Physical activity in pandemic times

Abstract

During these new and unexpected times of forced inactivity, physical activity should be reinvented, considering the theoretical, pathophysiological and practical teachings of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It is likely that this new disease is here to stay, altering our social and sporting life, as in the time of the emergence of HIV (1.1 million deaths / year) or viral hepatitis (1.3 million deaths / year), in the 1980s. Coronaviruses are not responsible for a pulmonary infection, as we believed in the early days, but for an inflammatory storm, which explains the systemic complications of COVID-19, and the precautions that we must take with athletes and people at risk.

In this RBFex supplement, Guilherme Gomes Azizi and colleagues explain how the coronavirus alters the immune system and why we should relate this to the immunological disorders found in high-level athletes, especially during intense training periods, and today, with the observed immunosenescence in elderly. Also, obesity, because it is an inflammatory disease, is a proven risk factor.

Therefore, confinement requires a lot of attention on the level of physical activity of the athlete, and, mainly, of the people most affected by the pandemic, who are the elderly and people with chronic diseases such as obesity and diabetes.

In practice, the studies by Marzo Edir Da Silva-Grigoletto and Lucas Guimarães-Ferreira that we published in this edition explain in detail how to exercise in this period, respecting hygiene rules and using the equipment available at home. The case of the disabled athlete, presented by Matheus Jancy Bezerra Dantas, is more complex because of the associated medical treatments, the importance of regular training and the unavailability of equipment such as gyms and swimming pools.

We are already receiving new articles on the topic of the pandemic, and your experience reports are welcome for the next edition.