ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Endurance Exercise Stress and Immunosupression Response

Updated on February 5, 2013

Immunosuppression in Sport

Immunosuppression and immunodeficiency disorders inhibit the effectiveness of the immune system. Generally when the immune system detects an antigen (Examples of antigens include bacteria, viruses, toxins, as well as foreign blood or tissues from another human or other being) it will produce antibodies to destroy the antigen.

The immune system is made up of the lymphoid tissues which includes, lymph nodes, thymus, the tonsils, and parts of the spleen and gastrointestinal tract as well as the lymph nodes.

Immune System Suppression and Sport

Immune System Suppression due to Endurance Exercise
Immune System Suppression due to Endurance Exercise | Source

Endurance Exercise related Immunosuppressants

  • Physical Stress
  • Environmental Stress
  • Psychological Stress
  • Nutritional Stress


Physical Stress from Exercise

Physical stress from exercise relates to an athlete's management of their training load. Therefore an athletes response to training stresses such as performance, muscle soreness and perception of exercise effort need to be monitored on a regular basis.

Many factors can increase stress hormone response to exercise and therefore have an influence on immunosuppression including

  • Fasting/ inappropriate diet
  • low glycogen stores
  • dehydration
  • sleep deprivation
  • Effect of altitude (hypoxia)
  • Jet Lag
  • Psychological stress
  • Extremes of heat/ cold
  • Weather conditions.

Athletes must manage their training load to balance exercise and recovery to reduce the impact of these factors to a minimum. Therefore it is essential for athletes to periodize their training load.

Environmental Stress

Cold and altitude environmental stress can lead to immunosuppression.
Cold and altitude environmental stress can lead to immunosuppression. | Source

Environmental Stress from Exercise

Athletes are often required to compete in various different environmental extremes- often within the same training session or event!. Environmental extremes can range from;

Environmental Stress from Exercise: Temperature (Hot and Cold)

Exercise performed in extremes of temperature can cause increased immunosuppression when compared to temperate climates.

Temperatures over 30 degrees celsius can be associated with increased adrenaline and cortisol responses.

Environmental stress from exercise due to severe cold causes reduced immune system response by impairing mucus membrane defenses and reduced IgA secretion. Also increased mouth breathing bypasses the warming effect of the nasal passages and exposes the tracheal mucosa to severe cold conditions as well as increased levels of airborne pathogens.

Environmental Stress from Exercise: Altitude

Raises in altitude cause increased plasma cortisol levels and is associated with impaired immune response at high altitude. This may be due to factors including hypoxia, acute mountain sickness, travel and living conditions leading to increased immunosuppression.

Psychological Stress from Exercise

Psychological stress from exercise and life events generally can result in immunosuppression and increased incidence of infection

Athletes face added psychological stress from competition, team pressures, potential commercial pressures, travel, funding as well as majot life events they may face such as family bereavements.

Nutritional Stress from Exercise

Nutrient deficiency can have a severely negative effect on general health and sporting performance depending on duration of the nutritional stress. Mild deficiency of a single nutrient can result in a negative immune response.

Exercise after several days on a low carbohydrate diet has been previously proven to raise stress hormones and increase immunosuppression post exercise. Carbohydrate in isotonic and hypertonic drinks has been shown to increase the rate of fluid uptake during exercise leading to greater hydration levels and warding off dehydration which can also lead to immunosuppression.

Inadequate protein intake also lowers immune system response due to impairing the body's ability to repair itself leading to immunosuppression.

Excessive intake of some nutrients can also have the potential to cause a negative immune system response

  • Vitamin E
  • Iron
  • Zinc
  • Omega-3 polyunsaturated acids

How Can you minimize your risk of immunosuppression? Click the below link to read more.

Minimizing The Risk Of Immunosuppression In Endurance Athletes

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)