Find out how physical activity affects your immunity and why diseases cling more often in winter. Many people are sure that athletes get sick more often than ordinary people, as their immunity is undermined by excessive exertion. It should be recognized that athletes can actually get sick and there are various explanations for this. However, this does not mean at all that sport is excessive harm to health. Today we will talk not only about why athletes get sick more often in winter, like ordinary people, but we will try to dispel numerous myths associated with this issue.
For example, many people believe that playing basketball helps them grow, while weightlifting makes an athlete shorter. However, the results of scientific research indicate the opposite and weightlifters, especially thanks to squats, can add in height. The fact that tall athletes play basketball speaks only of the selection criteria in the section.
Why athletes get sick more often in winter: myths and facts
Let's figure out why athletes get sick more often in winter, or is this still a false statement? In fact, this is a rather complex issue that requires detailed consideration. Let's start with who we should call an athlete. Where is the line that separates athletes from athletes?
It is also worth clarifying what disease we mean when we want to know why athletes get sick more often in winter. After all, there are a lot of diseases and a sick tooth should also be counted among them, on an equal footing with a heart attack or not. If older people often go to doctors for various reasons, then young people try to avoid visiting the clinic so as not to stand in line to see a doctor. It is quite obvious that the comparison of different age groups will not be correct.
As a result, it turns out that people just sit and argue why athletes get sick more often in winter, because sports can worsen immunity. It's not even worth talking about the nervous system, because training also affects its work negatively, and, as we know, almost all diseases are from nerves. This “fire” of reasoning is being poured into oil and the media by advertising various products, such as yoghurts, which contain beneficial bacteria. As a result, it is enough to use them and diseases will bypass you.
On the other hand, no one is trying to deny that excessive physical activity can become a causal overwork, which in turn, in theory, will become one of the factors of pathological changes in the body. Agree that athletes are people too and the negative impact of the environment affects them in the same way as you and me.
You've probably noticed that today we often say “maybe,” “in theory,” and so on. The thing is that a direct relationship between sports and frequent illnesses has not yet been identified. We agree that strenuous physical activity can load the immune and nervous system. However, it should be remembered that these loads are regular and the body adapts to them.
Moreover, the body in this situation adapts not only to physical stress, but to the effects of the environment. When the body is in a pre-pathological state, the immune system is stimulated and, as a result, adaptation occurs. Thus, training does not necessarily lead to a breakdown of the immune system.
According to official information on the territory of Russia, an average of 30 percent of athletes are ill. However, these numbers should not be feared until the moment when they cannot be compared with other indicators. Otherwise, we can say that these are low numbers. To answer the question why athletes get sick more often in winter, it is necessary to have a complete understanding of the whole picture of athletes' diseases. However, this is not so easy to do, because many athletes are treated at their place of residence. Now we want to say that the statistics provided by various dispensaries are not complete and are not able to show the real state of affairs.
But the positive effect of physical activity on the body has been confirmed in the course of numerous studies not only in our country, but also in the West. At the same time, it is worth looking more in the direction of foreign studies, since they are carried out there more often and are of a larger scale. But for now we will talk about the situation in our country.
Scientists under the leadership of R. A. Eremenko. About 10 thousand workers from 15 industrial enterprises of the country took part in the study. As a result, the incidence of acute respiratory infections among men and women involved in sports was about 9 and 10 percent, respectively. In those people who do not engage in physical education, the rates of diseases were 22 and almost 30 percent.
The second large-scale study showed that after the start of sports, the number of days spent on sick leave in women decreased from 16 to 4.5, while in the control group, these indicators remained unchanged. To confirm the importance of physical education for a person, we present the results of another study, which analyzed the indicators of 10 thousand people. As a result, the incidence of diseases among athletes is two or even three times lower in comparison with the bulk of the country's population. We remember that today we want to find an answer to the question why athletes get sick more often in winter, and we return to its further discussion. In the course of studies of cases of diseases of athletes, athletes under 15 years of age most often get sick. Gradually, this figure falls and after 30 years is already about 30 percent, instead of the previous 40. At the same time, scientists were able to find a pattern in reducing the number of diseases depending on the sports category.
Agree that these numbers speak volumes, although the results of any study can be disputed. You must understand that an athlete is primarily a person and may well get sick. In 1971, the structure of diseases and their duration was compiled among athletes and ordinary people. Before the start of the study, candidates were selected for the absence of chronic diseases.
Only men and mostly young men took part in the experiment, and their living conditions did not differ significantly. Morbidity analysis has been carried out over the past three years. As a result, scientists stated the fact that athletes are less susceptible not only to colds, but also diseases of the skin, digestive system and organs of vision. But diseases of the musculoskeletal system, as well as the peripheral nervous system, are more common in athletes. This is understandable, because physical activity just affects these systems. Summing up, the scientists came to the conclusion that athletes are less susceptible to various diseases, which, among other things, do not occur acutely.
Moreover, there is a wealth of evidence when athletes were able to overcome serious diseases such as cancer. Lance Armstrong's cancer was in an extremely critical condition, and metastases had already spread throughout the body. However, the athlete did not give up and after a course of the strongest chemotherapy for two years he actively worked in training, exposing his body to serious stress. As a result, not only did the disease recede, but Armstrong became the only 7-time winner of the prestigious Tour de France cycling race.
The famous basketball player Magic Johnson is another example. At the end of his illustrious career, he fell ill with AIDS, but did not agree to surrender to the mercy of the disease. He was able to return to the big sport and further increased his fame, becoming the champion of the Olympic Games and the title of the most valuable player in the All-Star Game.
Tim Howard suffers from severe tics, and his hands can move out of order regardless of his wishes. Most often, a normal person in such a situation is not able to control their movements, and this disease is still incurable, and there are no cures for it yet. However, Howard was able to become the best goalkeeper of the England championship seven times in a row, won the FA Cup as well as the CONCACAF Cup. Do not forget that it is Tim Howard who holds the record for the number of matches played without conceding goals. And it happened in the championship of England!
In the body of Lionel Messi, the most popular football player who defends the colors of the Spanish "Barcelona" and the Argentine national team, growth hormone is produced in insufficient quantities. It is with this that his short stature is associated and many of us would give up, but not Lionel. Today he is one of the best players on the planet, and it will definitely not work to achieve this by practicing half-heartedly to maintain health. Mario Lemieux suffers from a serious illness - Hodgkin's disease. Scientists have not yet established the reasons for its development, which indicates the lack of treatment methods. However, Lemieux was able to become an Olympic champion and twice triumphantly lifted the Stanley Cup over his head. Perhaps some clarification should be given here. With Hodgkin's disease, people cannot even move without experiencing severe pain.
This is not a complete list of athletes who have been able to defeat various serious diseases. It will be big enough, but you just have to understand that everyone is capable of getting sick and it doesn't matter if they play sports or not.
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