Exercise vs. Meditation? The Winner Is…

As a trained exercise physiologist, if I were asked the question, “Which would prevent acute respiratory tract infections?” I would have picked exercise over meditation every time. The only reason I would choose meditation is that nagging voice in the back of my brain that says, “If they’re asking the question, maybe there were surprise results.” Science says to ask the question, so the researchers did; let’s take a look at the results.

When Meditation Tops Exercise

There were distinct differences between the exercise and stress-reduction groups versus the controls. When compared to the control group, the exercise group had fewer acute respiratory infections. The mindfulness-based stress reduction program also had fewer acute respiratory infections than did the controls, but when looking at other variables such as absenteeism and lost days of work, the stress-reduction program did slightly better than exercise.

When Exercise Beats Meditation

The researchers also examined the total number of infections, and the exercise group did better. In this study, which was completed well before the current pandemic, the exercise group had no coronavirus infections (the common cold) while the meditation and control groups both did; the difference was that the meditation-trained group handled the infections much better than did the controls.

It would have been great if they had one more group that both exercised and used the stress-reduction techniques. It would have been interesting to see if there were additive or even multiplicative benefits, or maybe there would have been no differences or even negative results. We can’t assume that it would have made the immune system function better; the “stress” of doing both might have compromised immune function.

The Bottom Line

Even though this study was done eight years ago, it’s the only study I could find that examined the benefits of exercise related to any type of upper respiratory infection. That the study also included stress reduction/meditative techniques was a bonus. What we know now, based on this study, is that moderate exercise as well as stress reduction will both reduce our risk of serious infection from many types of virus, and we may have milder symptoms if we do catch one. Whether this will serve us well during this pandemic is uncertain, but even a little protection to reduce the most severe symptoms would be worth the effort. That’s great news for people who don’t have the physical capacity to exercise and for those who don’t have the patience for meditation: either one will work. Just do something.

What are you prepared to do today?