Run, stretch or dance: Exercise could improve COVID vaccine effectiveness, new study shows
Global News
Despite receiving the same jab, those who exercised the most were nearly 26 per cent less likely to be hospitalized because of the COVID-19 virus, the study found.
Vaccination and physical activity have both been considered helpful when it comes to lowering the risk of severe COVID-19 infections, and now, a new study has found that regular exercise could improve vaccine effectiveness.
Compared to those who are vaccinated with low exercise levels, vaccinated individuals with moderate and high levels of physical activity had (1.4 and 2.8 times respectively) lower risk of being admitted to the hospital with COVID, found the study, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
“This research adds to the growing body of evidence supporting the growing advantages of regular physical activity,” Jon Patricios, the study’s principal investigator and professor of sports and exercise medicine at the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, told Global News.
The study involved nearly 200,000 participants from South Africa aged 18 and above categorized into low, moderate and high activity groups to test the hypothesis that exercise is an “effect modifier” on the relationship between vaccination and hospitalization.
“What this research tells us is that getting a COVID-19 vaccine – or a second, third or fourth COVID vaccine – as well as being active are good for your health and will hopefully contribute towards better outcomes if you do contract COVID-19,” Jennifer Jackson, a registered nurse and assistant professor at the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Nursing, told Global News.
And, according to Jackson, every little bit of physical activity counts.
“Physical activity can be whatever is within reach for you,” she said. “For some people, it might be doing some stretches in the wheelchair. For other people, it might be a bike ride every morning.”
“But I think the important thing is to move your body in a way that feels right for you.”
