New advice to help healthcare professionals promote exercise as a way of improving immunity has been launched by a team of medical experts in Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW) and exercise scientists in the University of Birmingham’s School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences.
The aim is to guide GPs, nurses and other clinical practitioners to reinforce the benefits of physical activity and structured exercise, particularly in the wake of lockdown measures imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
By providing evidence for how both single and regular sessions of exercise can prime the immune system to work more effectively, the guidance explains how exercise can support the immune system to fight off common infections and lower the risk of various health conditions. The team also offer practical advice for different individuals as to how they might undertake physical activity and/or exercise to minimise the severity of COVID-19 symptoms, if infected.
A factsheet outlining the new advice is available via the Motivate2Move pages of HEIW’s website, as well as being accessible via the RCN and RCGP physical activity toolkits websites. The Colleges have also updated the existing factsheet advice on ‘Supporting people to change their health behaviour change’, with further practical advice and examples of case histories.
To read more please click here.
Posted on 28th September 2020