{"id":36995,"date":"2015-02-09T11:15:33","date_gmt":"2015-02-09T16:15:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/?p=36995"},"modified":"2021-11-18T06:33:37","modified_gmt":"2021-11-18T11:33:37","slug":"benefits-of-exercise-crohns-disease","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/fitness\/benefits-of-exercise-crohns-disease\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Exercise the Best Medicine? How One Woman Battled Crohn’s"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Can
Photo: Pond5<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For seven years, Rachael Eckles assumed it was just bad food allergies<\/a> causing the stomach issues she experienced after eating a spinach salad or too many raw carrots. It wasn\u2019t until a few years later that she underwent a colonoscopy, after mentioning her symptoms to her doctor. The results were concerning. They revealed that her large intestine was dotted with small lesions that looked like canker sores.<\/p>\n

Eckles was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, a form of inflammatory bowel disease in which in the body’s immune system attacks the gastrointestinal tract. Crohn\u2019s made Eckles\u2019 stomach sensitive to vegetable fiber (hence, the post-salad<\/a> pain). The disease can also cause belly pain, diarrhea, loss of appetite, fever and weight loss. Although Eckles, a 35-year-old lawyer from Manhattan, was relieved to finally learn why she\u2019d been sick, she balked at the treatment. A specialist prescribed \u201cheavy-duty\u201d drugs called immunomodulators to control inflammation.<\/p>\n

RELATED:<\/strong> Is Inflammation Hurting Your Health?<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cOf all the things you can do to lower your risk of getting sick, exercise is the most powerful.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In search of a more holistic approach, Eckles decided to try another doctor\u2019s recommendation of milder medication, regular exercise and a diet that limited fiber, dairy, gluten and sugar. Prior to her diagnosis, Eckles had been doing yoga a few times a week. But in an attempt to control her disease, she decided to start lifting weights<\/a> four times per week to gain strength, and upped her yoga classes to four to fives times a week as well. Though not a big fan of cardio, she also decided to try to squeeze in at least 10 minutes a day \u2014\u00a0and make time for 15 minutes of daily meditation, too.<\/p>\n

RELATED:<\/strong> 10 Easy Yoga Posed to Help Relieve Stress<\/a><\/p>\n

Ultimately, at least some part of her new regimen \u2014\u00a0whether medication, diet or exercise \u2014\u00a0seemed to pay off. Eight months after changing up her routine, the lining of Eckles\u2019 colon had healed, and she was in remission from Crohn\u2019s disease. \u201cI really believe that exercise was a crucial part of my recovery,\u201d says Eckles, who also works as a holistic health coach and recently founded Digestive Wellness<\/a>, an online magazine for people with digestive diseases. \u201cWhen I don\u2019t exercise, I don\u2019t feel as well. It helps everything, including my circulation, mood, sleep, digestion and immune function.\u201d<\/p>\n

RELATED:<\/strong> 7 Immunity-Boosting Foods to Fight Colds and Flu<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Can
Photo: Pond5<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What Exercise Can Do for Your Health<\/h3>\n

Realistically, Eckles admits it\u2019s impossible to isolate exercise as the reason she got better. She still takes an anti-inflammatory medication and follows a strict diet. But she\u2019s one of an increasing number of voices<\/a> who believe that exercise doesn\u2019t just make you look and feel better \u2014 it has a powerful effect on your immune system, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cExercise helps you be more resistant to the impact [of] stress…You\u2019re more bulletproof.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cOf all the things you can do to lower your risk of getting sick, exercise is the most powerful,\u201d explains David Nieman, doctor of public health and director of the Human Performance Lab at Appalachian State University in Kannapolis, North Carolina. \u201cMany studies show that just getting 30 to 60 minutes of exercise during most days of the week cuts the sickness rate 40 to 50 percent. Or if you get sick, it\u2019s for a shorter time.\u201d Nieman\u2019s own research<\/a> of more than 1,000 adults found that subjects who worked out at least five days a week experienced a 43 percent reduced risk of upper respiratory tract infection compared to mostly sedentary people.<\/p>\n

In fact, Nieman says the \u201cfitness effect\u201d is so strong that physical activities can even help disease-fighting immune cells surge throughout the body during a workout. \u201cSome of these cells are always circulating, but many are sequestered in the thymus, lungs, lymph nodes, bone marrow and spleen,\u201d explains Neiman. \u201cWhen you start exercising, especially running, [they\u2019re] like the Marine Corps coming out of foxholes.\u201d Nieman says immune cells emerge from your peripheral tissues, and can circulate throughout the body for up to three hours after a workout.<\/p>\n

Can You Sweat Away Immune-Wrecking Stress?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

If you\u2019ve ever come down with a bad cold<\/a> after a crushing week at work, you don\u2019t need a scientist to tell you that stress hurts your immunity. Yet exercise can also help your ability to handle emotional and physical stress, explains Monika Fleshner, PhD, professor in the department of integrative physiology at the University of Colorado.<\/p>\n

RELATED:<\/strong> Are You Crazy for Working Out While Sick?<\/a><\/p>\n

In one experiment<\/a>, Fleshner found that running on a wheel helped rats respond better to acute stress (in the form of electric shocks). How? Physical activity appeared to help regulate the parts of the brain involved in emotional responding and reduce inflammation. Responsible for numerous ill health effects, inflammation has been linked to many chronic diseases in humans, such as cardiovascular disease, certain types of cancer, type 2 diabetes, Crohn\u2019s disease and dementia.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s so cool is that exercise helps you be more resistant to the impact [of] stress,\u201d says Fleshner. \u201cYou can endure it longer and not fall apart. You\u2019re more bulletproof.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Workout Sweet Spot <\/strong><\/h3>\n

While exercising has numerous immune benefits, overexercising<\/em><\/a> could have the opposite effect. Go too big, and you could go home \u2014 to bed, says Frank Booth, PhD, professor of biomedical sciences at the University of Missouri. \u201cIf you run 100 miles a week<\/a> or do a marathon a month, you\u2019ll suppress your immune system,\u201d he says. \u201cBut if you\u2019re a couch potato, you\u2019ll also lower your immunity. You have to aim for somewhere in the middle.\u201d<\/p>\n

RELATED: <\/strong>Orthorexia: When Healthy Eating Becomes an Obsession<\/a><\/p>\n

Pushing yourself to train for a new marathon<\/a> PR could actually end up setting you back, in terms of health. Several epidemiological reports<\/a> show that athletes are at increased risk of head colds during heavy training and the two weeks following an endurance race event. If you\u2019re in training, you should focus on minimizing other life stressors, such as lack of sleep, emotional triggers or poor diet. Eating well will help, too. Nieman advises aiming for three servings of fruit a day, explaining that fruits\u2019 polyphenols have anti-viral properties.<\/p>\n

For Eckles, the knowledge that she could help manage her disease through diet and exercise helped her feel more confident \u2014\u00a0and reassured her that she could play a part in controlling her own health. \u201cI could have made the decision to let the disease take over my life,\u201d she says. \u201cInstead, I was able to take an active role in my healing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Exercise has plenty of health benefits. But can it help you fight everything from the common cold to Crohn’s? The research isn’t definitive, but it’s encouraging. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":37009,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,6],"tags":[165,217,289,224,345,365,100],"class_list":["post-36995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exercise","category-fitness","tag-allergies","tag-disease","tag-exercise","tag-illness","tag-tax1conditions","tag-tax2ibd-crohns-colitis","tag-workout"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36995"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36995\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}