Exercise May Increase Effects of Covid or Flu Vaccine

Volunteers who exercised then mounted a stationary bike or walked for 90 minutes after their vaccination, either in the lab or outside, on sidewalks near COVID vaccine sites. They worked at a slightly challenging pace, aiming to keep their heart rate between about 120 and 140 beats per minute. But the researchers asked some flu shot volunteers to take just 45 minutes to see if the shorter run would be equally effective at boosting immunity.

Because antibody levels tended to increase in the weeks following vaccination, the researchers again drew blood from everyone two and four weeks after vaccination. (Since a second Pfizer vaccine had to be given three weeks after the first, people who had the Covid vaccine got their second shot in the meantime.)

45 minutes is not enough.

A month later, everyone’s antibody levels to the flu or Covid vaccine rose significantly, as expected after getting vaccinated. But it was highest in men and women who exercised for 90 minutes afterwards. This antibody bonus was not huge. “But it was statistically significant,” said Marian Kohut, professor of kinesiology and member of the Nanovaccine Institute at Iowa State, who oversaw the new study.

People who exercised also did not report any additional side effects after their shots. (They also experienced no fewer side effects.)

Interestingly, 45 minutes of exercise was not sufficient to raise antibodies in this study. Dr. The shorter run probably didn’t increase levels of substances needed to boost immunity, including interferon alpha, Kohut said.

The researchers also repeated the flu shot trial in mice that then ran or remained sedentary. Researchers checked their blood for interferon alpha levels and found that they were higher with exercise. But if the scientists chemically blocked the production of the substance, the animals did gain a little extra antibody benefit from the exercise, suggesting that exercise improves vaccine response primarily by raising interferon alpha levels.

So the bottom line, he said, is that if you “have time and a safe place to exercise after the vaccine,” a 90-minute session of moderate exercise can increase your vaccine response. Effects.