Exercise can prevent the fatal complications of COVID-19.

May 1, 2020 / / -- Regular exercise may reduce the risk of acute respiratory distress syndrome, the leading cause of death in patients with COVID-19 virus, a top exercise researcher has reported.
urged people to exercise based on his findings, which also suggests a potential treatment.
by Dr. Zhen Yan of the University of Virginia School of Medicine, medical findings show that "strong support" for exercise can prevent or at least reduce the likelihood of ARDS severity.
ARDS affected 3% to 17% of COVID-19 patients.
based on available information, the CDC estimates that between 20 and 42 percent of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 will develop ARDS.
range of patients in intensive care is estimated at 67 to 85 per cent.
: Redox Biology's pre-epidemic study showed that about 45 percent of people with severe acute respiratory distress syndrome would die.
Yan said: "What you're hearing now is either social distance or a ventilator, as if what we can do is either avoid contact or survive on a ventilator after infection."
, on the other hand, about 80% of patients diagnosed with COVID-19 have mild symptoms and do not require respiratory support.
is that why? Our discovery of an endogenetic antioxidant enzyme provides important clues and inspires us to develop a new treatment for ARDS caused by COVID-19.
Yan, director of the Skeletal Muscle Research Center at the Robert M. Berne Cardiovascular Research Center at the University of Virginia, conducted an in-depth review of existing medical research, including his own, looking at an antioxidant called EcSOD.
this effective antioxidant removes harmful free agents, protects our tissues and helps prevent disease.
our muscles naturally produce EcSOD and secrete it into the blood circulation to bind it to other vital organs, but its production is enhanced by cardiovascular activity.
Yan's review shows that reduced antioxidants can be seen in several diseases, including acute lung disease, isohemic heart disease and kidney failure.
laboratory studies of mice have shown that blocking the production of the substance worsens heart problems, and that increasing the substance can have beneficial effects.
reduction in EcSOD is also associated with chronic diseases such as osteoarthritis.
that even a period of exercise increases the production of antioxidants, prompting Yan to urge people to find ways to exercise while keeping their social distance.
"We can't live in isolation forever," he said.
" regular exercise has far more health benefits than we know.
prevention of this serious respiratory disease is just one of many examples.
" review of potential treatments for Yan also recommends EcSOD as a potential treatment for ARDS and many other health conditions.
, for example, gene therapy may one day be used to increase the production of antioxidants, thereby enhancing the protective effect of antioxidants in the lungs.
study also showed that laboratory mice with chronic kidney disease had less kidney damage when treated with ecSOD.
antioxidants have been considered a potential treatment for diabetic retinal lesions, a diabetic complication that can lead to blindness.
addition, in-body superoxide dismification enzymes (EcSOD) may also be beneficial for multi-organ dysfunction syndrome (multi-organ failure).
efforts to treat the disease with common antioxidants have not been successful, But Yan suggests that understanding how EcSOD works can allow doctors to use it in a more targeted way, hopefully more effectively.
"We often say that exercise is a good medicine.
a perfect example for EcSOD, we can learn from the biological process of exercise, thereby promoting the development of medicine.
we try to learn more about the secrets of the benefits of regular exercise, we don't have to wait to learn everything before we start acting.
() Reference: COVID-19: Exercise may protect againststststly deadly complication ZhenYan et al. Extracellular superoxide dismutase, a molecular transducer of health benefits of exercise. Redox Biology Volume 32, May 2020, 101508. DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.redox.2020.101508.