It truly is badass, aging’s effect on our immune system! As the years pass, everything changes within and on the outer of our bodies. This blog, hopefully, will increase your knowledge of how the area of immunity! We hear from all caring sources – exercise no matter how long – move! Our body’s defenses are altered – and not for the better! Age brings inflammation and chronic inflammation reaps havoc throat our bodies’ systems. Not always bad inflammation is a natural part of the immune response and occurs when our body is healing or needs to fight infection.
The immune system especially has a problem with chronic inflammation. Also, abnormally high levels of inflammation will occur with any affront to our system, including vaccination.
We begin to lose control over the immune system, now you know why the seniors need to be at a priority for vaccinations, even the healthy ones.
Inflammation part of the immune response also happens when our body is healing or needs to fight infection. Now you understand the title describing with age comes ‘badass’ issues. And when these high levels linger over a long period of time, it can cause tissue damage, which can even lead to the development of cancer. Plain and simple! REfresh your background knowledge by listening to Doc’s podcast on Immunity.
Long-term inflammation also is known to cause shortening of telomeres (protective structures located at the ends of chromosomes), you’ve heard of them?
The 2009 Nobel Prize went to Elizebeth Blackburn, Ph.D., the author of a must-read book – The Telomere Effect: A Revolutionary Approach to Living Younger, Healthier, Longer
Lifestyle including diet, sleep, and exercise can alter the length of the telomeres. Longer telomeres are good and shorter telomeres are not good at all and associated with increased risk of cancer, with the liver being particularly susceptible to these changes. The fewer damaged telomeres, the less fat in the liver and longer you could live. Exercise surprises inflammation-driven cellular aging and tumor development.
Now to what got me going on this badass concept – a new study! Regular gentle exercise could play a role in reversing liver damage that can lead to cancer. The study was done in mice and next to be studied is us, humans.
A modest amount of aerobic exercise in mice reduced the levels of inflammation in the liver that develops from adding years, but was reversed and went on to prevent tumors from developing. Also noted that fat in the liver was reduced.
The lungs of the mice were also studied and found to decrease inflammatory markers including T and B lymphocytes that are integral to the proper function of the immune system.
You may have heard them mentioned as memory cells once vaccination or infection occurs. They can recall the SARS-CoV-2 virus and make antibodies usually years later. However, with the current virus pandemic, it is not yet known how long our ‘immunity’ will last.
This was published in the Journal of Immunology, was funded by Cancer Research UK.
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