There is limited existing evidence to support the common assumption that strenuous endurance exercise bouts impair immune competency In summary, based on current evidence, it is misleading to state that any form of exercise is immuno-suppressive. This belief is counterproductive for encouraging exercise as a preventative and therapeutic strategy for chronic disease. Indeed, we encourage research that examines exercise-induced enhancement of immune competency, which could be particularly beneficial for elderly people and patients with diseases that have an immunological etiology. For example, the acute immune response to single exercise bouts, and chronic adaptation with regular endurance exercise training, both bolster immune responses to vaccination in younger and older people [36]. When forms of exercise are prescribed to reduce cancer risk or to facilitate cancer therapy, there are likely to be multiple mechanisms, and some are probably immunological. These mechanisms might elicit their effects via the transitory responses to acute exercise bouts, the cumulative effects of repeated transitory responses, or the long-term chronic adaptation with exercise training. However, in settings where tumor cells have developed – or are perhaps developing – a strong emphasis has been placed on the effects that individual bouts of exercise can have. For example, acute moderate-to-vigorous intensity endurance exercise stimulates Natural Killer cells to detect and eliminate tumors (or precancer cells) [37]. In addition, serum collected immediately after acute endurance exercise bouts has been shown to impair breast cancer cell viability, but serum collected at rest after long-term endurance training had no effects [38]. Finally, being regularly active, partly by engaging in forms of exercise, might limit or delay aging of the immune system, potentially reducing the chance of developing infections and cancer.
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