Physical Exercise and Immune System in the Elderly: Implications and Importance in COVID-19 Pandemic Period

Frontiers in Psychology 11 (2020)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Physical exercise is seen as the main ally for health promotion, preventing and protecting the organism from several diseases. According to WHO, there is a tendency of constant growth in the elderly population in the coming years. The regular practice of exercises by the elderly becomes relevant to minimize the deleterious effects of the aging process and to increase the fitness index. Recently, the world population started a confrontation against Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19), which is the most significant public health challenge globally. Although social isolation is a reasonable measure in an attempt to stop contamination by COVID-19, this measure has limited the ability of individuals to exercise outdoors or in gyms and health clubs, which increased the risk of developing chronic illnesses related to a sedentary lifestyle. The critical point is that the recent recommendations on exercise prescription to combat the potentially harmful effects of COVID-19 failure to adequately address resistance exercise interventions as home-based exercise strategy. Thus, in this paper, we discussed the physical exercise as medicine if the training status is enough to protect the elderly against COVID-19 infection, about the role of physical activity on immunosuppression. Possible risks for COVID-19 infection, and the old training methods, such as no-load resistance training as possible resistance exercise strategies and high-intensity interval training, as new proposals of home-based exercise interventions, could perform during the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,616

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Challenges for organ recipients and elderly persons during the COVID-19 Pandemic.Maria-Keiko Yasuoka - 2020 - Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 30 (7):382-385.
COVID-19 Ethics—Looking Down the Muzzle.Grant Gillett - 2020 - Journal of Bioethical Inquiry 17 (4):501-502.
Impacts of COVID19 Pandemic on Care of the Patients with Cancer.Esra Bilir - 2020 - Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 30 (3):111-113.
COVID-19 and mental health: government response and appropriate measures.Genevieve Bandares-Paulino & Randy A. Tudy - 2020 - Eubios Journal of Asian and International Bioethics 30 (7):378-382.

Analytics

Added to PP
2020-12-22

Downloads
12 (#929,749)

6 months
4 (#320,252)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Tetsuya Yamamoto
Osaka University

Citations of this work

No citations found.

Add more citations

References found in this work

No references found.

Add more references