Describe the relationship between amount of exercise and susceptibility to illness
How was this shown by illness levels at London 2012 Olympics?
For the average person… Does activity reduce their susceptibility to illness?
Describe the results shown by the study that showed this during the winter:
YES,
- General PA reduces the risk of RI(respiratory infections)
How does moderate-vigorous activity effect a person’s susceptibility to illness?
Why is infection detrimental to elite athletes?
By what percentage is success reduced for every week of incomplete training?
“You can’t train if you are always sick” - Martensson, Nordebo and Malm. J Sports Sci Med (2014).
- Affects performance goals as elite athletes that are sick cannot make training - More tolerant to illness, so elite have a slightly lower risk
What are the 2 groups of white blood cells involved in the 1st line of defence?
What is the non-specific response?
What is the specific response?
Where are the T cells created?
- what response do they elicit
Where are the B cells created?
- what response do they elicit
Describe the cell mediated response of Tcells
What role do THelper cells play?
What is the role of Tregs?
Cell-mediated response - Tcells are responsible for making copies of themselves
What is the job of Cytotoxic Tcells?
T-cytotoxic cells(killing Tcells):
- Destroy infected cells by inserting pore forming molecules (‘perforins’/pins) into the infected cell membrane, causing it to lyse(insides come out)
- Cytotoxic t-lymphocyte - A specialized white blood cell responsible for eliminating unwanted body cells (e.g.: cancer) is killing a cell infected with the influenza
Explain the role of Bcells
Bcells become bigger and mature into plasma cells, secreting antibodies(Ig)
- When binds to antigen, it is specific to that illness
- Antibodies floats around in tears, blood, sweat
- Antibodies recognise certain shapes of antigens(therefore bind to them) - this also creates a signal to other immune cells(flag)
- This is the theory behind booster injection(memory Bcells)
Describe how aerobic exercise is related to naïve cytotoxic Tcells (CD8)
Aerobic fitness was positively related to proportion of naïve cytotoxic (CD8) T cells
- 100 men aged between 18-61
- Naïve(ready for action) not come into contact with agent before
- Aerobic training was positively related to number of naïve cells(above average = more active)
○ Therefore should be better at dealing with illness
How is aerobic exercise related to the number of exhausted THelper cells (CD4)?
Aerobic fitness was negatively related to the proportion of exhausted T helper (CD4) and cytotoxic (CD8) cells
- Grown and divide too many times(useless)
- Above average fitness for their age had fewer shattered Tcells
How does regular PA impact a person’s ability to proliferate Tcells?
What is IgA?
How does exercise impact the level of IgA a person has?
IgA(immunoglobulin A) found in saliva, is first immune response to infectious agents
○ IgA is associated in a lot fewer severe symptoms days
- Illnesses are mainly through inhaling/swallowing
- Those in 12 week training study had more IgA in saliva
- Game seasons had most suppression in the defence against respiratory infection
- Seasons when IgA was lowest, when training was the highest = players has the highest rate of infection
How does training load affect the amount of anti-viral Tcells?
What are some factors which increase a person’s risk of infection?
What are some ways to resolve this?
All stress, bad diet and lack of sleep supress immune function
All immune cells need a sufficient source of energy
To reduce chances of infection we can:
- Reduces number of pathogens we are exposed to
- Increase immune function(recovery)
- Increasing hygiene can prevent illness
- Do not share utensils, drinks bottles
- Isolate people that are infected quickly
Name some nutritional supplements that an athlete may take to reduce an athletes severity and risk of infection
What are probiotics?
How do they work?
What effect does taking probiotics have on seasonal levels of IgA?
What is vitamin D taken for?
Vitamin D is important for bone health and muscle function