A team of researchers at the Iowa State University have found that 90 minutes of exercise of mild to moderate intensity, directly after taking flu or the Covid-19 vaccine may help in boosting the antibodies, and hence provide an extra boost to the immune system.
According to the recently published study, participants who cycled on a stationary bike or took a brisk walk for an hour-and-a-half after getting a jab produced more antibodies in the following four weeks compared to the participants who didn’t exercise or continued with their daily routine post-immunization. Similar results were found when the researchers ran an experiment only that this time it was with mice and treadmills.
The antibodies are essentially the body’s “search and destroy” line of defense against viruses, bacteria, fungi and parasites. Vaccines help the body’s immune system to learn how to identify something foreign and respond effectively by strengthening the body’s defense mechanism, including an increase in antibodies.
Kinesiology Professor Marian Kohut, who is also the lead author of the paper published in the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity said that their preliminary results are the first to exhibit that a specific amount of time can enhance the body’s antibody response to the Pfizer’s BioNtech Covid-19 vaccine and the two vaccines for influenza.
The researchers said that the findings of the study could directly benefit people with a range of fitness levels. In the present case, almost half of the participants in the experiment had a BMI (Body Mass Index) in the overweight or obese category. During the 90 minutes of exercise, their primary focus was on maintaining a pace that kept their heart rate around 120-140 beats per minute rather than completing a distance.
In the study, the researchers also tested to see if the participants could get the same boost in antibodies with just 45-minutes of exercising. However, it was found that the shorter workout sprints did not increase the participants’ antibody levels. Kohut said that in a follow-up study, the research team may test to see if a 60 minute window is good enough to generate a response.
Reasons for the immunity boost
Kohut said that there may be multiple reasons as to why the prolonged mild- to moderate-intensity exercise can help to improve the body’s immune response. He further detailed that working out increases blood and lymph flow, which helps circulate the immune cells throughout the body. As these cells move around the body, they are more likely to detect something that is foreign to the body.
Data derived from the mouse experiment also suggested that a type of protein (known as interferon-alpha) produced during exercise helps generate virus-specific antibodies and T- cells.
“But a lot more research needs to be done to answer the why and how. There are so many changes that take place when we exercise, such as metabolic, biochemical, neuroendocrine, circulatory. So, there is probably a combination of factors that contribute to the antibody response that we found in our study,” said Kohut.
The researchers, as of now, are continuing to track the antibody response in the participants even after six months of immunization and have launched another study focused on the effects of exercise on people who have received booster shots.
Journal Reference: Justus Hallam, Tyanez Jones, Jessica Alley, Marian L. Kohut. Exercise after influenza or COVID-19 vaccination increases serum antibody without an increase in side effects. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 2022; 102: 1 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbi.2022.02.005
