1 October 2007

Move It & Lose It with Professor Trim

Fighting colds with exercise

[GARRY EGGER]
Dr Garry Egger aka Prof Trim

If you have diabetes and are more prone to colds and flu, here’s another way to protect yourself during cold and flu season. Researchers from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle (American Journal of Medicine, October 2006) found post-menopausal women who work out regularly seem to catch about half the colds of those who don’t. Over 12 months, 115 overweight women either participated in a moderate exercise program – 45 minutes a day, five days a week, mostly brisk walking, or they took part in 45-minute stretching sessions once a week. In the final three months of the study, the risk of colds was three times higher in the stretchers than the exercisers. An even more positive side of exercise for people with diabetes is that it tends to ‘soak up’ blood glucose to be used in muscular contractions and therefore reduces the cause of the problem, i.e. high blood glucose.

[SNEEZE]

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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi, Doc,
What kinds of exercise do you recommend for Quadriplegics (partial, semi-, or complete)? This is a significant challenge for both my friends and myself?
Thanks for your thoughts.

Anonymous said...

We have passed this on to Prof Trim and will post a reply as soon as possible.

Anonymous said...

Here's what Prof Trim says: 'This is a significant problem and one which I have had to deal with before through the old GutBuster program. Full quadraplegics are, of course, totally restricted in the contribution that can be made to the energy expenditure side of the energy balance equation. Hence, greater emphasis has to be put on the energy intake side. The advent of new, nutritionally balanced, meal replacement products now (KicStart, Dr McLeods, 'Success', Optifast), can help this as well as ensure a balanced nutritional intake. However these are only used for 1 or a maximum of 2 meals a day) and other meal intake really does not to be nutritionally balanced to guarantee optimal health. With partial quadriplegics who are able to enjoy some movement, it becomes possible to get some muscular contractions which can aid in weight balance and the maintenance of good health. It depends on the movement availability as to what type of exercise (or more accurately, regular muscular contraction) can be carried out. In my view, the more this is done against resistance, the greater the likely benefits.'