Immune Response to Exercise

KOCH, A. Immune Response to Exercise. Brazilian Journal of Biomotricity, v. 4, n. 2, p 92-103, 2010.Exercise produces transient perturbations in immunity, including alterations in circulating leukocyte numbers,cytokine concentration, and some measures of cell function. These changes are typically interpreted asbeing transiently detrimental to host defense. The mechanisms responsible for these immune fluctuationsappear to be neuroendocrine-mediated alterations in cell-trafficking and function and microtrauma-mediatedalterations in cytokine release. Alterations in immunity following exercise follow a similar pattern, but vary inmagnitude depending on the volume and intensity of the exercise performed. In general, these alterationsare resolved within a few hours. However, exercise induced changes in immunity may become clinicallyrelevant after extremely prolonged bouts of exercise or repeated exercise bouts with insufficient recovery.Regular training appears to attenuate the immune response to exercise. Care should be taken to ensure thattraining is planned, with adequate variation in intensity and volume over time, to ensure recovery betweensessions and avoid chronic systemic inflammation.