Benefits of regular physical activity practice and its health effects to face the Covid-19 pandemic: a systematic review11848

Abstract

The objective of this work was to determine the importance of practicing physical activity (PA) during the time of social isolation and confinement, and its positive effects to face the consequences on physical and mental health, caused by COVID-19. For this, a systematic review of the literature available in specialized databases PUBMED, SCIELO, EBSCO and OVID was carried out, which was adjusted to the guidelines framed in the PRISMA methodology. Search equations were defined under the MESH terms: physical activity, exercise, sport, covid 19, sars cov 2 and using Boolean characters AND and OR. These equations were used to search for articles published between February and May 2020, retrieving a total of 53 records and including in the final review 16 of them that met all the defined inclusion and exclusion criteria. The results suggest that regular PA practice could be an important tool to combat the adverse effects caused on the body due to COVID-19 infection and this because: a) it improves the response of the immune system to a possible COVID-19 infection; b) increases the action of the ECA2-Ang.1,7-Rec.Mas. axis, which favors anti-inflammatory and antithrombotic stages and decreases oxidative stress; c) decreases the incidence or helps to control the main comorbidities that predispose to the development of more severe symptoms and that increase the risk of mortality from COVID-19 infection. With these findings it can be concluded that regular PA practice is necessary since it helps, not only to maintain good physical and mental health during the period of social isolation and confinement, but also seems to offer a better response to the COVID-19 infection. With these findings, it is concluded that regular PA practice is necessary to face the current pandemic situation, since it helps, not only in maintaining good physical and mental health during the period of social isolation and confinement, but also It seems to offer a better response to COVID-19 infection, reducing the risk of mortality.