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Exercising for 20 minutes a day could help stave off flu, claim researchers

By FnF Desk | PUBLISHED: 18, Mar 2014, 12:51 pm IST | UPDATED: 18, Mar 2014, 12:51 pm IST

Exercising for 20 minutes a day could help stave off flu, claim researchers London: Doing at least two-and-a-half hours a week of activity that leads to sweating or hard breathing reduces flu or flu-like illness by around 10 percent, says expert.

Taking part in vigorous exercise such as running, rapid cycling or rugby cuts the risk of catching flu. More gentle pursuits such as walking or light jogging were found to have little effect.

Experts at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine examined data from its online flu study, Flusurvey.

They found overall flu levels appear to be down on last year, with the flu season apparently curbed by a lack of illness among children and young people, reports mirror.co.uk.

Over the winter flu season, 4.7 percent of people were believed to have flu compared to 6 percent the previous year.

Some 5 percent of children were reported to have flu, compared to almost 8 percent the previous year.

More than 4,800 people took part in this year's Flusurvey so far.

Dr Alma Adler, ambassador for National Science & Engineering Week and Research Fellow at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine said; ‘We’re really interested in the preliminary findings around fitness activity and flu-like illness, as exercise is something that everyone can do to reduce your chance of having flu.

‘We need to treat this result cautiously as these are preliminary findings, however they are consistent with findings for other conditions and really show the health benefits of exercise.

‘Although many people have dodged the flu bullet this winter, flu can occur at any time, so taking advantage of the better weather is a great opportunity to get out and get fit to ward off flu this spring.’

The annual UK Flusurvey, now in its fifth year, is an online system for measuring influenza trends and uniquely collects data directly from the public through an online questionnaire at flusurvey.org.uk.

Findings are reported directly to the government and are vital in presenting a full picture of flu in the UK, providing data which is missed through current surveillance as many people affected by flu do not visit their doctor or local hospital.

The data is supplied weekly to Public Health England’s national flu surveillance programmes.