Tuesday, April 20, 2021

[ Civid - 19 - Prevention Exercise.]


Now, the researchers drew anonymized records for 48,440 adult men 
and women who used the Kaiser health care system, had their exercise 
habits checked at least three times in recent years and, in 2020, 
had been diagnosed with Covid-19. The researchers grouped 
the men and women by workout routines, with the least active group 
exercising for 10 minutes or less most weeks; the most active for at 
least 150 minutes a week; and the somewhat-active group occupying 
the territory in between. 
Editors’ Picks 
There’s a Name for the Blah You’re Feeling: It’s Called Languishing 
Why Reopening Ceremonies Are So Important in New York Right Now 
Why the Worst N.B.A. Player Is (Probably) Still Better Than You

The researchers gathered data, too, about each person’s known risk 
factors for severe Covid, including their age, smoking habits, weight, 
and any history of cancer, diabetes, organ transplants, kidney problems 
and other serious, underlying conditions.

Then the researchers crosschecked numbers, with arresting results. 
People in the least-active group, who almost never exercised, 
wound up hospitalized 
because of Covid at twice the rate of people in the most-active group, 
and were 
subsequently about two-and-a-half times more likely to die. Even 
compared to people in the somewhat-active group, they were 
hospitalized about 20 percent more often and were about 30 percent 
more likely to die.

  
The Kaiser Permanente health care system was well suited for this 
investigation, because, since 2009, it has included exercise as 
a “vital sign” during patient visits. In practice, this means doctors 
and nurses ask patients how many days each week they exercise, 
such as by walking briskly, and for how many 
minutes each time, then add that data to the patient’s medical record.

Now, the researchers drew anonymized records for 48,440 adult men 
and women who used the Kaiser health care system, had their exercise 
habits checked at least three times in recent years and, in 2020, had 
been diagnosed with Covid-19. The researchers grouped the men and 
women by workout routines, with the least active
group exercising for 10 minutes or less most weeks; the most active 
for at least 150 minutes a week; and the somewhat-active group 
occupying the territory in between.Editors’ Picks 
There’s a Name for the Blah You’re Feeling: It’s Called Languishing 
Why Reopening Ceremonies Are So Important in New York Right Now

  
Of the other common risk factors for severe disease, only 
advanced age and organ transplants increased the likelihood of 
hospitalization and mortality 
from Covid ore than being inactive, the scientists found.

“Being sedentary was the greatest risk factor” for severe illness, 
“unless someone was elderly or an organ recipient,” says 
Dr. Robert Sallis, a family and sports medicine doctor at the 
Kaiser Permanente Fontana Medical Center, who led the new study. 
And while “you can’t do anything about those other risks,” he says, 
“you can exercise.”Of course, this study, because it was observational, 
does not prove that exercise causes severe Covid risks to drop,
but only that people who often exercise also are people with 
low risks of falling gravely ill. The study also did not delve 
into whether exercise reduces the risk of becoming infected with 
coronavirus in the first place. Dr.Sallis points out that the 
associations in the study were strong. 
“I think, based on this data,” he says, “we can tell people that 
walking briskly for half an hour five times a week should help protect 
them against severe Covid-19.”

A walk — or five — might be especially beneficial for people awaiting 
their first vaccine, he adds. “I would never suggest that someone who 
does regular exercise should consider not getting the vaccine. 
But until they can get it, I think regular exercise is the most important 
thing they can do to lessen their risk. And doing regular exercise will 
likely be protective against any new variants, 
or the next new virus out there.”