Exercise, Meditation Can Beat Back Cold, Flu, Study Finds

July 12th, 2012

FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda

THURSDAY, July 12 (HealthDay News) — New research suggests that
regular exercise or meditation may be among the best ways to reduce acute
respiratory infections.

A small study of 149 active and sedentary adults aged 50 years and
older compared the preventive effects of moderate exercise and mindful
meditation on the severity of respiratory infections, such as cold and
flu, during a full winter season in Wisconsin.

The researchers found that those participants who started a daily
exercise routine had fewer bouts of respiratory infections and missed
fewer days of work. The investigators also found that those doing
mindfulness meditation, which focuses on paying attention to your body and
emotions, were more protected against illness.

The study was published in the July/August issue of the Annals of
Family Medicine.

“The results are remarkable; we saw a 40 to 50 percent reduction in
respiratory infections,” said Dr. Bruce Barrett, an associate professor of
family medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the lead author
of the study.

“When we give flu vaccines, which is one of the most well-proven and
beneficial interventions that we have, it only protects at a level of 50
to 60 percent and only for a few strains of [flu] virus,” Barrett added.
However, he noted, it could be more difficult for some people to get
regular exercise or practice meditation than to get a single flu shot.

It was not clear how physical and mental workouts could help ward off
sickness. While the study uncovered an association between the mind and
body activities and less illness, it did not prove a cause-and-effect
relationship.

“My thinking is that mindfulness meditation would reduce perceived
stress and that exercise would work through more physiological pathways
[to improve] the immune system,” Barrett said.

The flu virus is associated with about 36,000 deaths and half a million
hospitalizations in the United States every year, the study authors noted.
And illnesses caused by other viruses, such as the one responsible for the
common cold, are to blame for 40 million days of missed work and school
every year.

The study involved mostly white women who were not already meditating
or doing moderate exercise more than once a week. They were randomly
broken into three groups: one-third did not change their habits;
one-third started an eight-week program of moderate exercise, such as
running on a treadmill and biking, for 45 minutes a day with weekly
training sessions; the rest spent the same amount of time in mindfulness
meditation, which included yoga, stretching, walking and other activities
with an instructor and on their own.

The researchers followed the participants for one cold and flu season
and asked them to call at the first sign of an illness and keep a diary of
their symptoms.

During the season, the results showed, those who meditated had 27
episodes of acute respiratory illness and a combined total of 257 days of
illness; those who exercised had 241 sick days and 26 episodes. That
compared to 40 episodes and 453 sick days for those who did not change
their habits.

The meditation group lost 16 days of work to illness, the exercise
group lost 32, and the group that did not change their habits missed 67
days. But the difference was only large enough to be considered meaningful
for the relationship between meditation and missed work, according to
statistical requirements that the authors set before the study
started.

Nonetheless, the numbers all suggested that exercise and meditation
reduce respiratory illness, Barrett said. “This trial convinced me that
they worked,” he added.

The study also suggested that, although the benefits of meditation and
exercise were similar, when individuals in the meditation group did fall
ill, they seemed to suffer less and feel sick for less amount of time.

“This study is a really useful addition to the literature,” said James
Carmody, who has studied meditation and chronic illness at the University
of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester.

Research has found that mindfulness training reliably affects the way
people perceive their symptoms of illness and reduces stress, Carmody
said, although there is less evidence that their bodies actually respond
differently to infections.

“If I can redirect my attention and not have it so compelled by the
runny nose or the sore throat, I’m going to be less bothered by colds,”
Carmody added.

David Nieman, a professor of exercise science at Appalachian State
University, thinks that both exercise and meditation might make people
less susceptible to illness by reducing their stress levels.

But the benefits of exercise are fleeting, he added. His own research
found that people who exercised five days a week had the largest reduction
in cold symptoms, while those that exercised only a few days a week had
intermediary benefits.

More information

To learn more about meditation practices and health, visit the U.S. National
Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.