Tag Archive for 'attività motoria'

Physical activity and risk of infection

Ezzatvar Y, Ramírez-Vélez R, Izquierdo M, et al Physical activity and risk of infection, severity and mortality of COVID-19: a systematic review and non-linear dose–response meta-analysis of data from 1 853 610 adults British Journal of Sports Medicine Published Online First: 22 August 2022. 

Our analysis reveals that individuals who engage in regular physical activity have lower likelihood of SARS-CoV-2 infection, COVID-19 hospitalisation, severe COVID-19 illness and COVID-19-related death than physically inactive individuals.

We found the following evidence:

The association between regular physical activity and an 11% lower risk of COVID-19 infection.

Engaging regularly in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity is associated with 31% lower prospective risk of infectious disease and 37% lower risk of infectious disease-related mortality.

Participating in physical activity has been reported to reduce the incidence of community-acquired pneumonia and the risk of acute respiratory infections (eg, upper respiratory tract infection).

Adults who engage in regular physical activity have lower risk of COVID-19 hospitalisation and severe COVID-19 illness than those who are physical inactive.

Physically active people will have less severe symptoms, shorter recovery times and may be less likely to infect others they come into contact with.

High physical activity level was a protective factor for COVID-19 mortality.

Several mechanisms have been suggested for the putative protective effects of physical activity in the immune system:

In healthy humans, physical activity has been linked to reduced systemic inflammation, enhanced natural killer cell cytolytic activity, increased T-cell proliferative capacity, lower circulatory levels of inflammatory cytokines (ie, decreased ‘inflamm-ageing’) and increased neutrophil phagocytic activity, which can all enhance viral control. Thus, regular moderate-intensity exercise may be effective in enhancing anti-inflammatory responses,

The level of cardiorespiratory and muscular fitness of the individuals, as both likely play a pivotal role in explaining the protective effect of physical activity on COVID-19 hospitalisation, severity and mortality.

Furthermore, individuals from lower socioeconomic status and low-income or middle-income countries may face additional difficulties in engaging in regular leisure physical activity compared with those from higher socioeconomic backgrounds (ie, limited resources, living in neighbourhoods with less access to parks or with less walkability, paying the costs of participating in registered sports or membership in sport clubs), which may place an even greater pandemic burden on these marginalised groups. The challenge is to ensure equitable access to physical activity to ensure better health outcomes for all.

Several limitations must be considered when interpreting our results:

Most of the participants included in the 16 studies were mainly exposed to the infectious Beta and Delta variants, before the Omicron variant became prevalent globally.

Most of the studies used self-reported questionnaires to determine physical activity levels, which may lead to misclassification (ie, an underestimation of the magnitude of true association) and used different definitions to determine physical activity levels.

Most of the studies obtained data on physical activity status at a single point and collected only leisure-time activities, and not household and occupation-related physical activities, which may impact the magnitude of true associations.

In GB: PE is a more important school subject than history

The British public thinks it is more important secondary school children have PE lessons than study history, according to a study by YouGov.

The survey asked British adults which subjects they felt were the most important to study in schools, and physical education ranked more highly than many other subjects, including history and religious education.

Out of 1,648 respondents, 42 per cent ranked PE as very important, compared to 39 per cent who think history is very important and 12 per cent for religious studies.

The YouGov results

Physical activity in the curriculum: impact in Schools of Medicine and new healthcare professionals

Embedding physical activity in the undergraduate healthcare curriculum is an important step to building capacity in the future workforce to promote physical activity, every contact.
This podcast features two UK medical schools and schools of health describing their approaches to upskilling tomorrow’s healthcare professionals, in physical activity, for tomorrow’s patients using the #MovementForMovement educational resources and a community of practice approach.
More about Ann Gates here: www.exercise-works.org/.

 

The motor activity pyramid

In Italy there are few hours of physical activity in school and that there is not a global project to solve this problem. Once again, the solution of the problem is only on the shoulders of the families, who often do not have a familiarity with the active sport and even less with the movement. The union of these two constraints leads to an early exit from the sport by girls as early as the secondary school, which in the male is two/three years later. In fact,  less than 50% of young people of 15 years old  is involved  in sport on regular basis. The Italian Society of Pediatrics, on the occasion of the International Day of the Child and Adolescent, presented  the Motor Activity Pyramid, illustrating the characteristics of a healthy and active lifestyle. Unfortunately, it’s an issue that is not perceived as important by politicians but also by the adult people and for which the data showing that a sedentary lifestyle is the cause of many diseases are not so far been sufficient to give importance to this theme compared to those showing that smoking brings to the cancer, instead of which the majority of people are convinced.