The Covid-19 vaccine is more effective in people who take out the time to exercise, according to a new study conducted by the University of Witwatersrand.
According to the study, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, physical activity is highly effective in minimizing the dangers of the deadly virus, as it reduces its severity.
The study set up three physical activity categories and grouped 53 771 participants in the low levels physical activity category, 32 721 in the medium category, and 79 952 participants were grouped in the high category.
All the participants were adults who initially tested negative for the virus and who had vaccinated with a Johnson & Johnson dose between February and October 2021.
From the low physical activity category, 60% reduced the risk of the virus getting stronger while the numbers increased to 72% in medium category and 86% in the high physical activity group.
Wits University sport and health professor Jon Patricios said those who showed higher levels of physical activity had a better chance to survive hospital admission compared with the individuals who received the vaccine but exercised less.
“The findings suggest a possible dose response where high levels of physical activity were associated with higher vaccine effectiveness,” said Patricios.
“This substantiates the WHO [World Health Organisation] recommendations for regular physical activity, that 150–300 minutes of moderate to intensity physical activity per week has meaningful health benefits in preventing severe disease, in this context against a communicable viral infection.”
Patricios said the study could not establish why the vaccine is most effective in a physically active body, but suggests it may be due to enhanced antibody levels, improved T-cell immunosurveillance, and psychosocial factors.
The protective effect of physical activity appears to result from the exercise’s powerful effect at many levels of the body’s physiology that impact almost every organ system including the immune system.
“Public health messaging should encourage physical activity as a simple, cost-effective way of enhancing vaccine effectiveness to mitigate the risk of severe Covid-19 illness requiring hospital admission.”
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