EXERCISE AND THE AGEING IMMUNE SYSTEM

Abstract

Life expectancy in the developed world has increased exponentially over the last century. There is now a strong body of evidence demonstrating that aging is accompanied by severe alterations in the immune system, a process known as “immunosenescence”, commonly defined as the functional decline of the adaptive immune system with age. Inflamm-aging, a chronic progressive increase in the inflammatory status has attracted great attention in recent years in age-related research field. This process plays an important role in the age-related diseases, such as heart disease, atherosclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, type II diabetes, among others. Exercise impacts immune function both acutely and chronically. This article describes how exercise activates the release of hormones, myokines and cytokines, as well as modulates the expression of various immune-reactive molecules, which all contribute to anti-inflammatory effects and possible attenuation of immunosenescence