-19 hospitalization and death) are also affected by another unmeasured variable, the “confounding factor”.

Let’s look at a classic example: murder and ice cream. If you look at it over the years, you’ll see that the murders fluctuate with ice cream sales. But no one thinks ice cream will cause murder. Or, I don’t think I’m likely to eat ice cream because I’ve committed murder.

The problem here is confounding, and the weather is the confounding factor. Not surprisingly, ice cream sales are high during the hot season. Interestingly Murder also rises at high temperatures..

When considering the relationship between COVID-19 results and physical activity, the possible confounding factors are almost endless.Long-term health condition such as diabetes COVID-19 Increase risk It can make exercise more difficult. Lack of exercise can also cause or exacerbate some long-term conditions. The author tried to consider this, but it was difficult to have complete control.

Also, regardless of age Vulnerability is a risk factor Due to the worse results from COVID-19, and of course the vulnerability also affects physical activity. Socio-economic factors also have a role to play.Underprivileged group of people Greater risk with COVID-19..Disadvantages are also linked to There are few opportunities Engaging in leisure physical activity – most often the type of exercise this study was measuring.

In short, many behavioral and environmental factors are interrelated, such as diet, weight, alcohol and drug use, and physical activity. It can be very difficult to unravel the mutual influence.

Despite these restrictions, the good news is that it is generally a good idea to do more exercise, whether or not inactivity is a major risk factor for COVID-19. Being more aggressive improves health and well-being and reduces the risk of developing illness.For those who are already living in long-term health, it can also be Improve disease management And the result.

who teach Some physical activity is better than nothing, and more physical activity is even better. It also emphasizes the need to reduce the amount of time you tend to sit, that is, the time you spend sitting and lying down.

Therefore, it is a wise suggestion to meet physical activity guidelines, whether or not inactivity doubles the risk of dying from COVID-19. And perhaps what I like most about this study is that, unlike some other risk factors for COVID-19, physical activity is variable. You cannot change your age. In most cases, our long-term health remains with us. But with the right support, most of us can be more proactive.